Weiwei Zhu, MS, joined Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute's Biostatistics Unit in 2009. She works closely with Senior Investigator Diana Miglioretti, PhD, to design studies, manage data, and conduct statistical analyses for the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC)—the National Cancer Institute’s seven-site network of mammography researchers. She has been a key member of the BCSC Statistical Coordinating Center for almost 10 years. Her work studying the breast screening benefits and risks played an essential role in an American Cancer Society screening guideline change in 2015.
Ms. Zhu also works with Senior Investigator Denise Boudreau, PhD, to quantify the serious risks of misuse, abuse, and addiction associated with long-term opioid use. This multi-site study will use electronic health record data and survey interviews to provide estimates of long-term opioid use risks in two cohorts.
After beginning her medical research career as an intern at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2007, Ms. Zhu served as a biostatistician at the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Florida.
Correlated data analysis; longitudinal data; survival analysis
Opioid misuse, abuse, and addiction
Biostatistics; breast cancer screening and surveillance
Cook AJ, Elmore JG, Zhu W, Jackson SL, Carney PA, Flowers C, Onega T, Geller B, Rosenberg RD, Miglioretti DL. Mammographic interpretation: radiologists' ability to accurately estimate their performance and compare it with that of their peers. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2012 Sep;199(3):695-702. PubMed
Henderson LM, Hubbard RA, Onega TL, Zhu W, Buist DS, Fishman P, Tosteson AN. Assessing health care use and cost consequences of a new screening modality: the case of digital mammography. Med Care. 2012 Dec;50(12):1045-52. PubMed
Fenton JJ, Zhu W, Balch S, Smith-Bindman R, Lindfors K, Hubbard R. External validation of Medicare claims codes for digital mammography and computer-aided detection. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012 Aug;21(8):1344-7. Epub 2012 Jun 13. PubMed
Mahajan K, Coppola D, Chen YA, Zhu W, Lawrence HR, Lawrence NJ, Mahajan NP. Ack1 tyrosine kinase activation correlates with pancreatic cancer progression. Am J Pathol. 2012 Apr;180(4):1386-93. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2011.12.028. Epub 2012 Feb 7. PubMed
Braithwaite D, Zhu W, Hubbard R, O'Meara ES, Miglioretti DL, Geller B, Dittus K, Wernli K, Moore D, Kerlikowske K, for the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. Benefits and harms of screening mammography frequency by age and comorbidity score. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012;21(3):565. Epub 2012 Feb 15. PubMed
A study among Kaiser Permanente members with sleep problems and osteoarthritis shows promise for overcoming obstacles to treatment.
The technology’s potential benefits to detect breast cancer earlier are not equally shared among all women, researchers find.