Emory Prevention Research Center

Emory University Special Interest Projects (SIPs)

The CDC funds Special Interest Projects (SIPs) to focus on a topic of interest or a gap in scientific evidence. SIP grants are competitively awarded only to investigators affiliated with one of the 26 Prevention Research Centers in the national network. During this funding cycle, Emory has been awarded seven SIP grants – one in 2022, two in 2020 and four in 2019.

Awarded in 2024

SIP24-008 Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW Coordinating Center)

Co-Principal Investigators: Cam Escoffery, PI (Emory University), Elaine Kiriakopoulos and Barbara Jobst, MPI (Dartmouth-Hitchcock)

The Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW) network is a thematic research network dedicated to improving quality of life and wellbeing for individuals living with epilepsy. Our current funding cycle is comprised of several collaborating centers: Emory Prevention Research Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (coordinating center), Arizona Prevention Research Center, and NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center. The MEW Network will continue to collaborate with previous MEW Network sites including University of Washington and Case Western Reserve University. The MEW Network works close with and collaborates with the Epilepsy Foundation, American Epilepsy Society, and other community epilepsy organizations.

HOBSCOTCH: A one-on-one coaching program that helps individuals with epilepsy improve their cognitive function and quality of life.
Project UPLIFT: A group-based program that empowers individuals with epilepsy to manage their mental health through mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral techniques.

For more information, visit the Managing Epilepsy Well Network website.

SIP-24-003 Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN)

Principal Investigator: Cam Escoffery, PhD, MPH, CHES
Professor in the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences (BSHES)

The CPCRN is a national network of academic and community partners that utilizes principles of community-based participatory research to accelerate the adoption of evidence-based cancer prevention and control strategies in communities. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CPCRN conducts research and implements projects through its several sites that are based at academic institutions across the country, including at Emory University. From 2024 to 2029, Emory CPCRN will be collaborating with local providers to implement a lung cancer screening (LCS) project in rural, Southwest (SW) Georgia. Despite new, effective LCS techniques becoming more widely available in recent years, rates of LCS screening in SW Georgia remain disproportionately low. Research on this topic is critical in understanding how various LCS interventions and implementation strategies can effectively increase community uptake of LCS and promote equity. Through our research and collaboration with providers, we plan to develop, implement, and evaluate an LCS intervention at six participating primary healthcare centers in rural, SW Georgia. From formative research to project evaluation, our study aims are as follows:

Conduct a scoping review of lung cancer screening tools to measure eligibility for lung cancer screening.
Conduct a systematic review of interventions to promote lung cancer screening in the United States to inform intervention development.
Survey up to 100 primary care clinicians and lung cancer experts to assess optimal, pragmatic lung cancer screening tools for LCS eligibility and optimal intervention strategies for lung cancer screening.
Conduct a pilot of the LCS intervention with 20 patients to assess comprehension, acceptability, and feasibility in a primary care center in Southwest, GA.
Design and evaluate an intervention of tailored implementation strategies to promote lung cancer risk assessment, referral, and screening through a stepped wedge, cluster RCT design in primary care clinics in rural, SW Georgia.
Conduct implementation research on program reach, adoption, implementation, feasibility, appropriateness, and acceptability through surveys and interviews with primary care staff, using the RE-AIM model for sustainability and equity and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR 2.0).

We will additionally apply equity frameworks and measures in all research activities. After project completion, this intervention can be scaled-up in Georgia and nationally to reduce lung cancer disparities and burden.

Awarded in 2022

SIP 22-007 Enhancing Public Health Preparedness for Postpartum Women and Working Mothers in Georgia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Community-Based Participatory Study

Multiple Principal Investigator: Sarah C. Blake
PhD. MA, Department of Health Policy and Management
Multiple Principal Investigator: Natalie D. Hernandez
PhD, MPH Center for Maternal Health Equity
Morehouse School of Medicine
Participating institutions: Emory University; Morehouse School of Medicine

Project PREPARE (Preparedness and Readiness Emergency Planning for Women in Georgia: A Community-Based Participatory Study) is a collaborative research study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This project brings together a diverse team of maternal health researchers and community leaders from Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory University, and Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia who are committed to understand and address the complex array of factors that affect how mothers and families experience public health emergencies in Georgia. Project PREPARE works closely with a Community Advisory Board consisting of members from public health agencies and community organizations in Georgia to help inform the development and implementation of the study.

