One in a series
Distinguished Junior Research Scholars
Helen M. Parsons, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine
Remarks by Dr. Henrich at the March 22 awards dinner:
“Dr. Helen Parsons joined the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics as a tenure-track assistant professor in 2012 from the National Cancer Institute. She has focused her research on examining how health policy and quality guidelines affect appropriate treatment and outcomes for cancer. Her findings have had significant implications for cancer care and reimbursement in the era of pay-for-performance guidelines, suggesting that implementing wide-range quality-improvement initiatives to increase lymph node evaluation for colon cancer may have a limited effect on improving survival in this population. Additionally, her research has been practice-changing in the area of improving quality cancer treatment and survivorship care for young adults diagnosed with cancer before 39 years of age. As such, she has developed a national reputation for her contributions to cancer health policy which have resulted in more than 53 publications in high-impact journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and Cancer.”
From the nominating letter by Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., director, Institute for Health Promotion Research, School of Medicine:
“Helen has developed an impressive scholarly record through her work in cancer and health services research that has helped to shift the dialogue on disparities among vulnerable cancer survivors. She has focused her research on examining how health policy and quality guidelines affect appropriate treatment and outcomes for cancer, and has made major contributions to the underlying theory behind these recommendations for cancer survivors. Additionally, she has
developed a national reputation for her contributions to cancer health policy.”