Rhoads Named Director of Cancer Outreach Programs For Stanford Cancer Center, Cancer Prevention Institute of California

STANFORD, Calif., March 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kim Rhoads, MD, MPH, has been appointed director of cancer education and community partnership for the Stanford Cancer Center and the Cancer Prevention Institute of California.

Rhoads, who will continue to serve as an assistant professor of surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine, brings to the newly created position a combination of specialized clinical and research training, along with unique experience as a community organizer in northern California. One of her priorities -- in both her new position and her continuing academic research -- is to find ways of reducing cancer outcome disparities among racial and ethnic minorities in California.

"I am excited for the opportunity to work at the intersection between clinical care, community engagement in cancer prevention, and research on prevention, treatment and outcomes," said Rhoads. "Increasing access to high-quality care across the cancer continuum -- from screening and early detection to survivorship and surveillance -- is one way to address health disparities. But the problems are complex, and I believe that more durable, long-term solutions will require a substantial investment in academic/community partnerships to improve cancer education, share health resources and, ultimately, to provide equitable cancer care to all."

In her new role beginning March 1, Rhoads will work to enhance research collaborations between the clinician-scientists at the Stanford Cancer Center and the cancer prevention scientists at CPIC. She will also work closely with CPIC education professionals to build strong academic/community partnerships that improve cancer prevention and outcomes. Ultimately, her work will enhance the ability of CPIC and the Stanford Cancer Center to reduce the burden of cancer on underserved populations in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, the greater Bay Area and throughout California.

"The quality of Kim's scholarship in health-disparities research together with her experience as a surgeon who cares for cancer patients will further enhance the wonderful relationships that currently exist between physician-scientists at the Stanford Cancer Center and the researchers and community outreach staff at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California," said Beverly Mitchell, MD, director of Stanford's Cancer Center. "Kim will be instrumental in guiding the efforts of both institutions in implementing research-based community programs that engage the Bay Area's underserved communities and clinical practitioners to promote excellence in cancer prevention and care."

"We are delighted to have Dr. Rhoads with us at CPIC as we expand our partnerships with the community to prevent cancer and reduce its burden throughout the state," said Sally Glaser, PhD, chief executive officer of CPIC. "With her training in medicine and public health, and her passion to see cancer prevention and cancer care available to all communities, Dr. Rhoads brings an important perspective to our organization's research and education programs."

Rhoads will continue a limited clinical schedule in her new role. She will also work with researchers at both institutions to develop grant-funded research programs related to disparities in cancer incidence and mortality, to promote cancer education programs targeting underserved populations and to broaden access of underserved cancer patients to clinical trials at Stanford.

Rhoads holds a master's degree in health and medical science from the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, a medical degree from UC-San Francisco and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed general surgery training at UCSF. Following residency, she spent a year as a California Endowment Scholar in health policy at Harvard's School of Public Health. She returned to the Bay Area to complete subspecialty training in colon and rectal surgery at the UCSF-Mt Zion Cancer Center.

Rhoads was named the first Philip R. Lee Fellow in Health Policy at the UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies. During her fellowship, she completed and published projects focused on institutional-level disparities and hospital quality measurement. Her research into health disparities is supported by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Rhoads' community-based activities include work with the Bay Area Black Women's Health Project, Operation Access and mentoring in the San Francisco Unified School District's School to Career Program. As a legislative intern at the American Medical Women's Association in Washington, D.C., she drafted the organization's national position paper on the health status of minority women. As an intern in the office of then-State Assemblywoman Barbara Lee of Oakland, she organized and hosted a multidisciplinary effort to educate elderly African American women about breast cancer.

Rhoads lives in Oakland with her husband, Bill Rhoads, MD, a pediatric anesthesiologist at Children's Hospital, Oakland, and her children, Nia and Julian.

The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top 10 medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.

Cancer Prevention Institute of California is the nation's premier organization dedicated solely to cancer prevention research.  Its mission is to prevent cancer and to reduce its burden where it cannot yet be prevented. CPIC's innovative cancer research and outreach programs, in formal partnership with the Stanford Cancer Center, deliver a comprehensive arsenal for defeating cancer. For more information, visit www.cpic.org.

SOURCE Cancer Prevention Institute of California