Did you know that more than 8,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year in North Carolina? Five-year survival for lung cancer has been improving, and is now 21%, thanks to research, screening and earlier diagnosis, and better treatment options. However, once diagnosed with lung cancer – patients face a large financial burden as the result of costs associated with their work-up, diagnosis, and treatment. Studies have shown that ‘financial toxicity’ associated with lung cancer treatment is substantial – and often forces patients to make difficult decisions about how they spend their money, on their cancer treatment or their other basic needs.

 

Transportation to and from treatment facilities represent one category of costs that adds-up for patients over the course of lung cancer treatment. As a result, in December 2023, the UNC Epidemiology – Lund Research Group hosted a gas card drive, in partnership with the Lung Cancer Initiative (LCI) to help support patients during their lung cancer treatment. The LCI (https://lungcancerinitiative.org/) is a leading nonprofit in North Carolina that provides support to the lung cancer community by connecting patients, survivors, and loved ones with the medical and research community.

 

In total, our group raised $250 in gas cards for the LCI!

 

 

The American Cancer Society has awarded a five-year, $1.2 million Team Science grant to a group of UNC-Chapel Hill researchers who will develop new methods to measure and map cancer screening across North Carolina.

TOP ROW, FROM LEFT: DRS. KATHERINE REEDER-HAYES, JENNY LUND AND CHRISTOPHER BAGGETT; BOTTOM ROW, FROM LEFT: DRS. LOUISE HENDERSON, STEPHANIE WHEELER AND DAN REULAND

Katherine Reeder-Hayes, MD, is the study’s lead principal investigator, and Jenny Lund, PhD, and Christopher Baggett, PhD, are the team principal investigators. These three faculty members co-direct the UNC Lineberger Cancer Information & Population Health Resource (CIPHR).

Other research team members include Louise Henderson, PhD, Stephanie Wheeler, PhD, Dan Reuland, MD, and Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD — all faculty with ties to the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC’s School of Medicine, and/or the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center — as well as Brian Reich, PhD, from N.C. State University, and CIPHR staff.

The grant will fund research designed to facilitate more widespread cancer screening and early detection, culminating in reduced cancer mortality. Specifically, the researchers will use data from CIPHR to create new tools based on insurance claims that more efficiently measure and compare cancer screening use across small geographic areas and groups of people.

UNC Epidemiology PhD student, Joyce Pak, and Research Group PI, Dr. Jenny Lund, were recently awarded a Lineberger Tier 1 ($50,000) Grant to evaluate the impacts of hurricane-related flooding on delays in initial cancer-directed care and mortality in North Carolina. This exciting work will leverage information from several publicly available data sources on hurricane hazards and area-level contextual data, as well as the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry. This work will serve as the foundation for Ms. Pak’s dissertation project. Other collaborators include Dr. Chris Baggett, Dr. Katie Reeder-Hayes, and Dr. Shabbar Ranapurwala. Congrats to the team!   

Jeff Yang, MSPH successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled, “Treat-to-Target Monitoring Colonoscopy in US Adult Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease” on Monday, November 7, 2022. Our research group is so proud of Jeff’s accomplishments and wish him the best in this next exciting page of his career!

We are thrilled to welcome the three newest members of our research group – Bria Carmichael, Jeanny Wang, and Xiaomeng (Olivia) Chen! These first year students will be soaking in all that the Department of Epidemiology has to offer – and are so excited to see where their research interests lead. Welcome! Learn about the members of our research group here

Sydney Thai, MS successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled, “Frailty Screening and Impairment Patterns in Older Adults with Cancer: A Dissertation using the Cancer Aging and Resilience Evaluation (CARE) Registry” on Monday, July 25, 2022. Our research group is so proud of Sydney’s accomplishments and wish him success in this new phase of his career starting his own consulting business and exploring new research initiatives in machine learning, EHRs, and malnutrition research.

Christine Hsu, PharmD successfully defended her doctoral dissertation titled, “Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance Trends in Individuals with Cirrhosis in North Carolina, 2010-2018” on Monday, June 20, 2022. Our research group is so proud of Christine’s accomplishments and wish her well on her next steps as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston!

Dr. Jihye Park successfully defended her thesis titled “Adjuvant radiation therapy and outcomes among older women with early-stage endometrial cancer” on March 7, 2022.

Dr. Sejin Lee successfully defended her thesis titled “Real-World Treatment Patterns and Outcomes for Patients with Advanced Melanoma: Immunotherapy versus Targeted Therapy” on March 15, 2022.

Congratulations on these AMAZING accomplishments – our team is so proud of you!

We want to express a HUGE congratulations to the newly-minted PhD in our group, Dr. Charley Gaber! Charley successfully defended his dissertation today titled: The comparative effectiveness of trimodal therapy versus definitive chemoradiation in older adults with locally advanced esophageal cancer. 

In July, Charley will be joining the faculty of the Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy within the College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois – Chicago. We are so proud of you Charley – congrats again on this awesome accomplishment!