Aruna Kamineni, PhD, MPH

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“I'm working on reducing cancer through better screening. I collaborate with researchers nationwide on studies that will make screening more effective, patient-friendly, and personalized.”

Aruna Kamineni, PhD, MPH

Assistant Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Biography

Aruna Kamineni, PhD, MPH, came to Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in 2009 with a wealth of experience in chronic disease epidemiology. Dr. Kamineni has expertise in using case-control methods to evaluate screening efficacy, and her research focuses on addressing evidence gaps for clinical guidelines, particularly for cervical and colorectal cancer prevention. A substantial portion of her work has focused on developing infrastructure and methods for research using electronic clinical and administrative health care data.

Since 2011, Dr. Kamineni has participated in the National Cancer Institute’s Population-based Research to Optimize the Screening Process (PROSPR) consortium to evaluate and improve cancer screening in U.S. community settings. As a principal investigator for multisite cervical and colorectal cancer PROSPR Research Centers, Dr. Kamineni is leading and collaborating on work to determine how to optimally use screening tests and consider how to tailor screening for population subgroups.

Dr. Kamineni’s research goals include studying the impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing and HPV vaccination on cervical cancer and screening programs. Multidisciplinary collaboration is a valued and important driver of Dr. Kamineni’s research and she embraces a team science approach to optimizing cancer prevention.

Research interests and experience

  • Cancer

    Cervical cancer; colorectal cancer; screening; disparities

  • Methods

    Electronic clinical and administrative data infrastructure development for research; case-control studies; team science

Recent publications

Pocobelli G, Oliver M, Albertson-Junkans L, Gundersen G, Kamineni A. Validation of human immunodeficiency virus diagnosis codes among women enrollees of a U.S. health plan.  BMC Health Serv Res. 2024;24(1):234. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-10685-x.  PubMed

White LL, Burnett-Hartman AN, Ichikawa LE, Goldberg SR, Chubak J, Spencer Feigelson H, Kamineni A. SARS-CoV-2 infection and related hospitalization among cancer survivors. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 Dec 21. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-23-1303. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Alimena S, Lykken JM, Tiro JA, Chubak J, Kamineni A, Haas JS, Werner C, Kobrin SC, Feldman S. Timing of colposcopy and risk of cervical cancer. Obstet Gynecol. 2023 Nov 1;142(5):1125-1134. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005313. Epub 2023 Aug 21. PubMed

Dalmat RR, Ziebell RA, Kamineni A, Phipps AI, Weiss NS, Breslau ES, Burnett-Hartman AN, Corley DA, Doria-Rose VP, Green BB, Halm EA, Levin TR, Schottinger JE, Chubak J. Risk of colorectal cancer and colorectal cancer mortality beginning one year after a negative fecal occult blood test, among screen-eligible 76-85-year-olds. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 Oct 2;32(10):1382-1390. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-23-0265. PubMed

McCarthy AM, Tiro JA, Hu E, Ehsan S, Chubak J, Kamineni A, Feldman S, Atlas SJ, Silver MI, Kobrin S, Haas JS. Factors associated with shorter-interval cervical cancer screening for young women in three United States healthcare systems. Prev Med Rep. 2023 Jun 11;35:102279. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102279. eCollection 2023 Oct. PubMed

Selby K, Sedki M, Levine E, Kamineni A, Green BB, Vachani A, Haas JS, Ritzwoller DP, Croswell JM, Ohikere K, Doria-Rose VP, Rendle KA, Chubak J, Lafata JE, Inadomi J, Corley DA. Test performance metrics for breast, cervical, colon and lung cancer screening: a systematic review. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2023 Feb 8:djad028. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djad028. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Del Vecchio NJ, Beaber EF, Garcia MP, Wheeler CM, Kamineni A, Chao C, Chubak J, Corley DA, Owens CL, Winer RL, Pruitt SL, Raine-Bennett T, Feldman S, Silverberg M. Provider- and facility-level variation in pre-cancerous cervical biopsy diagnoses. J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2023 Apr 1;27(2):113-119. doi: 10.1097/LGT.0000000000000721. Epub 2023 Jan 17. PubMed

Kruse GR, Lykken JM, Kim EJ, Haas JS, Higashi RT, Atlas SJ, McCarthy AM, Tiro JA, Silver MI, Skinner CS, Kamineni A. Provider beliefs in effectiveness and recommendations for primary HPV testing in three healthcare systems. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2023 Feb; 7(1): pkac086. Published online 2022 Dec 5. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkac086. PubMed

Feldman S, Lykken JM, Haas JS, Werner CL, Kobrin SC, Tiro JA, Chubak J, Kamineni A. Factors associated with timely colposcopy following an abnormal cervical cancer test result.  Prev Med. 2022 Oct 18;164:107307. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107307. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Kamineni A, Doria-Rose VP, Chubak J, Inadomi JM, Corley DA, Haas JS, Kobrin SC, Winer RL, Lafata JE, Beaber EF, Yudkin JS, Zheng Y, Skinner CS, Schottinger JE, Ritzwoller DP, Croswell JM, Burnett-Hartman AN. Evaluation of harms reporting in U.S. cancer screening guidelines. Ann Intern Med. 2022 Sep 27. doi: 10.7326/M22-1139. Online ahead of print. PubMed

 

Research

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Improving cancer prevention and early detection

How KPWHRI is contributing to better cancer screening and better outcomes for patients.

Healthy findings blog

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Improving reporting of cancer screening harms

Aruna Kamineni, PhD, MPH, discusses her recent study on how guidelines report screening risks.

innovating care

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How to maximize screening for colon cancer

Research informs care as Kaiser Permanente Washington, exceeding 80 percent screening rate, launches home-based 'FIT First' pilot.

KPWHRI in the Media

Aruna Kamineni, PhD, MPH, comments on new study of cancer screening guidelines

NCI study analyzes the harms from cancer screening

Managed Healthcare Executive, Dec. 8, 2022