Precision Disparity Modeling of Cervical Cancer Survival Using Genomic and Social Determinants

This project aims to better understand why certain population sub-groups persistently contribute to excess cancer risk. Aims will be tested using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), BioVu and the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS). We aim to tackle these challenges in the context of cervical cancer, a disease characterized by significant disparity.

Specific Aims:

1. Explore how DNA methylation and other multilevel risk factors, including socio-environmental risk conditions moderate the influence of race on cervical cancer survival
2. Identify patterns of disparity that are not race-based, but are driven by other underlying structure in the data
3. Extend Disparity Driver Analysis (DDA) to allow for the identification of disparity drivers of multiple diseases at once
4. Develop user-friendly R software that implements the methods developed in Aims 1 through 3

Research Team:

Investigators 

• Sunil Rao, PhD, University of Miami
• Erin Kobetz, PhD, MPH, University of Miami
• Melinda Aldrich, PhD, MPH, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• Diane Haddad, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center