Current Research Interests:

Dr. Elkin's primary research interest is evaluating the determinants of breast cancer screening, treatment and outcomes using methods of population-based observational data analysis and decision analysis. In recent studies, she has assessed the relationship between breast tumor size and trends in breast cancer survival, patterns of utilization and outcomes of adjuvant chemotherapy in elderly breast cancer patients, and tradeoffs between survival and quality of life with adjuvant chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for premenopausal women with breast cancer.

Dr. Elkin is currently studying the relationship between the availability of mammography resources and mammography utilization, with a particular focus on geographic and racial disparities in access to and use of mammography. She is also examining the influence of a cancer diagnosis on the managed care disenrollment and enrollment decisions of Medicare beneficiaries, and she is studying the preferences of elderly patients with advanced colorectal cancer for prognostic information and involvement in treatment decision making. Her other research interests include the quality-of-life impacts of cancer treatment, economic implications of targeted cancer therapies, the effects of economic incentives and barriers to care on variations in cancer treatment, and the clinical decision-making process from both patient and provider perspectives.

Selected Bibliography:

1. Elkin EB, Hurria A, Mitra N, Schrag D, Panageas KS. Adjuvant chemotherapy and survival in older women with hormone receptor-negative breast cancer: assessing outcome in a population-based, observational cohort. J Clin Oncol, 2006; 24:2757-2764.
   
2. Elkin EB, Vickers AJ, Kattan MW. Primer: using decision analysis to improve clinical decision making in urology. Nat Clin Pract Urol. 2006; 3:439-448.
   
3. Elkin EB, Hudis C, Begg CB, Schrag DS, The effect of changes in tumor size on breast cancer survival in the U.S., 1975-1999. Cancer, 2005; 104:1149-57.
   
4. Elkin EB, Weinstein MC, Kuntz KM, Bunnell CA, Weeks JC. Adjuvant ovarian suppression versus chemotherapy for premenopausal, hormone-responsive breast cancer: quality of life and efficacy tradeoffs. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 2005; 93:25-34.
   
5. Elkin EB, Cowen ME, Cahill D, Steffel M, Kattan MW. Preference assessment method affects decision-analytic recommendations: A prostate cancer treatment example. Med Decis Making, 2004;24:504-510.
   
6. Elkin EB, Weinstein MC, Winer EP, Kuntz KM, Schnitt SJ, Weeks JC. HER-2 testing and trastuzumab therapy for metastatic breast cancer: A cost-effectiveness analysis. J Clin Oncol 2004; 22:854-63.
   

7. Elkin EB, Kim SHM, Casper ES, Kissane DW, Schrag D. Desire for information and involvement in treatment decisions: elderly cancer patients' preferences and their physicians' perceptions. J Clin Oncol 2007;25:5275-5280.