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.
Randomized trials, diagnostic test accuracy, longitudinal data analysis, missing data methods
Physical activity, oral health care, smoking cessation
Breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening
Cardiovascular risk assessment, blood pressure measurement
Adherence to preventive care recommendations
Parchman ML, Anderson ML, Coleman K, Michaels LA, Schuttner L, Conway C, Hsu C, Fagnan LJ. Assessing quality improvement capacity in primary care practices. BMC Fam Pract. 2019 Jul 25;20(1):103. doi: 10.1186/s12875-019-1000-1. PubMed
Green BB, Anderson ML, Cook AJ, Chubak J, Fuller S, Kimbel KJ, Kullgren JT, Meenan RT, Vernon SW. Financial incentives to increase colorectal cancer screening uptake and decrease disparities: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Jul 3;2(7):e196570. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.6570. PubMed
Matson TE, Anderson ML, Renz AD, Greenwood-Hickman MA, McClure JB, Rosenberg DE. Changes in self-reported health and psychosocial outcomes in older adults enrolled in sedentary behavior intervention study. Am J Health Promot. 2019 Apr 7:890117119841405. doi: 10.1177/0890117119841405. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Aiello Bowles EJ, Crane PK, Walker RL, Chubak J, LaCroix AZ, Anderson ML, Rosenberg D, Keene CD, Larson EB. Cognitive resilience to Alzheimer's disease pathology in the human brain. J Alzheimers Dis. 2019;68(3):1071-1083. doi: 10.3233/JAD-180942. PubMed
McClure JB, Anderson ML, Krakauer C, Blasi P, Bush T, Nelson J, Catz SL. Impact of a novel oral health promotion program on routine oral hygiene among socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers: results from a randomized semi-pragmatic trial. Transl Behav Med. 2019 Feb 12. pii: 5316179. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibz009. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
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