“This fellowship is a great opportunity to dive deeply into the needs of patients and providers and address their barriers to lung cancer screening.”
The National Cancer Institute awarded a prestigious fellowship in July to dual M.D./Ph.D. student Miranda Reid to address lung cancer screening rates. Reid will be evaluating a new UF Health Cancer Center referral program that connects potential patients with community health navigators in rural and urban areas.
In the U.S., lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. In Florida, screening rates of three percent are well below the national average of six percent, with rural areas faring worse than urban areas.
Reid’s study will investigate the costs and benefits of a having a community navigator involved in a shared-decision making process. Community navigators will reach out to eligible patients with a health education tool, LungTalk, and then discuss the risks and benefits of screening with patients. Patients who are interested and eligible for screening will receive help navigating scheduling and addressing logistical barriers to screening.
Fellowship Builds on Previous Work
The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for dual degree students provides a fellowship value of more than $43,000 per year to support M.D./Ph.D students through their remaining pre-doctoral training. Reid has been working with the UF Health Cancer Center and UF Health primary care clinics to develop her proposal for over a year and is excited to continue this project with the support of the fellowship.
“This fellowship is a great opportunity to dive deeply into the needs of patients and providers and address their barriers to lung cancer screening,” said Reid.
Reid has spent the summer working with clinicians, staff, and community representatives to plan out implementation support strategies for the program. This fall, the UF Health Cancer Center will begin enrolling patients into this new study.
The fellowship will also support additional training for Reid in economic analysis and pragmatic study design, allowing her to evaluate the economics of this personal and interactive approach. Reid suspects that investments in the program will prove cost-effective due to expected increases in lung cancer screenings.