Public health professor to study Asian-American breast cancer survivors

Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, a professor in the School of Public Health and Department of Asian American Studies, has received a $1.35 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify and define how culture may modify the definitions of self-integrity and quality of life for Asian-American breast cancer survivors.

 

Singer is a nurse-anthropologist who focuses on eliminating health disparities and promoting quality of life for oncology patients and their families. Her study seeks to shed light on why breast cancer survivors with significant emotional and social problems often do not take advantage of mainstream survivorship services. By defining the unmet cultural needs of women from various ethnic minority groups, Singer seeks to broaden Western-based theories of positive survivorship and contribute to the development of more culturally relevant support services.