Scientist Profiles

Scarlett Lin Gomez, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Northern California Cancer Center Associate Director, Surveillance Research, Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry Consulting Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology, Dept. of Health Research & Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine Member, Stanford Cancer Center

2201 Walnut Avenue, Suite 300
Fremont, California 94538-2334
E-mail: scarlett@nccc.org
Phone: 510-608-5041
Fax: 510-608-5085


Research Interests:

• Using registry data to document and understand racial/ethnic differences in cancer incidence, treatment, and survival, in particular for disaggregated Asian ethnic subgroups
• Understanding the roles of the social and built environment, institutional discrimination, immigration, and cultural factors on racial/ethnic disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes
• Understanding and improving the accuracy and completeness of cancer registry information on race, ethnicity, place of birth, socioeconomic status, and language to improve surveillance of socioeconomic and immigrant groups

Dr. Gomez' research has a strong focus on cancer surveillance, including studies to elucidate the underlying social and behavioral factors responsible for racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities, particularly those identified through surveillance data; and to improve registry data for studies involving race/ethnicity and social determinants. Dr. Gomez has analyzed cancer incidence, treatment, and survival data for racial/ethnic groups, with a focus on specific Asian subgroups. She has been awarded several SEER grants directed toward improving the quality of cancer registry data on race, ethnicity, birthplace, and language, and is conducting a study to examine age, period, and immigration cohort effects on cancer incidence among California Asians and Hispanics.

She is completing an NCI R-21 project to address the surgical over-treatment of breast cancer among Asian women noted in prior surveillance work. This study involves interviews with patients, family, and providers to address the impact of culture on treatment decision-making among Asian women, and will provide the necessary infrastructure for a population-based study to investigate sociocultural factors in breast cancer decision-making and impacts on quality of life.

With an interdisciplinary group of researchers, Dr. Gomez has led the effort in research of the social and built environment and its impact on cancer. She and colleagues have compiled existing GIS/geospatial data for characterizing neighborhood environments in California. Dr. Gomez recently received NCI R03 funds to conduct a multilevel analysis of the impact of the social and built environment on racial/ethnic variations in breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer stage, treatment, and survival. Also involving the social and built environment data, Dr. Gomez was recently funded through the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program to study the impact of institutional- and individual-level discrimination on treatment and quality of life among breast cancer survivors.

Selected Research Projects:

Gomez SL, O'Malley C, Stroup A, Shema S, Satariano WA. Longitudinal, population-based study of racial/ethnic differences in colorectal cancer survival: Impact of neighborhood socioeconomic status, treatment and comorbidity. BMC Cancer 2007;7:193.

All publications (29)

Education:

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