Diana Buist, PhD, MPH, is an epidemiologist and health services researcher with extensive experience conducting comparative effectiveness research. Her work focuses on reducing harms and increasing benefits for patients in the area of cancer screening and outcomes spanning across patient, provider, and system factors.
Dr. Buist has an extensive record of practical research that has led to many efforts to improve care, including the development and refinement of national breast cancer screening guidelines and their implementation within Kaiser Permanente Washington. She has been conducting research within Kaiser Permanente Washington for more than 20 years and is a strong believer in patient-centered care and the important role patients play in improving the value and quality of health care. Dr. Buist is involved in several studies aimed at providing high-value health care that provides patients and their providers with information on the expected benefits and harms of cancer screening and treatment strategies.
Dr. Buist also has a long history collaborating with external researchers, including helping lead two large national research consortia focused on improving cancer screening and outcomes: the National Cancer Institute’s Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium and the Cancer Research Network of the Health Care Systems Research Network. Her extensive experience working with diverse data from these consortia in longitudinal studies and randomized trials in clinical systems puts Dr. Buist in a unique position to examine screening, care, and outcomes in health systems across the country.
As Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships, Dr. Buist works with other Kaiser Permanente regions, our local academic partners, and other external collaborators to build enduring strategic partnerships to enhance KPWHRI’s mission, align with KPWHRI faculty research priorities, and capitalize on our unique strengths in ways that are consistent with our mission.
Dr. Buist contributes to a variety of other projects at KPWHRI, including:
Dr. Buist is also an affiliate professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Services at the University of Washington School of Public Health and an affiliate member at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She enjoys sharing her expertise by mentoring junior faculty and PhD and MPH candidates and teaching courses.
Cancer screening and prevention; outreach and primary care prevention; comparative effectiveness; cost transparency; surveillance; secondary prevention; breast cancer treatment; breast cancer screening; outcomes following cancer diagnosis; cancer survivorship; provider variability in care
Cancer prevention and control; quality of care; preventive care; high-value care; consumer engagement in preventive medicine; systematic reviews
Cancer prevention and control
Braithwaite D, Miglioretti DL, Zhu W, Demb J, Trentham-Dietz A, Sprague B, Tice JA, Onega T, Henderson LM, Buist DSM, Ziv E, Walter LC, Kerlikowske K. Family history and breast cancer risk among older women in the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium cohort. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 Apr 1;178(4):494-501. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.8642. PubMed
Roth JA, Carter-Harris L, Brandzel S, Buist DSM, Wernli KJ. A qualitative study exploring patient motivations for screening for lung cancer. PLoS One. 2018 Jul 5;13(7):e0196758. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196758. eCollection 2018. PubMed
Onega T, Weiss JE, Goodrich ME, Zhu W, DeMartini WB, Kerlikowske K, Ozanne E, Tosteson ANA, Henderson LM, Buist DSM, Wernli KJ, Herschorn SD, Hotaling E, O'Donoghue C, Hubbard R. Relationship between preoperative breast MRI and surgical treatment of non-metastatic breast cancer. J Surg Oncol. 2017 Dec;116(8):1008-1015. doi: 10.1002/jso.24796. Epub 2017 Nov 11. PubMed
Winer RL, Tiro JA, Miglioretti DL, Thayer C, Beatty T, Lin J, Gao G, Kimbel K, Buist DSM. Rationale and design of the HOME trial: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of home-based human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling for increasing cervical cancer screening uptake and effectiveness in a U.S. healthcare system. Contemp Clin Trials. 2017 Nov 4. pii: S1551-7144(17)30453-6. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2017.11.004. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Shiyanbola OO, Arao RF, Miglioretti DL, Sprague BL, Hampton JM, Stout NK, Kerlikowske K, Braithwaite D, Buist DSM, Egan KM, Newcomb PA, Trentham-Dietz A. Emerging trends in family history of breast cancer and associated risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2017 Dec;26(12):1753-1760. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-0531. Epub 2017 Oct 6. PubMed
Houssami N, Lee CI, Buist DSM, Tao D. Artificial intelligence for breast cancer screening: opportunity or hype? Breast. 2017 Sep 19;36:31-33. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2017.09.003. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Brandzel SD, Aiello Bowles EJ, Wieneke A, Bradford SC, Kimbel K, Goa H, Buist DSM. Cancer screening reminders: addressing the spectrum of patient preferences. Perm J. 2017;21. doi: 10.7812/TPP/17-051. PubMed
Buist DSM, Gao H, Anderson ML, Onega T, Brandzel S, Rabelhofer MA, Bradford SC, Aiello Bowles EJ. Breast cancer screening outreach effectiveness: mammogram-specific reminders vs. comprehensive preventive services birthday letters. Prev Med. 2017 Jun 24. pii: S0091-7435(17)30233-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.06.028. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Lee JM, Ichikawa L, Valencia E, Miglioretti DL, Wernli K, Buist DSM, Kerlikowske K, Henderson LM, Sprague BL, Onega T, Rauscher GH, Lehman CD. Performance benchmarks for screening breast MR imaging in community practice. Radiology. 2017 Oct;285(1):44-52. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2017162033. PubMed
Miglioretti DL, Ichikawa L, Smith R, Buist DSM, Carney PA, Geller B, Monsees B, Onega T, Rosenberg R, Sickles EA, Yankaskas B, Kerlikowske K. Correlation between screening mammography interpretive performance on a test set and performance in clinical practice. Acad Radiol. 2017 Oct;24(10):1256-1264. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2017.03.016. Epub 2017 May 24. PubMed
Dr. Diana Buist reflects on the challenges of providing screening during a pandemic — and finds reason for optimism.
The early-career scientists will receive 3 years of intensive training in Learning Health System research.
Admissions open for two new trainees as current scholars advance their projects.
Dr. Diana Buist and team reflect on HOME trial showing 50 percent screening boost in underscreened women.
Kaiser Permanente Washington has been part of the national Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium since 1994. Learn about the Kaiser Permanente Washington Breast Cancer Surveillance Registry here.
Interdisciplinary group shows that home-based HPV tests can boost cervical cancer screening for women at high risk.
Reuters Health, published by Medscape, Nov. 24, 2020