Through Project PREPARE, we aim to 1) assess the emergency preparedness experiences, challenges, indicators of resilience, and lessons learned by pregnant and postpartum women, and 2) inform the development of state and national-level recommendations for emergency preparedness tailored for pregnant and postpartum women in Georgia.

Specific attention will be placed on the emergency preparedness topics such as infectious diseases (COVID-19, RSV, Influenza) and weather-related events (hurricanes, tornados, wildfires). Additionally, this project has identified specific priority populations of pregnant and postpartum women, including those who identify as Black, living in rural areas of Georgia, and/or are immigrant/refugees. We will gather information from a variety of sources to understand their emergency preparedness needs and experiences as well as how communities in Georgia are working to assist them.

Over a period of the next 12 months, Project PREPARE team members will conduct the following research-related activities.

Informational interviews with local and regional emergency preparedness leaders, including representatives from health care coalitions.
Electronic survey distribution with pregnant and postpartum women to the priority populations throughout the state.
Virtual focus group discussions with representatives from the priority populations.

For more information about Project PREPARE, please contact Autumn Watson, research coordinator at awatson@emory.edu. See us in the news.

Awarded in 2021

SIP 21-004 Go Sun Smart Georgia: Development, Evaluation and Dissemination of an Evidence-Based Intervention to Increase Sun Safety among Underserved Outdoor Workers

Multiple Principal Investigator: Alexandra B. Morshed, PhD
Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Multiple Principle Investigator David Buller, PhD
Senior Scientist and Director of Research
Klein Buendel, Inc..

Go Sun Smart Georgia (GSSG) is an evidence-based occupational skin cancer prevention program aimed at reducing ultraviolet radiation and promoting sun protection behaviors among low-income outdoor workers in Georgia and the region. Led by a team of researchers at Emory Prevention Research Center and Klein Buendel, Inc., GSSG will be adapted to outdoor worker population in Southwest Georgia and evaluated for effectiveness and implementation. The specific aims of this CDC- funded special interest project to be conducted over a two-year period are to: 1) develop an evidence-based intervention and corresponding implementation strategies to increase policies and practice to support sun safety among African American and Hispanic outdoor workers in Georgia; and 2) evaluate the effectiveness, implementation, and scalability of the newly developed intervention. Aim 1 activities will include a systematic review of existing evidence and interventions, formative assessment of the population, delivery setting, and implementation strategies, adaptation of the GSSG, and pilot testing of the adapted intervention. Aim 2 activities are recruitment of employers for participation in a type 1 effectiveness- implementation hybrid trial, implementation of GSSG with 12 employers, assessment of intervention effectiveness, description of implementation outcomes, and recommendations for scale-out of GSSG for Georgia and nationwide.

SIP 21-008 Examining approaches to improve care and management of people with lupus

Co-Principal Investigator: S. Sam Lim, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Emory University Department of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health
Chief of Rheumatology, Grady Health System
Co-investigator: Cristina Drenkard, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Emory University Department of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health
Charmayne Dunlop-Thomas, MS, MPH
Associate Director of Research Projects
Emory University Department of Medicine
Gaobin Bao, MPH
Senior Biostatistician
Emory University Department of Medicine
Mary Crimmings, BA
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications
Lupus Foundation of America
Melissa French, MS
Content Director
Lupus Foundation of America

Both mental and physical health are consistently reported to be worse in people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared to those with diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions, in large part due to the systemic involvement, challenging diagnosis and management, and multiple comorbidities that often come with having SLE. This is exacerbated in Black individuals by their disproportionate burden of SLE prevalence, poor outcomes, comorbidities, and poor health-related quality of life. Successful self-management of SLE requires having the skills to engage in effective daily activities, which often comes from having access to up-to-date health education and self-management support. Currently, there are no widely available, evidence-based, SLE-specific self-management resources.

