Bio: Elana Taipapaki Curtis, M.B.Ch.B., a 2004-05 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is a Māori (Te Arawa) public health medicine physician from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Before accepting the position of Senior Lecturer Medical, she was working at the National Screening Unit, Ministry of Health in Wellington, where she has been investigating ethnic disparities in breast cancer epidemiology. She has previously worked with Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare - Māori Health Research Centre at the University of Otago investigating ethnic disparities in access to invasive cardiovascular procedures/caesarean sections and the relationship between disparities and deprivation. She is a member of the Māori Cardiovascular Advisory Group and has been actively involved in developing Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa - Māori Medical Practitioners Association (Te ORA). Her research interests include investigating ethnic inequalities in health using a Kaupapa Māori Research framework in order to eliminate existing disparities.
Placement: University of California
Mentors: Rebecca Smith-Bindman, M.D.; Andrew Bindman, M.D.
Project: An Analysis of Race/Ethnic Disparities in Breast Cancer Tumor Characteristics and Survival in Elderly Women: SEER-Medicare Data Analysis
Description: Elana Taipapaki Curtis investigated the effect of mammography screening on racial and ethnic differences in cancer tumor characteristics at time of diagnosis, and the effect of screening, treatment, demographics, and other factors on disparities in breast cancer survival. She used data from the SEER database, which contains data on tumor characteristics at time of diagnosis, treatment, patient demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and mortality.