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
Ou JY, Keegan T, Li QW, Kaddas HK, Abrahão R, Brunson A, Sauder CAM, Chubak J, Kushi LH, Hahn EE, Chao C, Nichols HB, Kirchhoff AC Identifying Patterns of Late Effects With Latent Class Analysis Among Adolescent and Young Adult Thyroid Cancer Survivors in California and Utah 2025 Dec;14(23):e71316. doi: 10.1002/cam4.71316. PubMed
Brunson A, Wun T, Abrahão R, Quesenberry CP, Chubak J, Ruddy KJ, Chao CR, Hahn EE, Sauder CAM, Nichols HB, Kushi LH, Keegan THM Metastatic Recurrence Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer 2025 Nov 26 doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2025.4971. Epub 2025-11-26. PubMed
Parker K, Heneghan MB, Li QW, Brunson A, Ou J, Kaddas HK, Abrahão R, Chubak J, Wernli KJ, Zebrack B, Hahn EE, Kushi LH, Nichols HB, Keegan T, Kirchhoff AC Identifying clustering in patterns of late effects among survivors of adolescent and young adult hodgkin lymphoma 2025 Nov 3;9(6) doi:10.1093/jncics/pkaf094. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkaf094. Epub 2025-10-01. PubMed
Pocobelli G, Lykken J, Haas JS, Tiro J, Doria-Rose VP, Hyun N, Silver MI, Kamineni A, Chubak J Positive predictive value of cervical cancer screening results recommended for colposcopy by human papillomavirus vaccination status at 3 U.S. healthcare systems 2025 Nov;36(11):1549-1561 doi:10.1007/s10552-025-02039-7. doi: 10.1007/s10552-025-02039-7. Epub 2025-08-06. PubMed
Keegan THM, Abrahão R, Chubak J, Sauder CAM, Ruddy KJ, Quesenberry C, Li Q, Haupt EC, Laurent CA, Brunson AM, Casperson M, Chao C, Smitherman AB, Nichols HB, Kirchhoff AC, Kushi LH, Hahn EE Incidence of chronic medical conditions among survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer compared to a population without cancer 2025 Oct 15;131(20):e70125. doi: 10.1002/cncr.70125. PubMed
Halm EA, Del Vecchio NJ, Rendle KA, Tiro JA, Zheng Y, Winer RL, Haas JS, Corley DA, Skinner CS, Schottinger J, Ghai NR, Chubak J Longitudinal Adherence to Screening for Colorectal, Cervical, and Lung Cancer in a US Consortium 2025 Oct 7 doi: 10.1007/s11606-025-09835-6. Epub 2025-10-07. PubMed
Haas JS, Todd KW, Mclerran D, Tiro JA, Vachani A, Kobrin S, Saia C, Sugg Skinner C, Zheng Y, Chubak J, Corley DA, Greenlee RT, Halm EA, Li CI Gaps in care across the cancer screening continuum for cervical, colorectal and lung cancer 2025 Sep 10 doi: 10.1093/jnci/djaf248. Epub 2025-09-10. 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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