Our proposal leverages two on-going Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supported efforts with synergy in resources and timing to uniquely and powerfully achieve our aims. The CDC–supported, population-based Georgians Organized Against Lupus (GOAL) Cohort is a prospective cohort of validated and consented individuals with SLE that reflects “real world” lupus in the community in and around Atlanta, Georgia. The Lupus Foundation of America was supported by the CDC to develop an online lupus self-management program based on the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change called Strategies to Embrace Living with Lupus Fearlessly (SELF), which helps users adopt key self- management behaviors. We propose two aims over a two-year period. Aim 1 will examine behavioral and psychosocial factors and their association with patient reported outcomes using already collected data from the GOAL Cohort. Aim 2 will examine changes in patient reported outcomes after being exposed to SELF in the GOAL Cohort.

Awarded in 2020

SIP 20-004 Effect of Survivorship Care Plans on Cancer Mortality

Co-Principal Investigator: Ann Mertens, PhD
Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University
Director of the Clinical Research Office at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Co-investigator: Sharon M Castellino, MD, MSC
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Director of the Leukemia/ Lymphoma program at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Co-investigator: Xu Ji, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine
Co-investigator: Joseph Lipscomb, PhD
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Co-investigator: Kevin Ward, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Director of the Georgia Center for Cancer Statistics (GCCS)
Support staff: Rebecca Lewis, MPH
Research Epidemiologist
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Overall survival for childhood cancer is over 85%, however childhood cancer survivors are at an increased risk of premature mortality. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends all cancer survivors (of both childhood and adult cancers) receive a personalized survivorship care plan (SCP) that includes a summary of treatment received and surveillance recommendations to mitigate late effects. Since the initial IOM guidance, there have been concerns that heterogeneous construction and dissemination of SCPs may limit their ability to improve the quality of cancer survivorship care. In childhood cancer survivors, the development of a SCP is guided by the evidence-based Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Long-Term Follow-up (LTFU) Guidelines. These guidelines recommend specific surveillance for late effects based on therapeutic exposures. However, very few studies have examined the impact of SCPs on adherence to COG-recommended surveillance and the associated impact on reducing premature mortality using a population-based approach.

We will study a cohort of over 4,000 childhood and adolescent cancer survivors diagnosed before the age of 20 and treated between 2002-2016 at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). More than 91% of all cases of childhood cancer in the state of Georgia are treated at CHOA, thus we will be able to generate statewide estimates of the impact of SCPs for survivors with all types of childhood cancers and a diverse racial/ethnic background. We also have documentation that approximately 70% of this cohort of survivors has received of a SCP.

Our study aims are to:
Aim 1. Investigate the association between receiving a SCP and mortality.
Aim 2. Compare cause-specific mortality between those who did or did not receive a SCP.
Aim 3. Investigate the association of receiving a SCP with

adherence to screening for key late effects,
presence of specific late effects, and,
health care utilization.

Within CHOA, we have systematically been providing all survivors seen in the Cancer Survivor Program their SCP utilizing the COG LTFU Guideline recommendations since 2005. Each SCP provided to a survivor contains a summary of their cancer diagnosis and treatment, their late effect risk profile, and their recommend surveillance. Importantly, our reporting to and linking with the Georgia Cancer Registry will allow us to easily trace mortality and determine cause of death in this cohort of survivors. A subset (47%) of this CHOA cohort, representing a population that is the most vulnerable and underserved in the U.S, will also be linked to longitudinal Medicaid data to evaluate screening adherence for key drivers of premature mortality.

SIP 20-007 Quantifying the burden of epilepsy using novel data sources

Co-Principal Investigator: David H. Howard, PhD
Professor in Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health

Estimates of the burden of disease are useful for evaluating the potential benefits of biomedical research, interventions, and treatments. Nearly 3 million adults in the US currently live with active epilepsy. We will use large claim and survey datasets to estimate the impact of epilepsy on labor force participation, quality of life, health care use, and outcomes among nursing home patients.

