PHS Faculty Research - Reducing Health Disparities
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Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death in United States women, with racial and ethnic disparities in breast cancer stage at diagnosis, rates of second breast cancers, and mortality. Our Program follows the premise that screening and surveillance will be most effective and equitable when all women have access to high-quality risk assessment and breast imaging, and when screening and surveillance strategies are targeted to clinically meaningful outcomes. |
BUILDS MARBLES U24 - Rebecca Schmidt, Ph.D.
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The MARBLES study employed a multi-pronged recruitment approach that includes a variety of community outreach activities that resulted in a sociodemographically diverse cohort allowing examination of differences in distributions and associations of a multitude of environmental factors across race, ethnicity, nativity, parental education, and other socioeconomic indicators. The MARBLES team has a history of supporting both scientific and workforce diversity and will continue to expand these efforts. We propose to continue to enroll, follow, and diversify participants and to share resources for one of the only enriched-risk ASD cohorts in the U.S. with prospectively collected pregnancy data and biosamples and deep evaluation of risk factors, mediators, and outcomes, to advance discovery of etiologic factors and early biomarkers for ASD. We will further work to understand the racial, ethnic, and sociodemographic disparities that exist in the diagnosis of ASD that are likely driven by structural racism by collecting information from our participants on experienced discrimination and linking to neighborhood factors. |
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The Fejerman lab’s research projects are focused on breast cancer genetics, genetic epidemiology, genetic ancestry, cancer health disparities, and racial/ethnic differences in disease susceptibility. Specifically, we are interested in explaining epidemiological patterns in breast cancer incidence and outcomes in U.S. Hispanic/Latina and Latin American women, investigating genomic, environmental, and health care access related factors. |
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KHANDLE is a NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded lifecourse study of ethnic disparities in the epidemiology of dementia using over 5 decades of data in relation to cognitive decline and brain pathology. Although there are marked ethnic disparities in rates of dementia, almost nothing is known about early-life contributors to dementia in ethnic minority groups, nor if the trajectory of cognitive decline or transition to cognitive impairment varies across ethnic groups. Enrolling 1200 participants at UC Davis, the overall objectives are to define ethnic disparities in dementia incidence and to advance our understanding of such disparities by assessing early and midlife risk factors for cognitive impairment and MRI markers of brain injury. |
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Life After 90 is an NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded longitudinal cohort study enrolling 1500 individuals age 90 or older. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias affect 15 percent of those aged 65 and older, by age 90 and older this number increases to a startling 40 to 50 percent. Yet there’s an enormous dearth of information on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and age-associated dementias in the oldest-old, particularly in nonwhites and those from lower socioeconomic classes. Our overall objectives are to determine there are ethnoracial differences among the oldest-old in the incidence of MCI/dementia; quantify mid- and late-life risk and protective factors for MCI/dementia; and understand the burden of cerebral and brain pathologies in this population. |
Precision Breast Cancer Screening for Marginalized Communities - Diana Miglioretti, Ph.D.
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The goal of this project is to improve breast cancer screening uptake, increase the benefits of screening, and reduce screening-related harms among women from traditionally underserved communities. We will deliver screening to underserved communities via a mobile mammography van while collecting data needed to develop and validate risk-based screening approaches targeted to women from underserved communities.. |
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STAR is a NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded longitudinal cohort study of lifecourse vascular risk and brain aging in 700 African Americans ages 50 and older. The goals of the study are to understand the trajectory of normal cognitive aging from mid- to late life, the burden of cognitive impairment, and the long-term contributions of vascular disease on brain aging among African Americans, an understudied and rapidly expanding segment of the elderly population at higher risk for dementia. |
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The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) is a groundbreaking longitudinal, epidemiologic study of five racial/ethnic groups of midlife women from seven sites around the U.S. It was designed to examine the health of women during their middle years, having recruited women who were aged 42-52 years and were pre- or early peri-menopausal at baseline and have been followed approximately annually since late 1995. It is now continuing follow-up of participants to assess the relations of midlife characteristics to health as women age. SWAN’s over 600 scientific publications have examined the physical, biological, psychological and social changes during this transitional period, revealing racial/ethnic differences in many outcomes, including approximately annual serum hormone levels, menopause-related symptoms (eg, hot flashes, night sweats), sleep, cardiovascular measures (eg, serum lipid levels, blood pressure, blood glucose and diabetes, etc.), bone density, urogenital conditions, cognitive and physical function, etc. |