SUMMARY
The research of David M. Zahrieh, Ph.D., involves the design, conduct, reporting and analysis of randomized clinical trials that incorporate design elements with varying degrees of pragmatism.
His research areas include developing spatial epidemiologic models and applying Bayesian disease mapping to quantify health disparities in medical outcomes. Dr. Zahrieh studies these disparities in racial, ethnic minority, other disadvantaged groups and patient-reported oncology outcomes.
Focus areas
Cancer care delivery research. Dr. Zahrieh collaborates on pragmatic randomized clinical trials conducted in cancer care delivery research. These trials incorporate pragmatic features to maximize the applicability of the trial results to the usual care setting.
There are limited guidelines for generalists on what to monitor and report to the data and safety monitoring board during randomized clinical trials. There are few suggestions of what the data and safety monitoring board should focus on in their review of reports. Dr. Zahrieh and colleagues recently shared their viewpoints on these issues, based on their experience conducting such trials.
Health disparities research. Dr. Zahrieh applies Bayesian disease mapping to quantify potential inequities in health outcomes. Recently, Dr. Zahrieh and colleagues quantified potential inequities in breast cancer incidence for American Indian and Alaska Native women in New Mexico through Bayesian disease mapping.
The novel application of their spatial model in this area demonstrates the importance of accounting for spatial variation. It highlights the advantages of applying spatial modeling within the Bayesian framework over traditional, nonspatial epidemiologic techniques when quantifying health inequities.
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Patient-reported outcomes research. Dr. Zahrieh studies the design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials in breast cancer and melanoma patient-reported outcomes. He researches quality-adjusted survival with a focus on personalizing care and facilitating effective decision-making. This decision-making is between the clinician and patient when evaluating different treatment regimens.
Significance to patient care
Dr. Zahrieh's research on the design, conduct, reporting, and analysis of clinical trials in oncology and on the identification of inequities in health outcomes allows new and effective approaches to patient care.