Research
Select Research and Publications
Dr. Isla Garraway received a Prostate Cancer Foundation 2022 Challenge Award. As Principal Investigator, Dr. Garraway will lead a multi-institutional team of researchers in understanding the factors that contribute to prostate cancer disparities.
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New prostate screening guidelines organized by the Prostate Cancer Foundation aim to address the longstanding health disparity in prostate cancer: Black men are diagnosed with and die from prostate cancer at a much higher rate than white men. In an effort to help reduce these disparities, a panel of experts, led by Isla Garraway, MD, PhD, professor and director of research in UCLA urology, was formed to establish practical guidelines addressing prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening in Black men. The study findings were presented at the 2024 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, featured in the UCLA Health Newsroom, and in the NEJM Evidence.
Urban heat islands, redlining and kidney stones The persistent rise in kidney stone prevalence in recent decades has prompted much speculation as to the causes. There has been some discussion about the effect of heat on nephrolithiasis. A review of recent data suggests that heat may play a role in stone formation on a large scale and among African-Americans in particular. A new UCLA-led study led by Dr. Kymora B. Scotland states that African-Americans are the race/ancestry group with faster rates of increasing incidence and prevalence of kidney stones. Researchers also found that urban heat islands in the United States have resulted in part from the effects of redlining, a practice of systematic segregation and racism in housing that led to the development of neighborhoods with substantial disparities in environmental conditions. Dr. Scotland and her team hypothesize that the increased temperatures experienced by residents in redlined communities, many of whom are African American may contribute to the 150% increase in the prevalence of kidney stones in African Americans in recent decades. Read the study in the January 1, 2023 issue of Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension.
Andre Belarmino, MD, UCLA Urology resident, has been awarded a grant from the Panacea Foundation, which seeks to strengthen the pathway for physicians from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing support to physician trainees with a shared mission of improving the diversity of the medical field.
Dr. Desiree Sanchez, former UCLA Urology resident, is the first author on “Moving urologic disparities research from evidence synthesis to translational research: a dynamic, multidisciplinary approach to tackling inequalities in urology,” recently published in Urology. Read the article (PDF) >
Prostate Cancer Foundation Screening Guidelines for Black Men in the United States, NEJM Evidence, April 2024
The Distinct Impacts of Race and Genetic Ancestry on Health, Nature Medicine, May 2022
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Prostate Cancer Outcomes in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System, JAMA Open Network, January 2022
Outcomes of Black men with prostate cancer treated with radiation therapy in the Veterans Health Administration, Cancer, February 2021
Association of Health-Care System with Prostate Cancer-Specific Mortality in African American and Non-Hispanic White Men, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, April 2021
Moving urologic disparities research from evidence synthesis to translational research: a dynamic, multidisciplinary approach to tackling inequalities in urology, The Journal of Urology April 2021