Population Studies and Disparities Research

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

POPULATION STUDIES AND DISPARITIES RESEARCH – ABSTRACT The Population Studies and Disparities Research (PSDR) Program is committed to identifying key genetic and behavioral risk factors underlying disease onset and progression and developing and testing novel intervention strategies to reduce risk and improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes with an emphasis on reducing and/or eliminating the cancer burden among the populations contained within our catchment area. This interactive Program includes 28 members from 11 departments and 3 schools at Wayne State University and $6,936,093 in peer reviewed, cancer-related funding, of which $5,793,590 is from the NCI. The PSDR Program has two overarching scientific aims. The first aim is to investigate the distribution and determinants of cancer risk, survivorship, and outcomes in the populations contained within the cancer center’s catchment area. Major scientific investigations under this aim use emerging advances in genetics to address our catchment area population. The work is supported by the Metropolitan Detroit Cancer Surveillance System, a NAACCR gold-standard population-based cancer registry, with more than 1 million cancer cases diagnosed as early as 1973, a resource that is well-leveraged for our extensive portfolio of population-based studies of the epidemiology of lung, breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. The second theme is to develop and test evidence-based interventions focused on patient, family member, and physician behaviors related to cancer prevention, treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life outcomes. The focus of this theme is modifying social and behavioral factors driving risk behaviors, screening and treatment choices, the quality of physician-patient-family member communication, symptom management, and survivorship in adult and pediatric populations. The work is supported by a unique, custom-designed video data capture system installed in multiple clinic sites to study the ways patient/provider communication influences treatment decisions and health outcomes. Future directions include the development of multi-PI grants focused on cancer survivors, leveraging the Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors (Detroit ROCS) cohort study. eHealth technologies to enhance patient-provider communication are also being developed. PSDR Program members actively collaborate with members of the MI, MT, and TBM Programs at KCI. Of the 409 manuscripts published from December 2015 to November 2019, 43% and 25% were intra- and inter-programmatic, respectively, and 74% were multi-institutional collaborations.