Associate Professor of Surgery and Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, Associate Director of Duke Forge, and
Director, Breast Clinic, Durham VA
Twitter: @DrLolaFayanju
Diversity, Representativeness, and the Importance of Inclusive Research
To whom does aggregated patient-level data belong and how can we ensure these data are used to promote the health and wellness of all people? Dr. Fayanju discusses the need for diversity in research from investigators to participants to study design.
Dr. Fayanju is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Population Health Sciences in the Duke University School of Medicine, Associate Director for Disparities & Value in Healthcare with Duke Forge (the university’s center for actionable data science), and Director of the Durham VA Breast Clinic.
She received her undergraduate degree in History and Science and an MA in Comparative Literature from Harvard. She received her MD and a master of population health sciences (MPHS) from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also completed her residency in General Surgery. She completed fellowship training in Breast Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Her research, which is supported by an NIH K08 career development award, has 3 areas of focus: (1) addressing disparities in breast cancer presentation, treatment, outcome, and clinical trial participation; (2) improving prognostication and treatment for biologically aggressive variants of breast cancer that are often more common among racial and ethnic minorities; and (3) creating value in oncologic care, especially through the collection and application of patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Her scholarship has been published in a variety of journals including Annals of Surgery, Cancer, and JAMA.