Assistant Professor Receives Grant from the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant Review Committee
Jean Edward PhD, RN, assistant professor, recently received an internal award from the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant Review Committee entitled “Examining the Relationship between Financial Toxicity, Cost-Related Health Literacy and Access to Cancer Care for Colorectal Cancer Survivors in Kentucky.”
This one year, $30,000 award will focus on examining consumer- and system-level factors that impact financial toxicity of colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors in Kentucky. This study directly addresses the mission of the American Cancer Society by discovering effective, evidence-based methods to reduce the impact of financial toxicity on cancer survivors, which will result in diminished suffering from cancer and the saving lives.
Jean Edward, PhD, RN, CHPE, is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Health Services Research, holding a joint appointment in the Colleges of Medicine and Nursing. Prior to her position at the CHSR, she was an assistant professor at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Dr. Edward's program of research is focused on promoting equitable access to healthcare for underserved minority and immigrant communities by examining the influence of social determinants on disparities in healthcare access and health outcomes. The foundation to her program of research was a study funded by the Kentucky Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau International that used a mixed-method approach to examine the social determinants of healthcare access among Hispanic immigrants in Louisville, KY. Her recent study, funded by the University of Massachusetts, was an interdisciplinary project examining health literacy and its impact on access and utilization of health insurance and healthcare services for Hispanics in Massachusetts. Her current research focuses on developing linguistically and culturally relevant measures of health insurance literacy to help inform programs that promote health-seeking behaviors and support health decision-making.
Dr. Edward's areas of research expertise include healthcare access disparities, social determinants of health, healthcare reform, health insurance literacy, immigrant health and Geographic Information Systems. She has taught doctoral courses on social and behavioral determinants of health, health disparities, global health and healthcare policy.
