Professional Opportunity

Post-Doctoral Experience in Health Services Research

Post-Doctoral Experience in Health Services Research

The Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Cohort Study is an NIH-funded prospective cohort study now entering its eleventh year. We are recruiting for a post-doctoral research fellow to join the analytic team. The position would be attractive to a scientist in health services research, clinical epidemiology, public health, or other clinical research disciplines who is interested in a hands-on post-doctoral experience in an academic environment. The research experience centers on analyzing and publishing data from this on-going comparative effectiveness project.

Principal Investigator / Mentor: Mary-Margaret Chren, MD, Professor, University of California, San Francisco, and Director, Health Services Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Qualification: MD, PhD, or equivalent doctoral degree in public health science or quantitative social science, such as public health, health services research, epidemiology, clinical research, or sociology. Experience with statistical analytic programs such as SAS or STATA will be helpful.

Possible research projects: Overall, the research in the Chren group focuses on understanding and measuring complex health outcomes (such as quality of life), and on comprehensively assessing effectiveness of therapies for common nonfatal conditions. Nonmelanoma skin cancer is the most common malignancy; many therapies exist, but for the majority of tumors data are insufficient to permit evidence-based choices. Moreover, therapies vary widely in cost and, because the tumors are rarely fatal, both patient-reported as well as clinical outcomes are important in determining effectiveness.
The post-doctoral research fellow would assume a central role in analyses of data from the NMSC Cohort study, an eleven-year old prospective study of outcomes after treatment of NMSC. The main outcomes of the study are tumor recurrence and patient-reported outcomes such as quality of life. Typical research papers from the study so far include

Documenting unexplained variations in care for NMSC at different practice settings:
• Chren MM, Sahay AP, Sands LP, Maddock L, Lindquist K, Bertenthal D, Bacchetti P. Variation in care for nonmelanoma skin cancer in a private practice and a Veterans Affairs clinic. Med Care 2004; 42:1019-1026.
• Clark FL, Sahay AP, Bertenthal D, Maddock L, Lindquist K, Grekin R, Chren MM. Variation in care for recurrent nonmelanoma skin cancer in a university-based practice and a Veterans Affairs clinic. Arch Dermatol 2008; 144:1148-1152. PMCID: PMC2653265

Measuring and predicting patient-reported outcomes after therapy for NMSC:
• Chren MM, Sahay AP, Bertenthal D, Sen S, Landefeld CS. Quality-of-life outcomes of treatments for cutaneous basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. J Invest Dermatol 2007; 127:1351-57.
• Chen T, Bertenthal D, Sahay A, Sen S, Chren MM. Predictors of skin-related quality of life after treatment of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Arch Dermatol 2007; 143:1386-1392.
• Asgari MM, Bertenthal D, Sen S, Sahay A, Chren MM. Patient satisfaction after treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer. Dermatol Surg 2009; 35:1041-49. PMCID: PMC2710423

The study has now collected rich long-term data from patient reports, clinical examinations, and medical record review about tumor recurrence after different treatments for NMSC. A qualified post-doctoral fellow could assume a central role in the analysis of these data and first-authoring research papers.

Environment: The fellow will work closely with Dr. Chren, in planning and carrying out the analyses, presenting the results, and writing papers for publication. Early on, we will draft a timeline with benchmarks of progress. The fellow will work as part of an academic research group at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center called the Health Services Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP, http://www.sfhsrd.research.va.gov/). The REAP is a multidisciplinary research group consisting of MD and PhD scientists who are UCSF faculty, and whose work focuses on improving the quality of health care, particularly for persons with complex comorbid conditions. In the REAP, the post-doctoral research fellow will have close access to the entire study team, including doctoral- and masters- level staff who also work on data analyses. By the end of this post-doctoral experience, the fellow will have a clear sense of the career of an academic investigator focused on patient-based research. Because the emphasis is on research skills acquisition and authoring research papers, the experience will be good preparation for an applicant who intends to apply for an academic faculty position in health care research.

Applications, including a cover letter and curriculum vitae, should be sent to:

Mary-Margaret Chren, MD
Professor, University of California, San Francisco
Director, Health Services Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP)
San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center
chrenm@derm.ucsf.edu
415-221-4810 ext 3982