Nancy Breen
Nancy Breen, PhD, has served as a health economist in the Applied Research Program at
the National Cancer Institute since 1991. To respond to the program's mission of
expanding our understanding of how and why cancer care and control activities influence
cancer patterns and trends, Dr. Breen's research investigates how race, social class,
gender, community factors, and health service diffusion, especially cancer screening,
shape cancer outcomes. Dr. Breen received her PhD from the Department of Economics at the
Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City in 1988. Prior
to coming to NCI, she taught economics at Connecticut College and served as a research
associate to Dr. Matthew Snipp in the American Statistical Association/National Science
Foundation Fellowship Program housed at the US Census Bureau.
Dr. Breen's research in the Health Services and Economics Branch at NCI focuses on how
social inequalities are related to health outcomes, with special emphasis on cancer
screening, the entry point to health services delivery for screenable cancer sites, where
disparities first emerge along the cancer continuum. Because of her interests in
screening and data development, Dr. Breen served as NCI project officer to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) from 1999-2009, and she
has served as NCI project officer to the California Health
Interview Survey (CHIS) since 1999. Dr. Breen coordinates the CHIS Cancer Control
Supplement Team at NCI, and some of her publications have explored using CHIS in creative
ways to examine cancer screening in specific populations and localities. She proctors an
NCI Prevention Fellow who is leading a team to develop a scientifically valid and reliable
multi-cultural self-reported discrimination module. Dr. Breen collaborates on a
multi-disciplinary research team organized to improve understanding of health disparities
measures and to disseminate them using the Health Disparities Calculator
(HD*Calc). These projects correspond to her broader interest in how economic
indicators can be used to improve cancer monitoring, how the range of SES and access
indicators are associated with cancer outcomes, and with how public programs can be
improved with an evidence base derived from systematic routine monitoring.
Dr. Breen serves as NCI Program Director for various grants.
Dr. Breen represents NCI on the National Committee on
Vital and Health Statistics Subcommittee on Populations. She received NIH Merit Awards in
2001, 2004 and 2008, is author or co-author of many articles published in peer-reviewed
journals, and provides peer reviews for a wide range of journals. Dr. Breen is strongly
committed to development of surveillance tools that can measure small areas and small
populations with a view to monitoring equality, social justice and sustainable economic
systems.
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