Research Abstract

I am a behavioral scientist with expertise in implementation science, cancer disparities, and community-based participatory research. My work focuses on strengthening systems in underserved communities to leverage the best available evidence for cancer prevention and control.

My research falls into three streams. First, I design and evaluate workforce development interventions to promote the use of research evidence within community-based organizations in the US and India. This work also includes examinations of the impacts of staff social networks on the uptake and use of research evidence. Second, I study the adaptation of evidence-based preventive services for use in underserved communities in the US and India. My goal is to design practice-focused guidelines for strategic adaptation so that implementing organizations can increase the impact of available interventions by leveraging practice- and research-based expertise. The third stream of my work focuses on methods to incorporate practitioner expertise into the health promotion evidence base more effectively. This includes evaluations of strategies to identify and engage critical implementation stakeholders as well as technology-based methods to gather stakeholder insight efficiently. Much of my work is conducted in partnership with community-based organizations and coalitions.

I co-teach an introductory course on implementation science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. I am also a Co-Director of the Outreach Core for the U54 Partnership between DF/HCC and the University of Massachusetts, Boston.