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.
Epidemiology; colorectal cancer; medication use; survivorship; recurrence; secondary prevention; quality of life; automated data collection; screening; animal-assisted activities; survivorship
Screening
Cancer risk and use of common medications
Hua X, Newcomb PA, Chubak J, Malen RC, Ziebell R, Kamineni A, Zhu LC, Upton MP, Wurscher MA, Thomas SS, Newman H, Hardikar S, Burnett-Hartman AN. Associations between molecular characteristics of colorectal serrated polyps and subsequent advanced colorectal neoplasia. Cancer Causes Control. 2020 May 1. doi: 10.1007/s10552-020-01304-1. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Reding KW, Aragaki AK, Cheng RK, Barac A, Wassertheil-Smoller S, Chubak J, Limacher MC, Hundley WG, D'Agostino R Jr, Vitolins MZ, Brasky TM, Habel LA, Chow EJ, Jackson RD, Chen C, Morgenroth A, Barrington WE, Banegas M, Barnhart M, Chlebowski RT. Cardiovascular outcomes in relation to antihypertensive medication use in women with and without cancer: results from the Women's Health Initiative. Oncologist. 2020 Apr 6. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2019-0977. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Chen L, Chubak J, Yu O, Pocobelli G, Ziebell RA, Aiello Bowles EJ, Fujii MM, Sterrett AT, Boggs JM, Burnett-Hartman AN, Ritzwoller DP, Hubbard RA, Boudreau DM. Changes in use of opioid therapy after colon cancer diagnosis: a population-based study. Cancer Causes Control. 2019 Dec;30(12):1341-1350. doi: 10.1007/s10552-019-01236-5. Epub 2019 Oct 30. PubMed
Tong J, Huang J, Chubak J, Wang X, Moore JH, Hubbard RA, Chen Y. An augmented estimation procedure for EHR-based association studies accounting for differential misclassification. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2019 Oct 16. pii: 5588595. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocz180. [Epub ahead of print]. 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
Check DK, Hutcheson KA, Poisson LM, Pocobelli G, Sakoda LC, Zaveri J, Chang SS, Chubak J. Factors associated with employment discontinuation among older and working age survivors of oropharyngeal cancer. Head Neck. 2019 Sep 6. doi: 10.1002/hed.25943. [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
The findings can help guide colorectal cancer screening decisions later in life.
Understanding emergency department use among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors can help address care gaps.
How KPWHRI is contributing to better cancer screening and better outcomes for patients.