Cancer care for the homeless, patient navigation during COVID-19, lung cancer screening, and more

TheoryLab

Elyse Park, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Health Promotion and Resiliency Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Associate Director of Survivorship Research, and Psychosocial Services for the MGH Cancer Center Survivorship Program. Her most recent American Cancer Society grant focuses on developing a health insurance navigation program for childhood survivors. Travis Baggett, MD, MPH, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of research at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, and an MGH research scholar. His ACS grant supports research into lung cancer screening navigation for homeless people. Sanja Percac-Lima, MD, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a primary care physician at the MGH Chelsea Community Health Care Center, and physician leader for cancer outreach at MGH Cancer Center. A former ACS grantee, her research focuses on cancer prevention in ethnic and racial minorities. 5:42 – Dr. Park on her research into lung cancer screening, helping smokers quit, and helping survivors cope with stress and enhance their resiliency 8:46 – Dr. Percac-Lima on her research into alleviating disparities in cancer care and screening in vulnerable populations 11:39 – Dr. Baggett on a patient navigation program to help current and former homeless individuals to quit smoking and get lung cancer screening 14:32 –Taking behavioral interventions to the next level 17:14 –Reducing colorectal cancer screening disparities through patient navigation 22:09 –The encouraging progress there has been in the recognition of health equity issues 29:05 – Dr. Park on helping cancer survivors to improve their access and use of health insurance 33:38 – On the benefits of patient navigation during the COVID-19 pandemic 38:09 – On social justice and the work of the homelessness housing and health lab 41:41 – Why Massachusetts General Hospital is such a wonderful research environment 48:32 – The impact of ACS funding on their research 53:05 – A message for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers