Staff

Michael Slater, Ph.D.

Director, Behavioral Measurement Shared Resource

Prof. Michael Slater studies the kinds of effects media may have on substance use and aggression among young people, as well as how and why media messages in general have the effects they do.  His recent research includes work funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on reducing substance use in middle school using media-based approaches (in a national field trial, students in schools receiving the intervention were only about half as likely to start using marijuana over the two-year study period), another study examining news media coverage of alcohol risks and how that might influence adult and teen risk perceptions and support of policies intended to reduce such risks, and a study of cancer coverage in the news media.  Other work includes studies of how use of violent media content on computers and in movies can reinforce pre-existing tendencies toward aggression, and how media may help shape personal and social identity.

Catherine Alfano, Ph.D.
Specialist for Research Design, Quality of Life and Behavior Measurement

Dr. Alfano is an assistant professor in the College of Public Health, a member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a member of the Institute of Behavioral Measurement Research. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and an expert in psycho-oncology and cancer survivorship research. Dr. Alfano has broad expertise in measuring patient-reported outcomes in people with cancer, including symptoms, quality of life, and health behaviors. She assists investigators of grants and clinical protocols in identifying appropriate patient-reported outcome measures and developing quantitative questionnaire batteries for their studies. She also works with investigators to define their program objectives and delineate the goals of their project, plan their study design and methodology to accomplish those goals, interpret the results of the study involving patient-reported outcomes, and prepare results for publication.

Examples of ongoing projects that are a direct result of her efforts include three clinical protocols and a Cancer and Leukemia Group-B junior faculty grant devoted to assessing fatigue, depression, and immune reconstitution after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for high risk lymphoma, a clinical protocol that uses tablet-computers to assess quality of life and surgery outcomes in head and neck cancer survivors, and a clinical protocol comparing the effects of two novel treatments for carcinoid tumors on quality of life outcomes. Her research focuses on developing behavioral interventions to help cancer survivors manage their cancer-related symtoms, maintain their quality of life, improve their overall health, and optimize their survival. She also studies the inter-relationship between survivors' level of fatigue, distress, and depression, their health behaviors, and the functioning of their immune and endocrine system, which may impact cancer prognosis.

Cecilia DeGraffinreid, M.H.S.
Specialist for Recruitment and Regulatory Preparation

Ms. DeGraffinreid is a Program Director in the Population Sciences Division of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. She conducts all consultations regarding accrual of underserved and minority populations and supervises staff for the recruitment of any populations to research studies. She consults regarding the eligibility status of potential participants, develops and tailors consent forms, recruitment forms, and print and media advertisements for specific populations. Ms. DeGraffinreid maintains a database of referral sources and can provide weekly reports on recruitment activities. She works closely with the data collection services to insure efficiency and effectiveness of the shared resource services and works closely with the Clinical Trials Office regarding minority and underserved accrual when needed.

James Fisher, Ph.D.
Specialist for Cancer Surveillance and Health Behavior Data

Dr. Fisher is an epidemiologist for the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biometrics in the School of Public Health. Working with the Ohio Department of Health/Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System (OCISS), Dr. Fisher routinely examines the magnitude of, and changes in, cancer incidence in Ohio. He also collaborates with The American Cancer Society to produce Ohio Cancer Facts and Figures (2001, 2002, 2003). These types of analyses and documents, along with comprehensive annual monographs describing cancer incidence in Ohio, are a valuable resource for OSUCCC members. The reports frequently recognize cancer disparities according to gender, race and ethnicity, age, geographic location, etc. and may lead to the generation of testable scientific hypotheses. Data from these reports can be easily used by OSUCCC investigators for demographic descriptions of the characteristics of potential study participants, information required for all NIH grants using human subjects. Dr. Fisher has years of experience in the use of data sets containing cancer-related information (such as the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results [SEER] and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System [BRFSS]).

Cathy Tatum, M.A.
Specialist for Data Collection and Management

Ms. Tatum is a Program Director in the Division of Population Sciences of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has served as the Project Manager on "in house" as well as several NIH funded cancer control research community based projects such as The Forsyth County Cancer Screening (FoCaS) Project, The Robeson County Outreach Screening and Education (ROSE) Project, and the ACS funded Carolinas Cancer Education and Screening (CARES) Project. Ms. Tatum has experience in the daily management of project personnel, coordination among investigators, staff and study populations. She has expertise with in-person, survey, and mailed data collection methods and procedures. She handles all consultations for data collection and supervises staff within this section. She works closely with the recruitment and accrual and behavioral assessment sections of the shared resource.