Research Summary

My research focuses on understanding the role of social determinants of health in shaping and perpetuating cancer health disparities. One main area of focus is on place and health. I have participated as a Co-Investigator on several research projects evaluating how neighborhood characteristics (e.g., social, built, and physical environment attributes) and geographic variation may shape cancer-related health behaviors and outcomes across the cancer continuum. In addition, my research has included efforts to better characterize neighborhoods for population health studies (neighborhood archetypes, virtual audits with Google Street View). Our team is also working on multiple ways to enhance the neighborhood data for existing cohorts to better understand the role of neighborhoods in cancer outcomes, including asking participants about their neighborhoods and whether they utilize the resources as well as constructing residential histories to study impact of neighborhood change. My research has also focused on understanding how factors related to social status (race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and immigration) impact health disparities, particularly applying an intersectional lens. During my post-doc, I led a multidisciplinary team in the development of a discrimination measure for the California Health Interview Survey, where we applied a mixed methods approach to testing and validating the measure. Since then, I have continued to study self-reported experiences of discrimination (across a variety of domains, including medical discrimination) and its impact on health behaviors and outcomes, including quality of life among breast cancer survivors.

Research Funding

  • April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2025 - Ethnicity and Nativity in Cancer - Latino & Asian Enclaves: The ENCLAVE Study , Multiple Principal Investigator (Contact) . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA237540
  • August 16, 2019 - July 31, 2024 - Understanding the Multilevel Drivers of Liver Cancer Disparities , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA225478
  • September 1, 2017 - February 28, 2019 - Impact of Neighborhoods and Navigation on Survivorship , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: California Breast Cancer Research Program, Sponsor Award ID: 23AB-1501
  • February 1, 2016 - January 31, 2018 - Impact of social and built environments on health-related quality of life for cancer survivors , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R03CA202192

Education

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, B.A., 05/1996, Biological Basis of Behavior
Columbia University, New York, NY, M.P.H., 05/1998, Sociomedical Sciences
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, Ph.D., 05/2007, Social & Behavioral Sciences
National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, Postdoctoral Fellowship, 03/2010, Cancer Prevention

Honors & Awards

  • 1998-1999
    Community Fellowship Award, Open Society Institute
  • 2002-2006
    Pre-Doctoral Cancer Training Grant, NCI (awarded to Johns Hopkins University)
  • 2005-2006
    Health, Behavior and Society Departmental Dissertation Award, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • 2005-2006
    The Carol Eliasberg Martin Scholarship in Cancer Prevention, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • 2005-2006
    The John C. Hume Doctoral Award, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • 2008
    Director's Award for outstanding leadership in the development of novel methods for the evaluation of data collection instruments used across populations with multiple languages and cultures (group award), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
  • 2009
    Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE), National Institutes of Health
  • 2009
    Cancer Prevention Research Training Merit Award, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
  • 2011
    Travel Award to NIH-supported Training Program in Advanced Spatial Analysis, MultilevelModeling workshop, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
  • 2012-2014
    Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program, National Institutes of Health
  • 2015-2017
    Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program (renewal), National Institutes of Health
  • 2016-2017
    Quick Start Training Program, California Breast Cancer Research Program

