Leeya Pinder, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine with the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and the Director of the Center for Global Cancer Control in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Getting the opportunity to catch Dr. Pinder for a conversation while you both are in the same time zone, let alone the same table, is rare. These days, her time is divided between caring for her patients through the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center and in Zambia, where she is conducting historic cancer research as part of the Moonshot Scholars Program through the White House.
In a new podcast conversation with UC Health’s Meredith Stutz Dr. Pinder was quick to reveal her path to becoming a physician, let alone a gynecologic oncologist, but it wasn’t straightforward.
“I didn't come from a family of physicians, and for some reason, my godmother asked me when I was seven what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I just picked being a doctor out of the sky,” Dr. Pinder said. She said she originally wanted to be a cardiologist but shifted to the surgical route.
During her medical school years, Dr. Pinder completed an internship that confirmed her path to pursue oncology.
“I had a patient that was a 19-year-old African American female who was HIV positive, and actually had advanced vulvar cancer. As I would round on her every day, I would see her pain and I would see her circumstance and her situation and how she was isolated and alone. For me, looking back at her, I realized that, you know, in any instance that could have been me. It just happened that my path was a little bit different. So it's one of those times when someone is mirroring your life, just in a different way. I felt like what she was going through and where she was in life, I didn't want that to be anyone else's story, especially if they looked like me. So I decided to go on to become a gynecologist because of that.”
Years later, Dr. Pinder attended a conference where she connected with her mentor, Gynecological Oncologist Groesbeck Parham, MD. Their conversation launched a journey that would take her across the Atlantic Ocean.
“He did this presentation that spoke about the work that he was doing in cervical cancer prevention and trying to change women's lives in Zambia,” Dr. Pinder recalled. “And I went up to him afterward, and I told him that he was living the life that I wanted to live,” she reflected with a smile.
Dr. Parham found out that Dr. Pinder was serious about her wishes, which led her to move to Zambia to advocate for, research, and treat women in the name of cancer prevention.
“I lived full time in Zambia between 2016 and 2018,” Dr. Pinder said. “I absolutely fell in love with it. I love the people, love the work that we do there and we're actually like building and creating things there. Zambia is like a perfect fit for me.”
Dr. Pinder continues her work and research in Zambia. Currently, she balances her work abroad while also practicing full-time at the University of College of Medicine. She says working at UC has given her the “blank slate” she needed to be present with her research and clients on both sides of the ocean. She credits Michael Thomas, MD, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology and her UC support team in Cincinnati for the bandwidth and flexibility to pursue both dreams.
In September, Dr. Pinder was named of the first 11 people awarded to the Cancer Moonshot Scholars program by the National Cancer Institute. The program aims to expand cancer research and is supported by the White House’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
“What’s interesting about the Moonshot Scholars program is that they wanted to take the opportunity to look at researchers in a different way,” Dr. Pinder explained. “They wanted to give young early-age investigators from a diverse background and who had a diverse set of skills and did research in a in a diverse way.”
Dr. Pinder was chosen to become a Moonshot Scholar to further her research on cervical cancer treatment, pre-cervical cancer treatment and prevention in women in Zambia. She is awarded $2.75 milion for the first five years of her project and then additional monies for the remaining two years of the Moonshot Scholars program. She is the only person with a project based outside of the United States to be chosen for the program.
She spoke to UC Health about the big question on her mind for her research project.
“What can we do to really stop women from dying overseas? We don't talk about cervical cancer a lot here in the US because our numbers are relatively low,” Dr. Pinder said. “But if you look at women living in low and middle-income countries, they make up the majority of the cancer cases and deaths from cervical cancer. And so we really have to do something differently. And so for me, that was really what I wanted to focus on was women living overseas, and actually trying to prevent cervical cancer from happening.”
To do this, Dr. Pinder and her team on the ground in Zambia are working on using a particular medication to help prevent precancerous abnormalities from turning into cervical cancer.
“What we're doing is repurposing an old antiretroviral medication that was previously used for HIV,” Dr. Pinder explained. “So we really have to talk to women about how they feel about inserting a medication vaginally and for how long it's going to be in there and all these things,” Dr. Pinder said, explaining the roll-out of the trial. “And so in the first like one and a half years or so, almost two years, we'll work on the behavioral health stuff. Then, we'll tailor our intervention to make sure that it's appropriate for the context. And that's really, really important.”
Every year, Dr. Pinder travels to Zambia several times for a month-long stay to check in on her team, connecting with patients and researchers and continuing her own findings in the world of women’s health. She praised her team of researchers, nurses, community advisors and health workers who are making this project run 12 months a year for the goal to “shift the status quo” for the sake of saving womens’ lives.
“if you can do anything in your power to change the narrative for someone or change the narrative about someone, that would be important for you to do,” Dr. Pinder reflected. “I oftentimes try to be an advocate and change the narrative and change the views and change the thoughts of people so that they recognize that, you know, these are women, they’re mothers, they’re daughters, they’re people's children, they’re wives, you know? They're the same people, you know, that are here. They just live in a different circumstance and for no fault of their own. They just happen to be born in these other countries. So my ultimate goal is to not have that be the statement that people make.”
Back at home in Cincinnati, Dr. Pinder is busy trying to bring that same level of passionate advocacy to cancer patients at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. This spring, she worked with the Bearcat Pantry to expand their services and establish a food pantry inside the Barrett Building for cancer patients.
Currently written with blue marker on her color-coded office whiteboard is the phrase, “Food Pantry Win!!!”
“I was super excited that we actually are able to provide some food support for our patients. And so that's one less thing for them to have to battle with as they're, you know, trying to face a cancer diagnosis,” Dr. Pinder said.
“I see a lot of suffering that happens when around oncology and adding to that suffering for a lot of people is food insecurity,” Dr. Pinder explained. “And so I've had, unfortunately, patients who are concerned about where their next meal is going to come from, concerned about the fact that they're so run down and tired and can't get to grocery stores or can't get to the supermarket. and so they're really kind of struggling, trying to make what little food they have at home work.”
Dr. Pinder shares her goal for a healthier, whole-person outcome for patients with the establishment of the food pantry at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center.
“It just kind of goes towards the fact that we are supporting them in their entire cancer journey and with every aspect of that care.”
That’s why when someone walks into Dr. Pinder’s office, they can sense and see her focus to better our local and international communities not only by what’s on her walls but what is cemented into her heart.
“I walk around and I say things like, ‘I'm going to change the world, right?’ And people think people are just like, ‘Okay, everybody says that.’ But I actually do want to make a difference, right? Like I want to stop one more person from dying that doesn't have to die. And so that's really, kind of what my goal is.”
You can listen to Dr. Pinder’s entire podcast conversation below.
