Melissa Anderson, MS
“My work is rewarding because we study a wide variety of scientific questions that address major public health priorities and our results have an impact.”
Melissa Anderson, MS
Principal Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Melissa.L.Anderson@kp.org
206-287-2647
Biography
Biostatistician Melissa Anderson, MS, has collaborated on a wide range of health care topics throughout her career, with an emphasis on preventive care. Her recent research has focused on cancer screening and cardiovascular health. Ms. Anderson worked with Beverly Green, MD, MPH, to determine whether a centralized system of stepped increases in support improves uptake and long-term adherence to colorectal cancer screening. Ms. Anderson and Dr. Green have also collaborated to answer important questions regarding cardiovascular health, including whether a patient’s cardiovascular risks can be defined using automated electronic health record data and if this method can identify high-risk patients. Other areas of interest are blood pressure measurement variability, and diagnostic accuracy of various blood pressure measurement protocols.
Ms. Anderson has experience with longitudinal observational studies and has considerable expertise in the design and analysis of randomized clinical trials. She was the lead analyst for recent randomized trials of behavioral interventions to (1) promote smoking cessation and oral health behaviors among smoking quitline callers, (2) decrease sedentary time among older adults with obesity, and (3) improve pain and function outcomes through group-based cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction among patients with chronic back pain.
Ms. Anderson received her master’s degree in biostatistics at the University of Washington in 1996. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in 2003, she worked at the Statistical Coordinating Center for the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
Research Interests and Experience
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Biostatistics
Randomized trials, diagnostic test accuracy, longitudinal data analysis, missing data methods
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Behavior Change
Physical activity, oral health care, smoking cessation
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Cancer
Breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening
Cardiovascular Health
Cardiovascular risk assessment, blood pressure measurement
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Preventive Medicine
Adherence to preventive care recommendations
Recent publications
Luce C, Palazzo L, Anderson ML, Carter-Bawa L, Gao H, Green BB, Ralston JD, Rogers K, Su YR, Tuzzio L, Triplette M, Wernli KJ. A pragmatic randomized clinical trial of multilevel interventions to improve adherence to lung cancer screening (The Larch Study): Study protocol. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Mar 11;140:107495. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107495 [Epub ahead of print] PubMed
Ralston JD, Anderson M, Ng J, Bashir A, Ehrlich K, Burns-Hunt D, Cotton M, Hansell L, Hsu C, Hunt H, Karter AJ, Levy SM, Ludman E, Madziwa L, Omura EM, Rogers K, Sevey B, Shaw JAM, Shortreed SM, Singh U, Speight J, Sweeny A, Tschernisch K, Sergei Tschernisch S, Yarborough L. Preventing severe hypoglycemia in adults with type 2 diabetes (PHT2): Design, delivery and evaluation framework for a randomized controlled trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Jan 20;139:107456. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107456. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Winer RL, Lin J, Anderson ML, Tiro JA, Green BB, Gao H, Meenan RT, Hansen K, Sparks A, Buist DSM. Strategies to increase cervical cancer screening with mailed human papillomavirus self-sampling kits: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2023 Nov 28;330(20):1971-1981. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.21471. PubMed
Green BB, Anderson ML, Ehrlich K, Hall YN, Hansell LD, Hsu C, Margolis KL, McClure JB, Munson S, Thompson MJ. Is hypertension diagnostic testing and diagnosis associated with psychological distress? Am J Hypertens. 2023 Sep 9:hpad083. doi: 10.1093/ajh/hpad083. Online ahead of print. PubMed
Meenan RT, Troja C, Buist DSM, Tiro JA, Lin J, Anderson ML, Gao H, Green BB, Winer RL. Economic evaluation of mailed home-based human papillomavirus self-sampling kits for cervical cancer screening. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Mar 1;6(3):e234052. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.4052. PubMed
New findings
There’s no place like home … to track blood pressure
Research led by KPWHRI’s Beverly Green, MD, MPH, finds that patients prefer at-home monitoring of blood pressure.
health care innovation
Research helps our newest clinics build the future—now
Katie Coleman tells how Kaiser Permanente Washington research supports innovation at new clinics in Ballard and South Lake Union.
research into action
Healthy Hearts Northwest helps small clinics improve care
A new study shows how a little supplemental support can result in big gains, especially in managing patients’ blood pressure.
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