Awarded in 2019

SIP19-002 Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW Coordinating Center)

Co-Principal Investigators: Cam Escoffery, PI and Barbara Jobst, PI (Dartmouth-Hitchcock)

The Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW) network is a thematic research network designed to address gaps in knowledge and programs related to improving epilepsy self-management and quality of life for people with epilepsy. Our current funding cycle is comprised of several collaborating centers: Emory Prevention Research Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Arizona Prevention Research Center, University of Texas, NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center, University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center, Case Western Reserve University, and Prevention Research Center for Rural Health at the University of Iowa. The MEW Network also closely collaborates with the Epilepsy Foundation, American Epilepsy Society, and other community epilepsy organizations.

The mission of the MEW Network is to advance the science related to epilepsy self-management by facilitating and implementing research, conducting research in collaboration with network members and community stakeholders, and broadly disseminating research findings. Emory is currently replicating a study called HOBSCOTCH, which was developed by Dartmouth-Hitchcock. The study aims to improve the quality of life for people with epilepsy by helping them gain skills to improve their memory and cognitive abilities. HOBSCOTCH is a virtual program, delivered by a coach via one-on-one telephone sessions for 8 weeks. Our goal for this funding cycle is to enroll 100 people with epilepsy through clinic and community recruitment for the replication trial. For more information, visit the Managing Epilepsy Well Network website.

SIP19-005 Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN)

Co-Principal Investigator: Cam Escoffery, PhD, MPH, CHES
Professor in the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences (BSHES)

The goal of this project is to translate evidence-based interventions for cancer and to evaluate a multi-level intervention for HPV vaccination uptake among clinics in Southwest Georgia. Cultivate and strengthen partnerships with communities, public health agencies, community-based organizations, and cancer control research and practice networks to promote community-based participatory approaches to preventing cancer and reducing health disparities. Conduct national and local trainings to build capacity on adoption and implementation of evidence-based approaches in collaboration with our Southwest GA partners and regional cancer coalitions. Assess factors related to HPV vaccination using the P3 (Practice, Provider, and Patient-Level) model to inform intervention development through a qualitative study in Southwest Georgia. Evaluate a multi-level intervention employing implementation strategies of mini-grants and technical assistance on HPV vaccine series initiation and completion among clinical and community organizations in SW Georgia. Assess implementation outcomes and factors related to implementation success.

SIP19-006 Evaluating Community Clinical Linkage Interventions in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP)

Co-Principal Investigator: Sarah C. Blake, PhD, MA
Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management
Co-investigator: Kathleen Adams, PhD
Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management

The goal of this project is to evaluate community-clinical linkage (CCL) interventions in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). The evaluation will include a robust mixed methods design to evaluate the implementation, cost, cost-effectiveness and scalability of CCL interventions funded by NBCCEDP to increase cancer screening completion among medically underserved women. Guided by the AHRQ Clinical-Community Evaluation Roadmap, we will collect qualitative, quantitative, process, costs and outcome data to determine the effectiveness of clinical-community relationships for improving cancer screening completion among hard-to-reach and unscreened women. Findings from these efforts and a cost-effectiveness analysis will also be used to identify and describe the strategies for scaling up each intervention studied.

The primary aims of this evaluation are 1) to assess facilitators and barriers to implementation of selected CCL interventions; 2) to determine the cost and cost-effectiveness of select CCL interventions; and 3) to assess the potential for scalability of each CCL interventions. Findings from this evaluation can be used for program monitoring, enhancement of the CCL interventions and the development of strategies to scale programs to reach broader, hard-to-reach populations.

SIP19-009 Assessing the Lifetime Economic Burden in Men with Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Co-Principal Investigator: David H. Howard, PhD
Professor in Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health

Estimates of the cost and burden of metastatic disease are critical for assessing the value of interventions to prevent, detect, and treat prostate cancer. Yet, existing estimates of the cost and burden of metastatic disease are out of date or are based on small, non-representative patient samples. We will develop a comprehensive assessment of the burden of metastatic prostate cancer, including quality of life and caregiver costs, using large survey and claims databases.