Influencing public health policies and studying trends is key to creating positive outcomes for cancer patients.
Dr. Cathy Bradley, dean and professor at the Colorado School of Public Health and vice director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, and Dr. Lindsay M. Savick, associate professor and vice chair for health policy and management research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and member of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center, spoke with CancerNetwork® about their research and why they decided to focus on public health.
During the segment, “Breaking Down Barriers: Women in Cancer Research,” Bradley and Savick emphasized that their careers have revolved around health equity, the cost-effectiveness of cancer treatment, and why patients continue to work after a diagnosis. Savick, in particular, found herself interested in public health because of how legislation such as the Affordable Care Act impacts access to treatment for entire populations.
Transcript:
SABIC:
I’m broadly interested in population and access, and a lot of that focuses on how state and federal policies affect the health care people get, including how they access insurance and what its impact is. I started my career when the Affordable Care Act was first passed and first starting to be implemented. I had the opportunity to study how state reforms that were precursors to the Affordable Care Act affected access to cancer care, and then when I think about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the work that Cathy and I did together, we were some of the first people to look at the expansion of Medicaid insurance and how that contributed to increased cancer screening and earlier diagnosis and improved access to treatment. That’s been a key part of my career and the work that I’ve done.
Bradley:
Similarly, this initiative on Medicaid and [study] Affordable Care Act [has highlighted the] difference [these policies have] My research has played a major role in changing cancer outcomes in certain populations. Another aspect of my research is the labor market outcomes of how people respond when they are diagnosed with cancer, get a job, get insurance through their employer, and how they make trade-offs about whether to stay in work. [We are] that some people are forgoing chemotherapy or treatment in order not to jeopardize their jobs; [we are studying] The role health insurance plays in those decisions.
