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

Ko CW, Doria-Rose VP, Barrett MJ, Kamineni A, Enewold L, Weiss NS. Screening colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy for reduction of colorectal cancer incidence: a case-control study. PLoS One. 2019 Dec 5;14(12):e0226027. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226027. eCollection 2019. PubMed

Lee JK, Jensen CD, Levin TR, Doubeni CA, Zauber AG, Chubak J, Kamineni AS, Schottinger JE, Ghai NR, Udaltsova N, Zhao WK, Fireman BH, Quesenberry CP, Orav EJ, Skinner CS, Halm EA, Corley DA. Long-term risk of colorectal cancer and related death after adenoma removal in a large, community-based population. Gastroenterology. 2019 Oct 4. pii: S0016-5085(19)41411-X. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2019.09.039. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Burnett-Hartman AN, Kamineni A, Corley DA, Singal AG, Halm EA, Rutter CM, Chubak J, Lee JK, Doubeni CA, Inadomi JM, Doria-Rose VP, Zheng Y. Colonoscopy indication algorithm performance across diverse health care systems in the PROSPR consortium. eGEMS (Wash DC). 2019;7(1):37. doi: 10.5334/egems.296. PubMed

Barlow WE, Beaber EF, Geller BM, Kamineni A, Zheng Y, Haas JS, Chao CR, Rutter CM, Zauber AG, Sprague BL, Halm EA, Weaver DL, Chubak J, Doria-Rose VP, Kobrin S, Onega T, Quinn VP, Schapira MM, Tosteson ANA, Corley DA, Skinner CS, Schnall MD, Armstrong K, Wheeler CM, Silverberg MJ, Balasubramanian BA, Doubeni CA, McLerran D, Tiro JA. Evaluating screening participation, follow-up and outcomes for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer in the PROSPR consortium. J Natl Cancer Inst. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2020 Mar 1;112(3):238-246. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djz137. PubMed

Burnett-Hartman AN, Chubak J, Hua X, Ziebell R, Kamineni A, Zhu LC, Upton MP, Malen RC, Hardikar S, Newcomb PA. The association between colorectal sessile serrated adenomas/polyps and subsequent advanced colorectal neoplasia. Cancer Causes Control. 2019 Jul 9. pii: 10.1007/s10552-019-01205-y. doi: 10.1007/s10552-019-01205-y. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Ko CW, Doria-Rose VP, Barrett MJ, Kamineni A, Enewold L, Weiss NS. Screening flexible sigmoidoscopy versus colonoscopy for reduction of colorectal cancer mortality.  Int J Colorectal Dis. 2019;34(7):1273-1281. doi: 10.1007/s00384-019-03300-7. Epub 2019 May 31.  PubMed

Doria-Rose VP, Kamineni A, Barrett MJ, Ko CW, Weiss NS. Case-control studies of the efficacy of screening tests that seek to prevent cancer incidence: results of an approach that utilizes administrative claims data that do not provide information regarding test indication. Am J Epidemiol. 2019 Apr 1;188(4):703-708. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwy274. PubMed

Chubak J, McLerran D, Zheng Y, Singal AG, Corley DA, Doria-Rose VP, Doubeni CA, Kamineni A, Haas JS, Halm EA, Skinner CS, Zauber AG, Wernli KJ, Beaber EF. Receipt of colonoscopy following diagnosis of advanced adenomas: an analysis within integrated healthcare delivery systems. lid - 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-18-0452 [doi]  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2018 Nov 20. pii: 1055-9965.EPI-18-0452. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-18-0452 [Epub ahead of print] PubMed

Kamineni A, Tiro JA, Beaber EF, Silverberg MJ, Wheeler CM, Chao CR, Chubak J, Skinner CS, Corley DA, Kim JJ, Balasubramanian BA, Doria-Rose VP. Cervical cancer screening research in the PROSPR I Consortium: rationale, methods, and baseline findings from a U.S. cohort. Int J Cancer. 2018 Oct 24. doi: 10.1002/ijc.31940. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Selby K, Jensen CD, Lee JK, Doubeni CA, Schottinger JE, Zhao WK, Chubak J, Halm E, Ghai NR, Contreras R, Skinner C, Kamineni A, Levin TR, Corley DA. Influence of Varying Quantitative Fecal Immunochemical Test Positivity Thresholds on Colorectal Cancer Detection: A Community-Based Cohort Study.  Ann Intern Med. 2018;169(7):439-447. doi: 10.7326/M18-0244. Epub 2018 Sep 18.  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