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
Loggers ET, Buist DS, Gold LS, Zeliadt S, Hunter Merrill R, Etzioni R, Ramsey SD, Sullivan SD, Kessler L. Advanced imaging and receipt of guideline concordant care in women with early stage breast cancer. Int J Breast Cancer. 2016;2016:2182985. doi: 10.1155/2016/2182985. Epub 2016 Jul 25. PubMed
Drescher CW, Beatty JD, Resta R, Andersen MR, Watabayashi K, Thorpe J, Hawley S, Purkey H, Chubak J, Hanson N, Buist DS, Urban N. The effect of referral for genetic counseling on genetic testing and surgical prevention in women at high risk for ovarian cancer: results from a randomized controlled trial. Cancer. 2016 Jul 22. doi: 10.1002/cncr.30190. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Elmore JG, Cook AJ, Bogart A, Carney PA, Geller BM, Taplin SH, Buist DS, Onega T, Lee CI, Miglioretti DL. Radiologists' interpretive skills in screening vs. diagnostic mammography: are they related? Clin Imaging. 2016 Jul 1;40(6):1096-1103. doi: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2016.06.014. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Ozanne EM, Weiss JE, Onega T, DeMartini W, Kerlikowske K, Buist DS, Henderson L, Hubbard RA, Goodrich M, Tosteson AN, Virnig BA, O'Donoghue C. Locoregional treatment of breast cancer in women with and without preoperative magnetic resonance imaging. Am J Surg. 2016 Jun 12. pii: S0002-9610(16)30286-0. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2016.03.014. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Onega T, Weiss JE, Buist DS, Tosteson AN, Henderson LM, Kerlikowske K, Goodrich ME, O'Donoghue C, Wernli KJ, DeMartini WB, Virnig BA, Bennette CS, Hubbard RA. Breast MRI in the diagnostic and preoperative workup among Medicare beneficiaries with breast cancer. Med Care. 2016 Apr 22. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Chubak J, Whitlock EP, Williams SB, Kamineni A, Burda BU, Buist DS, Anderson ML. Aspirin for the prevention of cancer incidence and mortality: systematic evidence reviews for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Ann Intern Med. 2016 Apr 12. doi: 10.7326/M15-2117. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Bowles EJ, Gao H, Brandzel S, Bradford SC, Buist DS. Comparative effectiveness of two outreach strategies for cervical cancer screening. Prev Med. 2016 Jan 25. pii: S0091-7435(16)00030-X. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.01.016. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Nichols HB, Bowles EJA, Islam J, Madziwa L, Sturmer T, Tran DT, Buist DS. Tamoxifen initiation after ductal carcinoma in situ. Oncologist. 2016 Jan 14. pii: theoncologist.2015-0310. [Epub ahead of print].
Dallal CM, Lacey JV Jr, Pfeiffer RM, Bauer DC, Falk RT, Buist DS, Cauley JA, Hue TF, LaCroix AZ, Tice JA, Veenstra TD, Xu X, Brinton LA. Estrogen metabolism and risk of postmenopausal endometrial and ovarian cancer: the B~FIT cohort. Horm Cancer. 2016 Jan. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Chang E, Buist DS, Handley M, Pardee R, Gundersen G, Reid RJ. Physician service attribution methods for examining provision of low-value care. eGEMS (Wash DC). 2017 Jan 13;4(1):1276. doi: 10.13063/2327-9214.1276. eCollection 2016. 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