Staff: Alexandra Greenberg-Worisek, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Alexandra Greenberg-Worisek, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Fellow - Cancer Prevention Fellow
Alexandra Greenberg-Worisek, Ph.D., M.P.H., was a Cancer Prevention Fellow in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) within the Behavioral Research Program (BRP) from June 2014 to May 2016.
Dr. Greenberg-Worisek earned her doctorate in Clinical and Translational Science from Mayo Graduate School and her M.P.H. in Quantitative Methods from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her doctoral work used laboratory, clinical, and epidemiologic methods to characterize cytogenetic subtypes of multiple myeloma by race, family history, therapeutic response, and clinical presentation, and to translate these findings into clinical care. Dr. Greenberg-Worisek also holds a Bachelor of the Arts in Biology from Grinnell College.
Dr. Greenberg-Worisek is interested in the integration of patient-reported outcomes into electronic health records learning health systems, with the aim of improving quality of care provided to cancer patients and survivors. As a Cancer Prevention Fellow, Dr. Greenberg-Worisek investigated the interactions between patient use of electronic health records, patient portals, and quality of care through the use of large national surveys and databases, including the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS).
During her fellowship, Dr. Greenberg-Worisek served as a member of the American Association for Cancer Research Associate Member Council.
"Where are they now?": Following up with past BRP fellows
Updated September 2019
Current Title
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Mayo Clinic
How has your BRP fellowship influenced your career?
Working within BRP allowed me to pivot from my more basic/clinical translational biomedical research background to one more focused on population-level health and health disparities. It afforded me the opportunity to begin to carve out my own research niche in the space of digital health, which I continue to research today.
Describe a favorite memory or two from your fellowship experience.
Getting to collaborate with other agencies was an incredible opportunity, and afforded me a broader knowledge of how digital health was being approached (specifically, through ONC, FCC, and FDA). Also, seeing my work on rural-urban disparities cited in the 2016 President's Cancer Panel report on Connected Care was incredible!
Describe your current position, your current organization, and what you do.
I am an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. My research focuses on examining the digital divide in healthcare between rural and urban populations, taking a holistic approach by looking at all levels of the socioecological model. I focus specifically on how patients with cancer and other chronic conditions use electronic personal health information tools (such as patient portals) to manage their care, and work with our teams to strategize as to how we can leverage this information to improve patient outcomes and patient feelings of health-related self-efficacy. A large portion of my work is dedicated to translational and regulatory research in this space as well.
Awards, Honors, and Recognitions
- Service Recognition Award (Associate Member Council - American Association for Cancer Research, 2016)
- Education Science Career Development Award (Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science (OASES), Mayo Clinic, 2017)
- Team Diversity Champion Award - Women in Science and Engineering Research (WiSER) (Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 2017)
- Young Investigators Research Symposium - Distinguished Oral Presentation, Junior Faculty (Mayo Research Fellows Association, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 2018)
- CCaTS 2018 Educator of the Year (Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 2018)
- Top 20 Most Downloaded Article, "Differences in Access to and Use of Electronic Personal Health Information Between Rural and Urban Residents in the United States." (Journal of Rural Health, 2019)
- NCI CPFP Program Spotlight (September 2019)
Publications from Fellowship Work
- Hesse BW, Greenberg AJ, Rutten LJ. The role of Internet resources in clinical oncology: promises and challenges. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2016 Dec;13(12):767-776.
- Krakow M, Ratcliff CL, Hesse BW, Greenberg-Worisek AJ. Assessing Genetic Literacy Awareness and Knowledge Gaps in the US Population: Results from the Health Information National Trends Survey. Public Health Genomics. 2017;20(6):343-348.
- Serrano KJ, Thai CL, Greenberg AJ, Blake KD, Moser RP, Hesse BW. Progress on Broadband Access to the Internet and Use of Mobile Devices in the United States. Public Health Rep. 2017 Jan/Feb;132(1):27-31.
- Hesse BW, Greenberg AJ, Peterson EB, Chou WS. The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS): A Resource for Consumer Engagement and Health Communication Research. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2017;240:330-346.
- Greenberg AJ, Serrano KJ, Thai CL, Blake KD, Moser RP, Hesse BW, Ahern DK. Public use of electronic personal health information: Measuring progress of the Healthy People 2020 Objectives. Health Policy Technol. 2017 Mar;6(1):33-39.
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