Selected Publications

  1. Guan A, Pruitt SL, Henry KA, Lin K, Meltzer D, Canchola AJ, Rathod AB, Hughes AE, Kroenke CH, Gomez SL, Hiatt RA, Stroup AM, Pinheiro PS, Boscoe FP, Zhu H, Shariff-Marco S. Asian American Enclaves and Healthcare Accessibility: An Ecologic Study Across Five States. Am J Prev Med. 2023 Jul 08.  View on PubMed
  2. Sangaramoorthy M, Yang J, Tseng C, Wu J, Ritz B, Larson TV, Fruin S, Stram DO, Park SL, Franke AA, Wilkens LR, Samet JM, Le Marchand L, Shariff-Marco S, Haiman CA, Wu AH, Cheng I. Particulate matter, traffic-related air pollutants, and circulating C-reactive protein levels: The Multiethnic Cohort Study. Environ Pollut. 2023 Sep 01; 332:121962.  View on PubMed
  3. Wang EY, Borno HT, Washington Iii SL, Friedlander T, Zhang S, Trejo E, Van Blarigan EL, Chan JM, Shariff-Marco S, Beatty AL, Kenfield SA. Engaging Men of Diverse Racial and Ethnic Groups With Advanced Prostate Cancer in the Design of an mHealth Diet and Exercise Intervention: Focus Group Study. JMIR Cancer. 2023 Jun 01; 9:e45432.  View on PubMed
  4. Arthur Bookstein, Justine Po, Iona Cheng, Anna H. Wu, Timothy V. Larson, Lani Park, Jun Wu, Salma Shariff-Marco, Pushkar Inamdar, Veronica Wendy Setiawan, Mindy DeRouen, Scarlett L. Gomez, Loic Le Marchand, Daniel Stram, Jonathan Samet, Beate Ritz, Scott A. Fruin. Examining ultrafine particle pollution and lung cancer risk in a large, diverse cohort. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Jun 1; 41(16_suppl):8532-8532.  View on PubMed
  5. Nita Mukand, Salma Shariff-Marco, James D. Brooks, Benjamin I. Chung, John T. Leppert, Dominick Frosh, Weiva Sieh, Alice Guan, Eduardo J Santiago-Rodriguez, Peter Carroll, Janet K Shim, Mei-Chin Kuo, Laura Allen, Mindy DeRouen, Iona Cheng, Scarlett L. Gomez, Qian Lu. Patient-level factors associated with the use of active surveillance: The talking about prostate cancer cohort. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Jun 1; 41(16_suppl):10565-10565.  View on PubMed
  6. Mike Z. Yang, Raymond Liu, Julie Von Behren, Katherine Lin, Alyce S. Adams, Lawrence H. Kushi, Charles P. Quesenberry, Jeffrey B. Velotta, Kelly C. Young-Wolff, Scarlett L. Gomez, Salma Shariff-Marco, Lori C. Sakoda. Representativeness of patients with lung cancer in an integrated health care delivery system. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Jun 1; 41(16_suppl):e13600-e13600.  View on PubMed
  7. Raphael E, Inamdar PP, Belmont C, Shariff-Marco S, Huang A, Chambers H. Spatial clusters of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli causing community-onset bacteriuria due to repeat infections: cluster analysis from a large urban medical center, San Francisco, 2014-2020. Res Sq. 2023 May 22.  View on PubMed
  8. Gomez SL, Chirikova E, McGuire V, Collin LJ, Dempsey L, Inamdar PP, Lawson-Michod K, Peters ES, Kushi LH, Kavecansky J, Shariff-Marco S, Peres LC, Terry P, Bandera EV, Schildkraut JM, Doherty JA, Lawson A. Role of neighborhood context in ovarian cancer survival disparities: current research and future directions. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2023 Apr 26.  View on PubMed
  9. Conroy SM, Von Behren J, Kwan ML, Kushi LH, Kim MO, Iribarren C, Roh JM, Laurent CA, Thomsen C, Chu JN, Greenlee H, Gomez SL, Shariff-Marco S. Neighborhood attributes and cardiovascular disease risk in breast cancer survivors: The Pathways Study. Cancer. 2023 08 01; 129(15):2395-2408.  View on PubMed
  10. Oh DL, Schumacher K, Yang J, Wang K, Lin K, Gomez SL, Shariff-Marco S. Disparities in cancer incidence by rurality in California. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2023 04 11; 115(4):385-393.  View on PubMed
  11. Eduardo J. Santiago-Rodriguez, Salma Shariff-Marco, Zinzi D. Bailey, Justin S. White, Isabel E. Allen, Robert A. Hiatt. Abstract 1931: Racialized economic segregation and late-stage colorectal cancer in the United States, 2009-2017. Cancer Research. 2023 Apr 4; 83(7_Supplement):1931-1931.  View on PubMed
  12. Shariff-Marco S, Sangaramoorthy M, Ellis L, Thomsen C, Roh JM, Kroenke C, Valice E, Kwan ML, Ambrosone C, Kushi L, Gomez SL. Impact of Racial/Ethnic Discrimination on Quality of Life Among Breast Cancer Survivors. Am J Epidemiol. 2023 02 24; 192(3):367-376.  View on PubMed
  13. Santiago-Rodríguez EJ, Shariff-Marco S, Gomez SL, Hiatt RA. Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening by Time in the U.S. and Race/Ethnicity, 2010-2018. Am J Prev Med. 2023 07; 65(1):74-82.  View on PubMed
  14. Acker J, Mujahid M, Aghaee S, Gomez S, Shariff-Marco S, Chu B, Deardorff J, Kubo A. Neighborhood Racial and Economic Privilege and Timing of Pubertal Onset in Girls. J Adolesc Health. 2023 03; 72(3):419-427.  View on PubMed
  15. Guan A, Shim JK, Allen L, Kuo MC, Lau K, Loya Z, Brooks JD, Carroll PR, Cheng I, Chung BI, DeRouen MC, Frosch DL, Golden T, Leppert JT, Lichtensztajn DY, Lu Q, Oh DL, Sieh W, Wadhwa M, Gomez SL, Shariff-Marco S. Factors that influence treatment decisions: A qualitative study of racially and ethnically diverse patients with low- and very-low risk prostate cancer. Cancer Med. 2023 03; 12(5):6307-6317.  View on PubMed
  16. Cheng I, Yang J, Tseng C, Wu J, Shariff-Marco S, Park SL, Conroy SM, Inamdar PP, Fruin S, Larson T, Setiawan VW, DeRouen MC, Gomez SL, Wilkens LR, Le Marchand L, Stram DO, Samet J, Ritz B, Wu AH. Traffic-related Air Pollution and Lung Cancer Incidence: The California Multiethnic Cohort Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022 10 15; 206(8):1008-1018.  View on PubMed
  17. Bane S, Abrams B, Mujahid M, Ma C, Shariff-Marco S, Main E, Profit J, Xue A, Palaniappan L, Carmichael SL. Risk factors and pregnancy outcomes vary among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander individuals giving birth in California. Ann Epidemiol. 2022 12; 76:128-135.e9.  View on PubMed
  18. Wang K, Ma C, Li FM, Truong A, Shariff-Marco S, Chu JN, Oh DL, Allen L, Kuo MC, Wong C, Bui H, Chen J, Gomez SL, Nguyen TT, Tsoh JY. Patient-reported supportive care needs among Asian American cancer patients. Support Care Cancer. 2022 Nov; 30(11):9163-9170.  View on PubMed
  19. Mindy C. Hebert-DeRouen, Li Tao, Salma Shariff-Marco, Juan Yan, Yurii B. Shvetsov, Song-Yi Park, Cheryl L. Albright, Kristine Monroe, Loic Le Marchand, Lynne Wilkens, Scarlett L. Gomez, Iona Cheng. Abstract LB159: Neighborhood obesogenic environment and risk of prostate cancer: The Multiethnic Cohort. Cancer Research. 2022 Jun 15; 82(12_Supplement):lb159-lb159.  View on PubMed
  20. Gomez SL, Shariff-Marco S, Cheng I. The Unrelenting Impact of Poverty on Cancer: Structural Inequities Call for Research and Solutions on Structural Determinants. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 06 13; 114(6):783-784.  View on PubMed

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