Gena P. Kanas, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Kanas has performed epidemiologic evaluations, evaluation of healthcare resource utilization, and reviewed treatment patterns and adverse events of various diseases, including colorectal, prostate, lung, head and neck, skin, renal, and breast cancers, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, inflammatory bowel disease, end-stage renal disease and chronic kidney disease, and osteoporosis. As well, she has conducted a meta-analysis of mobile phone use and brain tumor risk. She has experience with study design, management, and statistical analysis of case-control, cohort, and randomized control trials. She has participated in large multi-site studies involving insurance claims and tumor registry data for research in cancer epidemiology as well as pharmacoepidemiology and has published in these areas. Prior to joining Exponent, she was the site coordinator for an NCI-sponsored randomized control trial of lung cancer screening at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, MI. She has published on the occupational risk factors associated with sarcoidosis among African-American siblings.

Dr. Kanas received her doctorate in Industrial Health with a focus on Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2006. Her dissertation evaluated the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on the risk of colorectal cancer in a nested case-control study of women. In addition to experience in epidemiology and biostatistics, Dr. Kanas has training from coursework in chemistry, risk assessment, environmental impact assessment, occupational and environmental disease, toxicology, exposure assessment, and systematic review with meta-analysis.

Kanas G, Morimoto L, Mowat F, O’Malley C, Fryzek J, Nordyke R. Use of electronic medical records in oncology outcomes research. Clinicoeconomics and Outcomes Research 2010; 2:1–14.

Yong M, Schoonen WM, Li L, Kanas G, Coalson J, Mowat F, Fryzek J, Kaye JA. Epidemiology of paediatric immune thrombocytopenia in the General Practice Research Database. Br J Haematol 2010 Jun; 149(6):855–864. Epub 2010 Apr 4.

Schoonen WM, Kucera G, Coalson J, Li L, Rutstein M, Mowat F, Fryzek J, Kaye JA. Epidemiology of immune thrombocytopenic purpura in the General Practice Research Database. Br J Haematology 2009; 145(2):235–244.

Fortuny J, Johnson C, Bohlke K, Chow W, Hart G, Kucera G, Mujumdar U, Ownby D, Wells K, Yood MU, Engel LS. Use of anti-inflammatory drugs and lower esophageal sphincter relaxing drugs and risk of esophageal and gastric cancers. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2007 Oct; 5(10):1154–1159.e3. Epub 2007 Jul 23.

Ulcickas Yood M, Watkins E, Wells K, Kucera G, Johnson CC, Lydick E. The impact of NSAID or COX-2 use on the initiation of antihypertension therapy. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2006; 15(12):852–860.

Ulcickas Yood M, McCarthy BD, Kempf J, Kucera GP, Wells K, Oliveria S, Stang P. Racial differences in reaching target low density lipoprotein goal among individuals treated with prescription statin therapy. Am Heart J 2006; 152(4):777–784.

Rolnick S, Hensley-Alford S, Kucera GP, Fortman K, Ulcickas-Yood M, Jankowski M, Johnson C. Racial and age differences in colon examination surveillance following a diagnosis of colorectal cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr 2005; 35:96–101.

Gohagan JK, Marcus PM, Fagerstrom RM, Kucera G. The Lung Screening Study Research Group. Final results of the Lung Screening Study, a randomized feasibility study of spiral CT versus chest X-ray screening for lung cancer. Lung Cancer 2005; 47(1):9–15.

Stark A, Kucera G, Lu M, Claud S, Griggs J. Influence of health insurance status on inclusion of Her-2/neu testing in the diagnostic workup of breast cancer patients. International Journal for Quality in Health Care 2004; 16(6):517–521.

Kucera GP, Rybicki BA, Kirkey KL, Coon SW, Major ML, Maliarik MJ, Iannuzzi MC. Occupational risk factors for sarcoidosis in African-American siblings. Chest 2003; 123(5):1527–1535.

Stark A, Prince A, Kucera G, Lu M, Raju U, Nathanson D. Evaluating post-treatment screening in women with breast cancer. Cancer Practice 2002; 10(5):228–233.

Minelli M, Hoang ML, Kraus M, Kucera G, Loertscher J, Reynolds M, Timm N, Chiang MY, Powell D. The effect of substituents on the phenyl portion of the imido ligand on the structure and properties of molybdenum (VI) imido complexes. Inorganic Chemistry 2002; 41(23):5954–5960.

Published Abstracts

Tang J, Kucera G, Sharif O, Pai C, Silverman A. Mesalamine protects against colorectal cancer in inflammatory bowel disease. American College of Gastroenterology, 2007.

Ulcickas Yood M, Quesenberry C, Guo D, Caldwell C, Wells K, Shan J, Kucera G, Skovron ML. Incidence of non Hodgkins lymphoma among patients exposed to hepatitis B virus. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2004; 13:S305.

Ulcickas Yood M, McCarthy B, Kempf J, Kucera GP, Wells K, Oliveria S, Stang P. Race differences in reaching target LDL goal among individuals treated with prescription statin therapy. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2004; 13:S27.

Ulcickas Yood M, Watkins E, Wells K, Kucera G, Johnson CC, Lydick E. The impact of NSAID or COX-2 use on the initiation of antihypertensive therapy. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2004; 13:S234.

Stang P, Krishnan A, Ulcickas Yood M, Kucera G, Wells K, Frank C. Healthcare utilization in bipolar depression and mania. American Psychiatric Association, 2004.

Kucera G, Ulcickas Yood M, Demers R, Divine G, Wells K, Enger S, Bohlke K, Greene S, Van Den Eeden S, Tewari A. Feasibility of obtaining automated hormone therapy data for classifying prostate cancer treatment. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2003; 12:S33.

Kucera G, Ulcickas Yood M, Demers R, Divine G, Wells K, Tewari A. Factors associated with early hormonal therapy for prostate cancer. Am J Epidemiol 2003; 157:S11.

Kucera G, Hensley Alford S, Jankowski M, Chase G, Fortman K, Rolnick C, Ulcickas Yood M, Johnson CC. Time to next complete colon examination after diagnosis of colorectal cancer in an insured population. Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res 2003; 44:302.

Kucera G, Gupta S, Claud S, Griggs J, Stark A. Clinical assessment of Her-2/neu among African-American and Caucasian women. American College of Epidemiology, 2002.

Kucera G, Gupta S, Claud S, Griggs J, Stark A. Assessment of the Her-2/neu protein since the FDA approval in 1998. Abstracts of the World Congress of Epidemiology, 2002.

Gupta S, Stark A, Kucera G, Heininger S, Griggs J. Clinical assessment of Her-2/neu since the FDA approval in 1998. Who receives it? Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res 2002; 43:238.

Stark AT, Prince AF, Kucera GP, Jankowski MA, Raju UB. Determinants of compliance with the post-treatment follow-up among women diagnosed with carcinoma in situ and/or atypical hyperplastic lesions of the breast. Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res 2001; 42:740.

• Assistant Scientist, Henry Ford Health System, 2007
• Epidemiologist II, Henry Ford Health System, 2003–2006
• Epidemiologist I, Henry Ford Health System, 2000–2003
• Teaching Assistant, University of Iowa, College of Pharmacy, Fall 1997
• Lab Assistant and Tutor, Grinnell College, Department of Chemistry, 1994–1997

• Society for Epidemiological Research (member, 2001–present)
• International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (member, 2001–2008)
• American College of Epidemiology (member, 2005–present)
• American Association for Cancer Research (associate member, 2006–2007)
• American Public Health Association (member 1999–2006)