Member Biography

The overarching goal of my research program is to address health disparities and health inequity among marginalized and underserved groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) and other sexual and gender minorities, as well as Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPoC). My research program reflects scientific products in two areas: 1) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) health and disparities in cancer survivorship, and 2) identifying and address structural features in healthcare organizations that contribute to health inequities (in cancer and other outcomes) for marginalized groups. I have made several scientific contributions to documenting health disparities and inequities experienced by LGBTQ+ people and testing culturally relevant health-related interventions for LGBTQ+ people. I've used national health surveillance data sources to document LGB people’s 50% greater odds of participating in clinical trials (Jabson and Blosnich, 2012), significant health disparities among LGB people in rural regions (Farmer, Blosnich, Jabson and Matthews, 2015), and older LB women’s optimal aging (Jabson et al., 2020). I have also co-led projects that documented poor health and quality of life among LGBT caregivers of people with dementia (Anderson, Jabson Tree, et al., 2022; Anderson, Jabson Tree, et al., 2024) and have co-led students in multiple projects designed to empirically documented and described the experiences of food insecurity among LGBTQ+ people. With funding from the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and Lesbian Health Fund and an R03 (1R03AG058528-01A1), my teams and I have documented that the Internet was a feasible delivery channel for getting mind-body interventions to LGBT people and that the intervention was associated with improved stress, quality of life, and minority stressors. As the population of cancer survivors grows, understanding the unique experiences of diverse survivors will be necessary so that can implement interventions that can reduce and eliminate disparities in cancer survivorship. Cancer-related health disparities among subgroups of cancer survivors is an important area because health disparities that existed before cancer, could persist after cancer treatment is completed resulting in comorbidities and perhaps worse unequally across the survivor population. My research in this area was among the first to document that: 1) Sexual minority women breast cancer survivors have similar quality of life as heterosexual breast cancer survivors, despite experiences of perceived discrimination, and greater perceived stress; 2) Disparities in risky health behaviors among sexual minority individuals that have been documented among those without a personal history of cancer continue to exist during cancer survivorship. These findings can guide future interventions to promote health and reduce stress and high risk behaviors among underserved subgroups of cancer survivors. I have also used population-based surveillance data and online data sources from cancer survivors to begin investigating issues associated with survivorship care plans have identified four important findings: 1) Survivorship care plans are not received by all cancer survivors and that this varies by survivor’s demographic characteristics; 2) Each component of the care plan may not be equally beneficial to healthcare utilization and that the follow-up care instruction may be most valuable for survivors receipt of surveillance and preventive screenings; 3) Care plans may have the greatest impact on healthcare utilization when paired with other services that reduce barriers to care such as patient navigation, and; 4) Care plans may be inversely associated with late and long term effects such as pain. Finally, building on my findings with individuals and groups, I also investigate and intervene in healthcare organizations structures, practices, and policies that contribute to health inequities experienced by minoritized groups including LGBTQ+ people and BIPOC. In the areas of LGBTQ+ health, I have, together with her student researchers and colleagues, completed studies concerning organizational structural factors including but not limited to policies, practices, and employee (i.e. providers and administrators) attitudes, knowledge, and awareness of structural racism, heterosexism, and cissexism in the healthcare organization. In a set of projects, I compared attitudes held by providers affiliated with two distinct healthcare organizations, about LGBT patients. We found that provider attitudes about LGBT patients did not differ by healthcare organization or region even if there were LGBT specific commendations for care in place. Rather, physicians in both hospitals held negative attitudes about LGBT patients. I also earned and have nearly completed the highly prestigious three-year, Interdisciplinary Research Leaders, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (IRL RWJF) fellowship and research award for a project that takes a mixed-methods, public health critical race praxis approach to conduct a multi-level assessment of structural racism in a federally qualified healthcare center. This work involves policy analysis, patient and employee interviews, surveys of structural racism in the climate, and connects these sources with patient electronic health record data. This work is producing an empirically informed playbook for federally qualified healthcare centers to use to identify and change policies, practices, and procedures that reinforce and reproduce structural racism, and thereby improve patient health. This project is ongoing.

Ph.D. - Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 2010

M.P.H. - Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 2006