Chronic Disease Prevention and Management
Most deaths in the U.S. are attributable to chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Marginalized racial and ethnic groups and individuals living in under-resourced environments are placed at increased risk of premature death from chronic diseases due in part to structural racism and social drivers of health at multiple levels of the socioecological model. Thus, in order to prevent and manage chronic diseases, we must also understand and address contextual elements such as health care access and affordability, neighborhood environment, and exposure to stressors and discrimination.
We approach our work to combat chronic disease through the lens of these social drivers of health, conducting research to improve risk factors across individual, family, community, health care and population levels. Our efforts also aim to improve treatment adherence and patient-provider communication, reduce disease symptoms, and enhance quality of life.
Research within this realm is transdisciplinary in nature, and we are proud to collaborate with individuals with lived experience, community partners, and other key stakeholders. Our research methods span the translational science spectrum, ranging from efficacy trials to dissemination and implementation efforts.
Ongoing Projects
Co-Principal Investigator: Alexander Lucas, PhD
Funding Source: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Project Summary: This randomized, multi-site trial will be performed to formulate and then determine if a tailored physical activity intervention with or without a formalized education program attenuates the development of fatigue, cardiovascular or cognitive dysfunction, and exercise intolerance upon receipt of adjuvant anthracycline based chemotherapy for Stage I-IV Lymphoma. Innovative cardiopulmonary exercise testing with magnetic resonance imaging will be utilized to assess contributors to exercise capacity.
Principal Investigator: Alexander Lucas, PhD
Funding Source: NRG Oncology
Project Summary: This project focuses on important medically underserved groups of PC patients who are at disproportionate risk of poor health outcomes following treatment. This project is responsive to both focus 1 and focus 2 of NRG Oncology’ HDC. We will identify multi-level barriers and facilitators of engaging in exercise training to improve the relevance of evidence-based interventions that can be scaled up to increase access to such programs. This proposed phase I study will provide essential data to support the testing of a refined BET in a future randomized clinical trial to mitigate negative side-effects associated with treatment for PC. Interventions, that are adapted and tailored to be relevant to specific populations of patients will have a greater likelihood of adoption than a one size fits all approach. As highlighted by the COVID pandemic, increasing access to care among underserved groups is critical for improving health outcomes.
Principal Investigator: Alexander Lucas, PhD
Funding Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Project Summary: Cardiovascular disease is a primary competing cause of morbidity and mortality among older men diagnosed with prostate cancer, especially those treated with androgen deprivation therapy. Behavioral interventions to support the adoption and maintenance of exercise training may be a promising non-pharmacological approach to buffer the negative sequalae of treatment with ADT. Through the proposed research and training plan we will test whether a behavioral exercise training intervention, that can be remotely delivered to men across diverse settings, leads to favorable changes in exercise capacity, body composition and subclinical markers of cardiovascular function, that forecast future cardiovascular events.
Co-Investigator: Jessica G. LaRose, PhD
Funding Source: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Project Summary: This is a randomized controlled trial comparing two distinct parent approaches within adolescent obesity treatment and examining the impact of these approaches on adolescent weight loss maintenance. Further, it examines mechanisms of action to explain parents’ impact on adolescents’ weight loss maintenance.
Co-Investigator: Jessica G. LaRose, PhD
Funding Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Project Summary: This is a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of a novel behavioral economics mHealth intervention and a standard mHealth intervention for weight loss over 12 months in adults from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Principal Investigators: Jessica G. LaRose, PhD and Maghboeba Mosavel, PhD
Funding Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Project Summary: Grounded in a decade of community-based participatory research, this is a cluster randomized trial designed to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a novel grassroots intervention delivery model to reduce adiposity and improve cardiometabolic risk for majority Black residents in an under-resourced community setting.
Co-Investigator: Jessica LaRose, PhD
Funding Source: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Project Summary: The goal of this project is to examine the familial reach of adolescent obesity treatment to understand how family-level factors impact adolescent weight outcomes. Findings will inform subsequent family-based adolescent obesity interventions that target identified family-level factors directly and improve clinical guidelines regarding family-based treatment of adolescent obesity.
Jessica G. LaRose, Ph.D.
Alexander R. Lucas, Ph.D., M.S.
Maghboeba Mosavel, Ph.D., M.A.
