Margarita Correa-Méndez, Ph.D., M.S., M.P.H.

Margarita Correa-Méndez, Ph.D., M.S., M.P.H., is a Program Director at the Center for Global Health (CGH) in the Research and Training Branch. Dr. Correa-Méndez joined CGH in February 2024 to support the center’s implementation science (IS) grant portfolio. She is currently engaged in supporting implementation research efforts to promote the adoption, scale-up and sustainment of human papillomavirus (HPV)-based cervical cancer screening and treatment within public health systems. Margarita joined NCI in 2020 as a Cancer Prevention Fellow working with the IS team at the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) and CGH. She continues to engage with DCCPS through a secondary appointment with the IS team with the goal of bridging domestic and international implementation science efforts. As a postdoctoral fellow, she led efforts around scale-up and sustainment of cancer prevention and control evidence-based practices, social determinants of health and cancer screening interventions, and co-founded the fellow-led global health interest group with the goal of supporting NCI trainees with an interest in global cancer research.

Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Correa-Méndez earned her M.P.H. with a certificate in vaccine science and policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Ph.D. in biological sciences at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Margarita is originally from Colombia, where she earned her M.S. in microbiology and B.S. in biology at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.