Team Maureen’s mission is to end cervical cancer by educating about the HPV cancer connection and the importance of prevention and early detection.

Worldwide, every two minutes a woman dies of cervical cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year 500,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 270,000 die from disease (more than 50%). After age-standardization, cervical cancer ranks as the second most frequent cancer in women in the world.

In the US, almost 14,000 people are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, over 4,300 of whom will die. However, cervical and many forms of gynecological cancer are treatable with early diagnosis and some can be prevented with vaccination against HPV (human papillomavirus). See the stats here.

Maureen E. Russo, our namesake, was a loving sister, daughter, wife and mother who passed away from relapsed cervical cancer at the age of 37. Team Maureen (The Maureen E. Russo Nonprofit Organization) was founded in 2007 by her family and friends as a promise to keep her spirit alive. Since then, Team Maureen has grown to be a nationally recognized leader in HPV-related cancer prevention.