PhD
Assistant Professor, Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy
Eshelman School of Pharmacy
UNC-Chapel Hill
Cancer Prevention and Control
Area of Interest
Dr. Spees is a health services researcher and decision scientist focused on improving access to high-quality cancer care, particularly for marginalized populations. Her work has focused on examining disparities in cancer care and patient outcomes across the cancer care continuum; using claims (e.g. Medicaid) and linked-claims databases (e.g. SEER-Medicare, CIPHR) as well as qualitative methods to investigate the influence of multi-level factors on cancer treatment; leading cost analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses; employing community-engaged approaches to develop and implement interventions. Currently, her research focuses specifically on improving rural cancer care through community-engaged research methods and cost-effectiveness analyses.
Dr. Spees also serves as the Director of Cancer Health Assets and Needs Assessment in the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. In this role, she is leading the state-wide initiative to comprehensively capture and communicate the cancer burden and opportunities to address cancer needs in North Carolina (NC). This multi-phased project involves: 1) curating publicly available data to compare NC cancer/health and socioeconomic metrics to the broader US population and across all 100 NC counties; 2) utilizing data from the CIPHR to obtain the most up-to-date NC-specific cancer incidence, prevalence, and mortality estimates at both the state- and county-level, to identify patterns of cancer screening, treatment, and survivorship care, and to map treatment and screening facilities across NC; 3) collecting primary data through mixed methods (surveys and stakeholder interviews) to describe the experiences and needs of cancer survivors and evaluate the cancer information and knowledge needs in NC communities.
Finally, Dr. Spees is also currently focused on her NIMHD-funded K01, which aims to identify multi-level barriers to endometrial cancer treatment among patients living in rural areas by developing (via intervention mapping) and piloting a patient navigation intervention.
News and Stories
American Indians with cancer often experience lower-quality end-of-life care
Marc Emerson, PhD, MPH, and colleagues conducted a study of people diagnosed with cancer in North Carolina and found that American Indians experienced lower-quality end-of-life care compared to white patients.
Cervical cancer screening doubles when under-screened women are mailed testing kits
Jennifer Smith, PhD, MPH, Noel Brewer, PhD, and colleagues report mailing HPV self-collection tests and offering assistance to book in-clinic screening appointments to under-screened, low-income women improved cervical cancer screening nearly two-fold compared to scheduling assistance alone.
Expanded community data project will improve understanding of cancer
UNC Lineberger’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement has begun a major, new data-driven initiative that will comprehensively describe the cancer burden in North Carolina.
