For the past 20years, I have devoted my professional career to research and practice on health disparities and gaps in disease prevention and control efforts with state-wide initiatives involving partners from multiple sectors including state government. In 2002, I assumed leadership of the Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program, focusing on screening services for under- and uninsured low-income women in Louisiana funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That single program has expanded over the years to become the Louisiana Cancer Prevention & Control Programs (LCP), a group of research and practice programs that focus on cancers that are preventable or can be detected early and cured. LCP continues to be funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as a number of other organizations. Many of our programs are statewide and focus on minority and low-income residents of Louisiana. As part of this, LCP works to educate and train health and social service providers on screening and prevention guidelines. While most of this work has been based upon prevention and early detection at the community level, it has been my philosophy to lay translational and interventional research on top of these programs whenever possible.
The majority of my work focuses on removing barriers to cancer screening and early detection. While this is important in general, a further focus is on underserved and under-resourced populations including underserved minorities, under-and uninsured people, the working poor, and rural populations. My focus areas are cancers that can be prevented or detected early and cured.
DrPH, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 2009.
Major: Public Health
Supporting Areas of Emphasis: Community Health
MPH, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1991
Major: Public Health
Supporting Areas of Emphasis: Community Health
MS, Louisiana Tech University, 1985.
Major: Industrial Engineering
BS, Louisiana Tech University, 1983.
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Associate Professor, Tenured, Yes, Full-Time, 50, 50. (2018-2019).
Associate Professor, Tenured, Yes, Full-Time, 50, 50. (2017-2018).
ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5380-8850
Williams DL, Tortu S, Tompson J. Factors Associated with Delays to Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer in Women in a Louisiana Urban Safety Net Hospital. Women &
Health, 2010; 50(8):705-718. doi:10.1080/03630242.2010.530928
Nuss H, Williams DL, Hayden J, and Ryan-Huard C. Applying the Social Ecological Model to Evaluate a Demonstration Colorectal Cancer Screening Program in Louisiana. Journal of Healthcare forthe Poor and Underserved, 2012; 23(3):1026-1035. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2012.0120
Williams DL, Hagensee M, Gao R, Barnhill D, Fontham E. The Accuracy and Validity of HPV Testing Through Self-Collection withTampons for Cervical Cancer Screening. Translational Cancer Research,2016; 5(Suppl 5):S993-S999. doi: 10.21037/tcr.2016.10.54.
Williams DL, Wheeler CS, Lawrence M, Hall SS, Hagensee M. Louisiana Physicians are Increasing HPVVaccination Rates. Journal of the Louisiana Medical Society, 2017;169(3):63-67.
Madadi M, Heydari M, Zhang S, Pohl E, Rainwater C, and Williams DL.Analyzing Overdiagnosis Risk and Cost in Cancer Screening: A Case of ScreeningMammography for Breast Cancer. IISE Transactions on Healthcare SystemsEngineering. 2018; 8(1):2-20. doi: 10.1080/24725579.2017.1396512.
Williams DL, Nolan T, Chiu Y, Ricks L, Camata S, Craft B, and Meneses K.A Partnership in Health-Related Social Media for Young Breast Cancer Survivors.Health Promotion Practice. Published online ahead of print September 25,2018. doi:10.1177/1524839918797620
Chyke D, Jensen C, Levin T, Schottinger J, Williams D, Mehta S, andCorley D. Predictors of Modifiable Failures to screen for Colorectal Cancer atAppropriate Intervals or Follow-up on Abnormal Results. Gastroenterology,2019; 156(6):S-603-S-604. doi: 10.1016/S0016-5085(19)38404-5
McLarty J, Williams DL, Loyd S, and Hagensee M. Cervical HPV Testingwith Two Home Self-Collection Methods Compared to a StandardClinically-Collected Sampling Method. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 46(10):670–675, October2019. Published online ahead of print July 2019. DOI: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001045
Brown J, Kaufman R, Ariail M, and Williams DL. Assessing PatientNavigation as a Tool to Address Equity in Cancer Early Detection. TranslationalCancer Research, 2019; 8(S4). doi: 10.21037/tcr.2019.05.26
Williams D, Chiu YW,Khorsandi N, Moses N, and Craft B. Quality of Life Concerns of Young BreastCancer Survivors in the U.S. Gulf States by Race at Treatment and One-YearPost-Treatment. Archives of Breast Cancer, 2022;9(1):40-49. DOI:10.32768/abc.20229140-49.
Khorsandi N, Williams D. An assessment of needs among AfricanAmerican and White cancer survivors in Louisiana. Journal of CancerRehabilitation. 2022;5:27-34. DOI 10.48252/JCR50.
Madadi M, Molani S, Williams DL. Investigating the Effectivenessof Supplemental Breast Cancer Screening Tests Considering Radiologists’Bias. IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering. July 5, 2022,online ahead of print. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/24725579.2022.2095466
Keywords: cancer early detection,cancer screening, cancer prevention, cancer disparities
