Donna Jeffe
Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine/Department of Medicine
- Email: jeffedonnab@nospam.wustl.edu
I study social support, personal, and situational factors in relation to health-risk/health-promoting behaviors and emotional adjustment to disease. My clinical research focuses on quality of life in cancer patients/survivors and cancer prevention and control in underserved groups. As principal investigator (PI) and co-investigator of numerous cohort and epidemiologic studies funded by the National Cancer Institute, I have examined various racial and/or ethnic disparities in melanoma, breast and colorectal cancer outcomes. Spurred by a profound interest in reducing health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities, I became PI of a retrospective, national-cohort study of U.S. medical-school matriculants. Using our unique database with at least 20 years of follow-up data from various sources, we have identified and examined various factors, including educational interventions and activities that promote the pursuit and retention of women and underrepresented minorities in biomedical-research and academic-medicine careers. This work has been continuously funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences since 2008.