Karen E. Skinner, MPH

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Karen Skinner is a second year PhD student in the Public Health Sciences program. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with a BS in Community Health and a minor in Sociology. She is also an alum of Saint Louis University where she earned her MPH with a concentration in Epidemiology.

She began her career in private industry consulting where she studied chronic disease epidemiology. Her career later transitioned to health economics and outcomes research where she utilized EMR data to study real-world oncology treatment patterns and survival outcomes. Then, Karen accepted a role with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where she supported the research operations of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, which is a longitudinal study of over 38,000 childhood cancer survivors.

In 2021, Karen joined the Health Communication Research Laboratory at the Brown School. She led public health programs focused on COVID-19 mitigation efforts in St. Louis to increase access to vaccination and testing, as well as increase vaccine confidence. Additionally, her current work focuses on supporting older adults in St. Louis through partnerships with local senior centers and Area Agencies on Aging. In her role, she collaborates with community organizations to address unmet need and reduce health disparities. Karen’s current research interests include health communication and implementation science. She aims to improve health outcomes in older adult populations by addressing public health issues stemming from unmet social needs and systemic inequities. 

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Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

Skinner, K.E., Stoever, A., Zakibe, J.R., Butler, T., & Kreuter, M.W. Outreach to low-income homebound older adults to increase access to COVID-19 self-test kits. American Journal of Public Health. [Under Review]

Garg R, McQueen A, Wolff J.M., Skinner K.E., Kegler M.C., & Kreuter M.W. (2022). Low housing quality, unmet social needs, stress and depression among low-income smokers. Preventive Medicine Reports, (27). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101767

Haiderali, A., Rhodes, W. C., Gautam, S., Huang, M., Sieluk, J., Skinner, K.E., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2021a). Healthcare resource utilization and cost among patients treated for early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. Future Oncology, 17(29), 3833–3841. https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2021-0531

Haiderali, A., Rhodes, W.C., Gautam, S., Huang, M., Sieluk, J., Skinner, K.E., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2021b). Real-world treatment patterns and effectiveness outcomes in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. Future Oncology, 17(29), 3819–3831. https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2021-0530

Skinner, K.E., Haiderali, A., Huang, M., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2021a). Assessing direct costs of treating metastatic triple-negative breast cancer in the USA. Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, 10(2), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.2217/cer-2020-0213

Skinner, K.E., Haiderali, A., Huang, M., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2021b). Real-world effectiveness outcomes in patients diagnosed with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Future Oncology, 17(8), 931–941. https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2020-1021

Buzaglo, J.S., Skinner, K.E., Stepanski, E., Tankersley, C., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2019). Understanding patient advance directives status in a community oncology practice using an electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) system. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 37(15_Suppl), e23181-e23181. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2019.37.15_suppl.e23181

Skinner, K.E., Olufade, T., Walker, M.S., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2019). Real‐world effectiveness of fulvestrant monotherapy as first endocrine treatment in patients with metastatic breast cancer. The Breast Journal, 26(2), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.1111/tbj.13492

Ryan, K.J., Skinner, K.E., Fernandes, A.W., Punekar, R.S., Pavilack, M., Walker, M.S., & VanderWalde, N.A. (2019a). Real-world outcomes in patients with unresected stage III non-small cell lung cancer. Medical Oncology, 36(3). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-019-1249-1

Ryan, K.J., Skinner, K.E., Fernandes, A.W., Punekar, R.S., Pavilack, M., Walker, M.S., & VanderWalde, N.A. (2019b). Real-world treatment patterns among patients with unresected stage III non-small-cell lung cancer. Future Oncology, 15(25), 2943–2953. https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2018-0939

Skinner, K.E., Fernandes, A.W., Walker, M.S., Pavilack, M., & VanderWalde, A. (2017). Healthcare costs in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and disease progression during targeted therapy: a real-world observational study. Journal of Medical Economics, 21(2), 192–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/13696998.2017.1389744

Abstracts and Presentations:

Skinner, K., Wolff, J., Button, E., Maue, R., & Kreuter, M. (2023, November 12-15). Evaluating the life-impact of of the COVID-19 pandemic on low income older adults through a digital equity initiative [Poster Presentation]. American Public Health Association Annual Meeting.

Haiderali, A, Rhodes, W.C., Gautam, S., Huang, M., Skinner, K.E., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2020, December 8-11). Locoregional recurrence in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant systemic therapy: Patient characteristics and clinical outcomes [Poster Presentation]. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Virtual.

Clerkin, C.M., Armstrong, G.T., Gibson, T.M., Skinner, K., Engels, E., & Yu, K. (2020, September 2). Where are we now? Virtual Pooled Registry Cancer Linkage System pilot testing progress [Oral Presentation]. North American Association of Central Cancer Registries Webinar.

Rhodes, W.C., Gautam, S., Haiderali, A., Huang, M., Sieluk, J., Skinner, K.E., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2020, May 24). Cost and Healthcare Resource Utilization (HCRU) for Patients Receiving Neoadjuvant Therapy for Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (ESTNBC) [Poster Presentation]. ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting, Virtual.

Rhodes, W.C., Gautam, S., Haiderali, A., Huang, M., Sieluk, J., Skinner, K.E., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2019, December 10-14). Real-world outcomes in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage triple negative breast cancer [Poster Presentation]. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, San Antonio, TX.

Rhodes, W.C., Gautam, S., Haiderali, A., Huang, M., Sieluk, J., Skinner, K.E., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2019, December 10-14). Patient characteristics and real-world treatment patterns in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy [Poster Presentation]. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, San Antonio, TX.

Skinner, K.E., Dufour, R., Haiderali, A., Huang, M., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2018, December 4-8). Real-world effectiveness outcomes by race in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer [Poster Presentation]. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, San Antonio, TX.

Skinner, K.E., Dufour, R., Haiderali, A., Huang, M., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2018, November 10-14). Assessing the real-world cost of care in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC) in the United States [Poster Presentation]. ISPOR Europe, Barcelona, Spain.

Ryan, K.J., Skinner, K.E., Fernandes, A.W., Walker, M.S., Pavilack, M., Punekar, R.S., & VanderWalde, N.A. (2018, September 28-29). Understanding health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in unresected stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [Poster Presentation]. ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Phoenix, AZ.

Ryan, K.J., Punekar, R.S., Fernandes, A.W., Skinner, K.E., Pavilack, M., Walker, M.S., Vergara-Silva, A., & VanderWalde, N.A. (2018, April 23-26). Clinical outcomes among patients with unresected stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a real-world setting [Poster Presentation]. AMCP Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

Punekar, R.S., Ryan, K.J., Fernandes, A.W., Skinner, K.E., Pavilack, M., Walker, M.S., Vergara-Silva, A., & VanderWalde, N.A. (2018, April 23-26). Real-world treatment patterns among patients with unresected stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [Poster Presentation]. AMCP Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

Skinner, K.E., Fernandes, A.W., Walker, M.S., Pavilack, M., & VanderWalde, A. (2017, October 16-19). Health care cost in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and disease progression on targeted treatment in a real-world setting [Poster Presentation]. Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus, Dallas, TX.

Skinner, K.E., Olufade, T., Di Santo, N., Shenolikar, R., Walker, M.S., & Schwartzberg, L.S. (2017, March 23-25). Characteristics of patients treated with fulvestrant as first hormonal therapy for metastatic breast cancer in a real world setting [Poster Presentation]. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Conference Annual Conference, Orlando, FL.