Erin Bowles, MPH

Bowles_Erin_J_205x293.jpg

“At KPWHRI, we have access to extensive data on cancer care. I'm using the data to learn how to improve the experiences of cancer patients and their families.”

Erin Bowles, MPH

Director, Collaborative Science, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Twitter: @ErinJBowles


 

Biography

Epidemiologist Erin Bowles, MPH, is looking at cancer screening and treatment from many different perspectives. Her research brings new insight into cancer risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship, while helping improve cancer care for patients and families.

Erin received an R50 mid-career research award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This award is given to cancer researchers who have demonstrated successes and contributions to cancer research as a non-principal investigator. As a key member of 2 large cancer collaborations — the NCI's Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium and the Health Care Systems Cancer Research Network (CRN) — Erin has developed diverse expertise that includes reading mammograms for breast density and using administrative data to understand patterns of care in cancer treatment.

Her current work includes:

  • Collaborating on a multi-site CRN study led by an investigator at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to understand how obesity affects chemotherapy treatment dosing and risks of recurrence and toxicity in women with breast cancer
  • Helping investigators from Kaiser Permanente Northern California and the University of California (UC) San Francisco and UC Davis understand imaging trends in children and pregnant women, and subsequent risks of leukemia associated with ionizing radiation from imaging exams
  • Working with investigators from the NCI, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and Kaiser Permanente Georgia to study how mammographic breast density, radiation treatment, and tissue biomarkers are associated with second cancers in women with previous breast cancer
  • Collaborating on several studies within the BCSC to understand how disparities and social determinants of health affect breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and surveillance
  • Helping investigators from the University of Wisconsin develop a model to predict thyroid cancer diagnosis and evaluate how health care utilization affects thyroid cancer detection and outcomes
  • Working with teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Washington, and Multicare Health System to develop and validate questions about cancer screening for people eligible for breast, colorectal, cervical, and/or lung cancer screening for the National Health Interview Survey.

Erin’s experience working with large observational cohorts and collaborations with numerous study teams over the past 20 years has provided her with expertise in data collection and quality control for many subject areas. She is also a manager of the Collaborative Science Division at KPWHRI, providing leadership, supervision, mentorship, and support to junior faculty.

Research interests and experience

  • Cancer

    Breast cancer; colorectal cancer; multiple myeloma; thyroid cancer; pancreatic cancer; biostatistics; epidemiology; mammography; mammographic breast density; cancer treatment; cancer screening and surveillance; automated data collection; quality of care; medication use; care coordination; administrative data

  • Health Services & Economics

    Access to care; health disparities; health outcomes research; quality of life; measurement of change in health care systems; practice variation

  • Women's Health

    Menopause; hormone replacement therapy (HRT); breast cancer

  • Aging & Geriatrics

    Cognitive health and dementia; biostatistics; epidemiology; medication use; cancer

Recent publications

Gard CC, Aiello Bowles EJ, Miglioretti DL, Taplin SH, Rutter CM. Misclassification of Breast Imaging Reporting And Data System (BI-RADS) mammographic density and implications for breast density reporting legislation. Breast J. 2015 Sep-Oct;21(5):481-9. doi: 10.1111/tbj.12443. Epub 2015 Jul 1. PubMed

Carroll NM, Delate T, Menter A, Hornbrook MC, Kushi L, Aiello Bowles EJ, Loggers ET, Ritzwoller DP. Use of bevacizumab in community settings: toxicity profile and risk of hospitalization in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. J Oncol Pract. 2015 Sep;11(5):356-62. doi: 10.1200/JOP.2014.002980. Epub 2015 Jun 9. PubMed

Nyante SJ, Sherman ME, Pfeiffer RM, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Brinton LA, Aiello Bowles EJ, Hoover RN, Glass A, Gierach GL. Prognostic significance of mammographic density change after initiation of tamoxifen for ER-positive breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2015 Feb 6;107(3). pii: dju425. doi: 10.1093/jnci/dju425. Print 2015.  PubMed

Ludman EJ, McCorkle R, Bowles EA, Rutter CM, Chubak J, Tuzzio L, Jones S, Reid RJ, Penfold R, Wagner EH. Do depressed newly diagnosed cancer patients differentially benefit from nurse navigation? Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2015 Feb 28. pii: S0163-8343(15)00038-9. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2015.02.008 [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Gao H, Aiello Bowles EJ, Carrell D, Buist DS. Using natural language processing to extract mammographic findings. J Biomed Inform. 2015 Feb 3. pii: S1532-0464(15)00012-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2015.01.010. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Wieneke AE, Bowles EJ, Cronkite D, Wernli KJ, Gao H, Carrell D, Buist DS. Validation of natural language processing to extract breast cancer pathology procedures and results.  J Pathol Inform. 2015 Jun 23;6:38. doi: 10.4103/2153-3539.159215. eCollection 2015.  PubMed

 

News

Breast_Cancer_Risk_Prediction_Model_1col.jpg

Predicting breast cancer risk after a high-risk benign lesion diagnosis

New study will develop risk models to improve clinical guidelines and practice.

Breast Cancer Surveillance

Kaiser Permanente Washington Breast Cancer Surveillance Registry

Kaiser Permanente Washington has been part of the national Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium since 1994. Learn about the Kaiser Permanente Washington Breast Cancer Surveillance Registry here.

Healthy Findings Blog

KPWHRI-Collaborative-Science-Division-team-meeting_1col.jpg

Meet KPWHRI’s collaborative scientists

The division contributes to research across the institute with methodological and subject matter expertise.

Research

Cancer-prevention-story_1col.jpg

Improving cancer prevention and early detection

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

News

Dr Keene at Brain science lab - Allen Institute

New open data to help understand Alzheimer’s

Cell by cell, scientists are building a high-resolution map of brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease.