Melissa Anderson, MS
“My work is rewarding because we study a wide variety of scientific questions that address major public health priorities and our results have an impact.”
Melissa Anderson, MS
Principal Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Melissa.L.Anderson@kp.org
206-287-2647
Biography
Biostatistician Melissa Anderson, MS, has collaborated on a wide range of health care topics throughout her career, with an emphasis on preventive care. Her recent research has focused on cancer screening and cardiovascular health. Ms. Anderson worked with Beverly Green, MD, MPH, to determine whether a centralized system of stepped increases in support improves uptake and long-term adherence to colorectal cancer screening. Ms. Anderson and Dr. Green have also collaborated to answer important questions regarding cardiovascular health, including whether a patient’s cardiovascular risks can be defined using automated electronic health record data and if this method can identify high-risk patients. Other areas of interest are blood pressure measurement variability, and diagnostic accuracy of various blood pressure measurement protocols.
Ms. Anderson has experience with longitudinal observational studies and has considerable expertise in the design and analysis of randomized clinical trials. She was the lead analyst for recent randomized trials of behavioral interventions to (1) promote smoking cessation and oral health behaviors among smoking quitline callers, (2) decrease sedentary time among older adults with obesity, and (3) improve pain and function outcomes through group-based cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction among patients with chronic back pain.
Ms. Anderson received her master’s degree in biostatistics at the University of Washington in 1996. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in 2003, she worked at the Statistical Coordinating Center for the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
Research Interests and Experience
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Biostatistics
Randomized trials, diagnostic test accuracy, longitudinal data analysis, missing data methods
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Behavior Change
Physical activity, oral health care, smoking cessation
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Cancer
Breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening
Cardiovascular Health
Cardiovascular risk assessment, blood pressure measurement
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Preventive Medicine
Adherence to preventive care recommendations
Recent publications
Blasi PR, Zepp JM, Scrol A, Ewing J, Anderson ML, Ralston JD, Fullerton SM, Leppig K, Henrikson NB "I didn't have to worry about it": Patient and family experiences with health system involvement in notifying relatives of genetic test results 2024 Sep 30;27(1):150-160. doi: 10.1159/000541532. Epub 2024-09-30. PubMed
Luce C, Palazzo L, Anderson ML, Carter-Bawa L, Gao H, Green BB, Ralston JD, Rogers K, Su YR, Tuzzio L, Triplette M, Wernli KJ A pragmatic randomized clinical trial of multilevel interventions to improve adherence to lung cancer screening (The Larch Study): Study protocol 2024 May;140:107495. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107495. Epub 2024-03-11. PubMed
Ralston JD, Anderson M, Ng J, Bashir A, Ehrlich K, Burns-Hunt D, Cotton M, Hansell L, Hsu C, Hunt H, Karter AJ, Levy SM, Ludman E, Madziwa L, Omura EM, Rogers K, Sevey B, Shaw JAM, Shortreed SM, Singh U, Speight J, Sweeny A, Tschernisch K, Sergei Tschernisch S, Yarborough L Preventing severe hypoglycemia in adults with type 2 diabetes (PHT2): Design, delivery and evaluation framework for a randomized controlled trial 2024 Apr;139:107456. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107456. Epub 2024-01-20. PubMed
Winer RL, Buist DSM, Green BB, Lin J, Hansen K, Gao H, Sparks A, Meenan RT, Anderson ML, Tiro JA Strategies to Increase Cervical Cancer Screening With Mailed Human Papillomavirus Self-Sampling Kits: A Randomized Clinical Trial 2024 Mar; 79(3): 161-162. doi: 10.1097/01.ogx.0001010440.77705.9e. PubMed
Hall YN, Anderson ML, McClure JB, Ehrlich K, Hansell LD, Hsu CW, Margolis KL, Munson SA, Thompson MJ, Green BB Relationship of Blood Pressure, Health Behaviors, and New Diagnosis and Control of Hypertension in the BP-CHECK Study 2024 Feb;17(2):e010119. doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.123.010119. Epub 2024-02-08. PubMed
Research
Mailed HPV test kits are cost-effective for screening
Study provides economic rationale for health systems to adopt mailed kits for cervical cancer screening.
Research
Helping first-time screeners know when to return
Well-timed outreach in print and video can boost awareness of repeat screening for lung cancer, study finds.
New findings
There’s no place like home … to track blood pressure
Research led by KPWHRI’s Beverly Green, MD, MPH, finds that patients prefer at-home monitoring of blood pressure.
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