STOP COVID-19 ¡Saber es Poder! website – https://saberespoder.ucmerced.edu/

Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) – Supported by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), this centers mission is to understand the thoughts and feelings of rural California residents on current tobacco and cannabis policy. With the help of California universities, research disciplines, and community organizations the results would then be used to develop policy recommendations. https://ncpc.ucmerced.edu/

Developing a Low-literacy, Multi-lingual Breast Cancer Survivorship Care Plan - This Mount Zion Health Fund study, conducted in partnership with the San Francisco Women’s Cancer Network, is designed to identify informational and navigational needs for medically underserved breast cancer patients at key care transition points, specifically at the five-year mark. These data will be used to develop and pretest multi-lingual (English, Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Russian) survivorship care plan materials.

Assessing the impact of post-surgery areola repigmentation and 3-dimensional nipple tattoo procedures on body image and quality of life among medically underserved breast cancer survivors – Supported by the Avon Foundation, this study was designed to evaluate the experience of 3D-nipple/areola tattooing for medically underserved women who have undergone breast reconstruction and remain without a nipple or areola. The benefits of 3D nipple tattooing include restoration of a natural looking breast as well as the avoidance of additional surgeries to create a breast that more closely resembles its pre-surgical appearance. 3D nipple tattooing forms part of completion of the physical reconstruction process, offers women opportunity for a greater sense of closure around the loss of their breast, and plays an important role in helping a woman feel “whole again” both sexually and emotionally. We presented study findings at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2015.

Health literacy systems in the safety-net: Lessons from complex care management. This four-year NINR-funded R01 aims to 1) Provide a detailed, in-depth ethnographic description of the interactions, processes, and organizational arrangements of two CCM programs that contribute to patients’ retention in the clinical care system and fulfillment of their social and medical needs; 2) Identify and analyze individual (patient and provider), program, and organization characteristics that enhance or inhibit patient engagement and health literacy systems; and 3) Conduct focused analyses of the ethnographic data to: (a) develop and cognitively test a patient engagement measurement tool; (b) identify and elaborate organizational HL domains and attributes (including those mentioned in the Institute of Medicine paper) critical for safety net institutions; (c) create a matrix of items for inclusion and measurement in each domain; and (d) elaborate a conceptual framework linking organizational HL attributes to patient engagement, to be tested in a future study.

Addressing Oral Health Disparities among Mexican Immigrants. This NIDCR funded R21 aims:  to define the dimensions of OH literacy for San Francisco Bay Area Mexican immigrants (Conduct ethnographic research  (i.e., observations, individual and focus group interviews), to describe experiences of oral health disparities, oral health understandings and system navigation); and to develop foundational items for an OH literacy ESL curriculum (present foundational items in ten (10) ESL classes serving Mexican immigrants and observe their engagement with these foundational aspects of a future curriculum and conduct focus group interviews with adult ESL students for their views about each item).

Family-Focused Interventions with Chinese and Vietnamese Smokers: This collaboration with Janice Tsoh, PhD and Tung Nguyen, MD includes two separate randomized controlled trials with funding from the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) (August 2013- July 2016) and a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) R01 (September 2014 – May 2019). The TRDRP funded RCT completed enrollment and intervention delivery with 106 Vietnamese smoker-family dyads and 6-month follow-up data collected and completed in the summer of 2016.  The NIDA R01 RCT targets 360 Chinese and Vietnamese smoker-family dyads with a 12-month follow-up.  Recruitment of participants is on-going. The study explores changes in secondhand smoke exposures among non-smoking family members in addition to biochemically verified smoking cessation outcomes.

Engaging Underserved Women in Health Research (2014-2017) – Dr. Burke collaborates with Galen Joseph, PhD and Alyssa Nickell, PhD on this 3-year award from the California Breast Cancer Program (CBCRP). The study is a randomized controlled trial of a patient navigator intervention developed as part of a pilot study (CBCRP 2011-2013) to increase information about and access to breast cancer research opportunities for with multilingual low-income breast cancer patients and survivors.

Lung Cancer Screening: The Views of Patients and Physicians – With Celia Kaplan, PI, Dr. Burke is collaborating on the TRDRP-funded assessment of barriers and facilitators to lung cancer screening among a multiethnic patient population and their PCPs. Patient and PCP perspectives will be integrated to determine optimal communication strategies.

Disparities in Abnormal Mammogram Follow-up: Actionable Communication and Care Coordination Strategies – This NCI-funded R21, led by Leah Karliner, MD, seeks to explore and document vulnerable women’s experiences with communication and coordination of care after an abnormal mammogram result and to Investigate referring physician practices regarding communication and coordination of care after a patient has an abnormal mammogram result.

Share, Trust, Organize, Partner: The COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA) - This project seeks to mobilize academic-community partnerships across the State of California to work on COVID-19 prevention, vaccine trial information, and vaccine readiness particularly among our state’s hardest hit populations.

A Family-Focused Intervention for Asian American Male Smokers - Aims to evaluate the efficacy of a family-focused intervention in promoting smoking cessation in Chinese and Vietnamese male smokers using a 2-arm cluster randomized controlled trial with assessments at baseline, 6, and 12 months targeting 360 smoker-family dyads.

Impacts of COVID-19 On San Joaquin Valley Local Public Health Department Staff - This project seeks to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting local department of public health staff in the San Joaquin Valley.  We are conducting zoom interviews and administering an online survey to staff to better understand the personal, professional, and community impacts of the pandemic.