Investigators

Summary

Our team’s research is focused on the factors that ensure that all women with breast cancer receive timely diagnoses, treatment, and support. Our research, education, and outreach initiatives are directed toward Black women with breast cancer, women with metastatic breast cancer, and community engagement to address racial and economic breast cancer survival disparity.  Our team is well-published, with over 130 publications and multiple national and international presentations disseminating the results of our research. The Symptom Experience, Management, and Outcomes According to Race and Social Determinants of Health during Breast Cancer Chemotherapy (SEMOARS) study is a multi-site R01-funded study comparing the symptom incidence and distress, symptom reporting methods and outcomes, including the ability to receive the full dose of prescribed chemotherapy between Black and White women as they proceed through chemotherapy. Genetics, epigenetics, and pharmacogenomics are areas of further exploration..Our Ubuntu Pittsburgh Project (UPP) (Pittsburgh Foundation)  for Black women with metastatic breast cancer living in the Pittsburgh Area has offered support, legacy building, and family support to women and their families. We are currently pilot-testing this program in the Pittsburgh area. 

With the support of the Genentech Health Equity Grant (2020-2022), we led an initiative in cancer as a canvas for all researchers to collaborate in basic and behavioral research to better understand the influence of neighborhood deprivation, discrimination, and lifetime allostasis, measured through telomere length, allostatic load, and immune markers on cancer outcomes. This initiative, Exploring Allostasis, Cellular Aging, and Cancer Outcomes, was renewed for an additional three years (2023- 2025) and is now incorporating all regional patients with cancers in which survival disparities are present.

In collaboration with Magee Womens Hospital, our team leads the Support, Education, and Advocacy Program for Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC/SEA Program). We developed and maintained a database of 2,000 women with metastatic breast cancer. These findings informed the development of a successful nurse-led primary palliative care intervention for all patients with metastatic breast cancer seen at Magee Women's Hospital. We are partners and leaders in the  Allegheny County Breast Cancer Equity Project, a community outreach program that seeks to assist women in underserved communities to access existing breast cancer resources. In response to local data, plans are to utilize students from the School of Public Health and senior-level student nurses to offer education and support in a structured Community Health clinical.