Recent Projects
Understanding HPV Vaccine Hesitancy Among Multiethnic Parents in Los Angeles
This NCI Cancer Center Support Grant supplement, selected as one of 11 NCI-designated cancer centers funded in the third round of NCI HPV supplements (September 2020 – December 2021), aimed to understand HPV vaccine hesitancy in diverse populations in the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center catchment area. In partnership with the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative, we assessed parental HPV vaccine hesitancy, medical mistrust, HPV vaccination barriers, and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent HPV vaccine uptake. We also conducted community focus groups, relayed findings to local coalitions and the California HPV Vaccine Roundtable to develop parent educational materials and targeted parent, adolescent, and provider messaging for specific low uptake communities in Los Angeles.
Health Care Delivery and Care Transitions for Underserved Cancer Patients
This American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant (2017-2023) examined factors associated with care transitions, from primary care safety-net settings to oncology care, for newly diagnosed breast and colorectal cancer patients enrolled in the New Jersey Medicaid program. This mixed methods study, conducted in collaboration with the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, used a data linkage between New Jersey State Cancer Registry data and New Jersey Medicaid claims and enrollment files to examine primary care practice-level BC and CRC guideline concordance rates and identify variations in the relationship between organizational factors and guideline concordant treatment. Qualitative case studies were conducted across three diverse primary care to understand patterns of care among Medicaid patients with breast and colorectal cancer and identify processes within primary care settings that are influencing transitions from primary care to specialty oncology care. Findings have contributed to subsequent state-level Medicaid collaborations (Ohio, California, New Jersey, New York) and informed the need to strengthen data systems for understanding the impact of insurance coverage across the cancer care continuum.
Implementation of a Social Determinants of Health Screening Tool for Asian American Patients in Primary Care Settings
This pilot award, funded by the Rutgers Asian Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (NIH/NIA RCMAR) (2019-2020) and conducted in collaboration with the RWJBarnabas Center for Asian Health, aimed to translate, adapt, and implement a health-related social needs (HRSN) screening tool in primary care settings to understand community specific social needs among Asian Americans in New Jersey. We observed higher than anticipated reports of HRSN among primary care patients within our suburban, hospital-affiliated partner site serving Asian Americans. These study findings, presented at prior American Association of Public Health and North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) Annual Meetings, inform the need to augment HRSN identification to adequately address social needs that impact health outcomes and life course experiences for Asian patients.