In an editorial highlighting the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic on the cancer burden, Dr. Ned Sharpless, the Director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, features research conducted by members of “Model W” in PHS including Professor of Population Health Sciences and Associate Director of Population Science at the Carbone Cancer Center, Amy Trentham-Dietz, Oguz Alagoz, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Population Health Sciences Affiliate, John Hampton, Researcher at the Carbone Cancer Center, and Population Health Sciences alumna, Natasha Stout. The modeling team predicts that over 5,300 deaths from breast cancer will result from delays in mammography screening and treatment due to COVID-19 in the US over the next 10 years, with most excess deaths occurring in the next 2-5 years.
On-going work by the modeling team as part of the Cancer Intervention and Simulation Modeling Network (CISNET https://cisnet.cancer.gov/) will compare different approaches for clinics to scale up screening and treatment services after reductions so that they can better prepare for potential future epidemic-related closures.
For the full editorial, see here: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6497/1290