PhD
March 13, 2024
Enhancing public health surveillance: integrating genomic and epidemiologic data to inform public health action and One Health progress
Pathogen genomic data can provide highly useful information for public health practice, particularly when combined and analyzed with epidemiologic data in real time. Likewise, a One Health approach pushes our current health surveillance systems beyond their siloed views to consider balancing and optimizing health outcomes across human, animal, and environmental domains. Implementation of genomic epidemiology…
Beverage consumption and perceived healthfulness among parents, and investigation of spillover effects: Insights from the Seattle Sweetened Beverage Tax
Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes are generally adopted with the goal of reducing SSB consumption and improving public health. Extensive research on local SSB excise taxes in the US shows that taxes consistently increase prices and decrease purchasing of taxed beverages in the taxed jurisdiction. Evidence of impacts on SSB consumption, however, is less consistent. In…
Post-Diagnosis Statin Use and Survival Among Patients with Cancer
Statins are widely used cholesterol-lowering medications. Evidence from preclinical and observational studies suggest that statins use may improve cancer survival in patients with cancer, while findings from clinical trials have been mixed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between post-diagnosis statin use and cancer outcomes in seven common cancers. In this…
Pathogenic Variant Status of High-Risk Genes, Polygenic, Epidemiological Risk Factors, and Utilization of Risk Management Options in Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with multiple established risk factors, which include high-penetrance germline variants in cancer predisposition genes such as ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, and PALB2. Additionally, individual and behavioral factors such as age at menarche, parity, number of births, age at first full-term pregnancy, breastfeeding, age at natural menopause, height, pre- and…
Adapting Trauma Outcome Prediction Models to Individual Facilities using Transfer Learning
With the increasing availability of big data and advanced computational techniques, machine learning (ML) models are becoming common in medicine and healthcare. Generalizable models, models that can be applied to any setting or patient cohort, are described as a goal of ML, yet sacrifices in performance are required to demonstrate such broad applicability. To date,…
Health and economic impact of COVID-19, surveillance, and vaccination among people experiencing homelessness in Seattle-King County, Washington
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected people experiencing homelessness, with shelters often representing a hotspot for outbreaks due to the elevated risk of viral transmission. COVID-19 surveillance in congregate living settings is vital for mitigating pandemic-related harms, especially among high-risk populations. Additionally, ensuring high COVID-19 vaccination coverage is crucial to prevent morbidity and mortality. However,…
December 26, 2023
Clinical Trial Designs that Utilize Historical Controls in the setting of Cystic Fibrosis
In certain rare disease settings, traditional randomized controlled trials face ethical and feasibility challenges that can exclude their use. Adequate participant recruitment can be prohibitively difficult, and a large placebo control arm could unethically expose vulnerable participants to risk. Development of new therapeutics for these diseases still require regulatory grade evidence of a treatment effect,…
Characterizing SARS-CoV-2 infection burden and COVID-19 vaccination intent and uptake in congregate shelters in Seattle, WA
Community-based surveillance studies can be appropriately leveraged to characterize the burden of emerging pathogens, especially in hard-to-reach populations such as people experiencing homelessness (PEH). Prior respiratory viral studies among PEH populations have shown evidence of increased morbidity and mortality compared to the general population, likely associated with a high prevalence of co-occurring health conditions, though…
Understanding methamphetamine and opioid co-use: national trends and local harm reduction strategies for overlapping illicit drug use
In the past 20 years, the United States has seen a remarkable increase the use of both methamphetamine and opioids, used concurrently or simultaneously. A more detailed picture is needed to understand where methamphetamine-opioid co-use is increasing nationally, as well as the characteristics of people who co-use. Methamphetamine-opioid co-use has become particularly prevalent in Seattle,…
Associations of Maternal Exposure and Characteristics with Placental Transcription Regulation and Consequences on Fetal Growth
The placenta is a key organ in pregnancy and its dysfunction can lead to pregnancy complications as well as adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. While evidence for adverse consequences of maternal characteristics (such as obesity) or environmental exposures (e.g. particulate matter under 2.5 μm in diameter, PM2.5) on the course and outcomes of pregnancy has…
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