Jessica Chubak, PhD
“My research focuses on improving cancer control by finding effective ways to get screened for cancer and to navigate treatment and survivorship.”
Jessica Chubak, PhD
Senior Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Jessica.Chubak@kp.org
206-287-2556
Animal-assisted interactions research on Facebook
Biography
Jessica Chubak, PhD, is an epidemiologist who works to improve cancer diagnosis, treatment, control, and survivorship. She contributes to several national collaborations that are finding practical, efficient, effective ways to screen for cancer, especially colorectal cancer. She also studies how common medications affect cancer risk and recurrence. Intrigued by how pets positively affect health, Dr. Chubak is studying animal-assisted activities in clinics and hospitals where children get treated for cancer. Dr. Chubak’s methodological research focuses on the use of administrative and electronic health record data in epidemiologic and health services studies.
Dr. Chubak joined KPWHRI in 2007, bringing expertise in epidemiologic methods, pharmacoepidemiology, and cancer. Awarded a Fulbright graduate student grant, Dr. Chubak pursued her master's degree in bioethics and health law in New Zealand before completing her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Washington (UW). Dr. Chubak is an affiliate associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health, where she enjoys guest-lecturing and getting to work with students.
Research interests and experience
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Cancer
Epidemiology; colorectal cancer; medication use; survivorship; recurrence; secondary prevention; quality of life; automated data collection; screening; animal-assisted activities; survivorship
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Health Services & Economics
Screening
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Medication Use & Patient Safety
Cancer risk and use of common medications
Recent publications
Chubak J, Dalmat RR, Weiss NS, Doria-Rose VP, Corley DA, Kamineni A. Informative presence in electronic health record data: a challenge in implementing study exclusion criteria. Epidemiology. 2023 Jan 1;34(1):29-32. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001542. Epub 2022 Sep 20. PubMed
Chao CR, Chubak J, Beaber EF, Kamineni A, Mao C, Silverberg MJ, Tiro JA, Skinner C, Garcia M, Corley DA, Winer RL, Raine-Bennett T, Feldman S, Wheeler CM. Gaps in the screening process for women diagnosed with cervical cancer in four diverse US health care settings. Cancer Med. 2022 Sep 15. doi: 10.1002/cam4.5226. Online ahead of print. PubMed
Dalmat RR, Ziebell RA, Kamineni A, Phipps AI, Weiss NS, Breslau ES, Corley DA, Green BB, Halm EA, Levin TR, Schottinger JE, Chubak J. Risk of colorectal cancer and colorectal cancer mortality beginning ten years after a negative colonoscopy, among screen-eligible adults 76-85 years old. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2022 Sep 13:EPI-22-0581. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-22-0581. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Chubak J, Burnett-Hartman AN, Barlow WE, Corley DA, Croswell JM, Neslund-Dudas C, Vachani A, Silver MI, Tiro JA, Kamineni A. Estimating cancer screening sensitivity and specificity using healthcare utilization data: defining the accuracy assessment interval. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2022 Aug 2;31(8):1517-1520. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-22-0232. PubMed
Beaber EF, Kamineni A, Burnett-Hartman AN, Hixon B, Kobrin SC, Li CI, Oliver M, Rendle KA, Skinner CS, Todd K, Zheng Y, Ziebell RA, Breslau ES, Chubak J, Corley DA, Greenlee RT, Haas JS, Halm EA, Honda S, Neslund-Dudas C, Ritzwoller DP, Schottinger JE, Tiro JA, Vachani A, Doria-Rose VP. Evaluating and improving cancer screening process quality in a multilevel context: the PROSPR II consortium design and research agenda. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2022 Aug 2;31(8):1521-1531. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-22-0100. PubMed
Nicholson BD, Thompson MJ, Hobbs FDR, Nguyen M, McLellan J, Green B, Chubak J, Oke JL. Measured weight loss as a precursor to cancer diagnosis: retrospective cohort analysis of 43Â 302 primary care patients. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2022 Oct; 13(5): 2492-2503. Published online 2022 Jul 28. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.1305. PubMed
Sarma EA, Thompson MJ, Bowles EJA, Burnett-Hartman AN, Hubbard RA, Yu O, Chubak J. Patient and tumour characteristics of screening-age adults diagnosed with screen-detected versus symptomatic colon cancer. Colorectal Dis. 2022 Jun 23. doi: 10.1111/codi.16232. PubMed
Research
Study measures risks of screening colonoscopies for older adults
The findings can help guide colorectal cancer screening decisions later in life.
Research
Study sheds light on needs of young people with cancer
Understanding emergency department use among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors can help address care gaps.
Research
Improving cancer prevention and early detection
How KPWHRI is contributing to better cancer screening and better outcomes for patients.
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