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
Del Vecchio NJ, Beaber EF, Garcia MP, Wheeler CM, Kamineni A, Chao C, Chubak J, Corley DA, Owens CL, Winer RL, Pruitt SL, Raine-Bennett T, Feldman S, Silverberg M. Provider- and facility-level variation in pre-cancerous cervical biopsy diagnoses. J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2023 Apr 1;27(2):113-119. doi: 10.1097/LGT.0000000000000721. Epub 2023 Jan 17. PubMed
Feldman S, Lykken JM, Haas JS, Werner CL, Kobrin SC, Tiro JA, Chubak J, Kamineni A. Factors associated with timely colposcopy following an abnormal cervical cancer test result. Prev Med. 2022 Oct 18;164:107307. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107307. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Chubak J, Pocobelli G, Ziebell RA, Hawkes RJ, Adler A, Bobb JF, Zerr DM. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on animal-assisted activities in pediatric hospitals. J Pediatr Health Care. 2023 Mar-Apr;37(2):173-178. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2022.09.011. Epub 2022 Sep 30. PubMed
Kamineni A, Doria-Rose VP, Chubak J, Inadomi JM, Corley DA, Haas JS, Kobrin SC, Winer RL, Lafata JE, Beaber EF, Yudkin JS, Zheng Y, Skinner CS, Schottinger JE, Ritzwoller DP, Croswell JM, Burnett-Hartman AN. Evaluation of harms reporting in U.S. cancer screening guidelines. Ann Intern Med. 2022 Sep 27. doi: 10.7326/M22-1139. Online ahead of print. PubMed
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
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.
Research
How did the pandemic impact hospital visits with animals?
Top pediatric oncology hospitals reported lasting changes to programs involving visits with animals.
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