Rate My Professor Prajakta Adsul

Dr. Prajakta Adsul, MBBS, MPH, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico and a member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center's Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program. She is the Inaugural Director of the Center for Advancing Dissemination and Implementation Science (CADIS) at UNM. Trained as a primary care physician, Dr. Adsul brings a global perspective shaped by her early experiences providing care in rural India, where she observed how social determinants influence health outcomes prior to clinical intervention. Following her PhD in Public Health, she completed a Cancer Prevention Fellowship with the Implementation Science team at the National Cancer Institute. Her research employs implementation science theories, methods, and measures from a multilevel perspective, using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods to address real-world challenges in cancer prevention.

Dr. Adsul focuses on implementing cancer screening services, such as cervical and colorectal screening, in low-resource primary care settings and among underserved diverse populations, emphasizing follow-up for screened individuals. Her projects include work in Latin America, India, and New Mexico to enhance population-level outcomes through health equity initiatives. She has received the 2020 NCI Director’s Award and 2007 Honors in Medicine and Pediatrics. Key publications include “Using photovoice to understand the context of cervical cancer screening for underserved communities in rural India” (Global Health Promotion, 2020), “A community-based, cross-sectional study of hrHPV DNA self-sampling-based cervical cancer screening in rural Karnataka, India” (International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 2019), “Implementing community-based cervical cancer screening programs using visual inspection with acetic acid in India: A systematic review” (Cancer Epidemiology, 2017), “Perceptions of Urologists About the Conversational Elements Leading to Treatment Decision-Making Among Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer Patients” (Journal of Cancer Education, 2017), and book chapters on implementation science (Springer, 2020; Oxford University Press, 2018). Dr. Adsul partners with New Mexico communities, clinics, and public health entities to co-develop culturally appropriate cancer prevention strategies.