Research Department

Medical Oncology/Population Sciences

Area of Research

Biography

Dr. Weeks received her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1984 and her MSc in health policy and management from Harvard School of Public Health in 1991. She completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and in medical oncology at DFCI. She joined DFCI in 1992, and established its Center for Outcomes and Policy Research in 1995.

Recent Awards

• Dean's Award for Leadership in the Advancement of Women Faculty, Harvard Medical School, 2005
• Marion Spencer Fay Award, Institute for Women's Health and Leadership, 2005
• A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award, Harvard Medical School, 1999

Research

The multidisciplinary Center for Outcomes and Policy Research (COPR), directed by Dr. Weeks, brings together faculty from DFCI, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard School of Public Health to conduct critical evaluations of the quality, outcomes, and costs of cancer care. COPR faculty are helping to lead two major national studies in particular. Cancer Care Outcomes Research (CanCORS) is a 6-year, NCI-funded study of 10,000 patients with newly diagnosed lung or colorectal cancer. The first goal of this study is to examine processes of care with a special focus on why certain groups - including elderly and minority patients - receive lower-quality care. The second goal is to assess clinical and patient-reported outcomes during treatment and survivorship to better understand the process-outcome linkage for these two common cancers in the routine care setting. Seven teams are participating in this consortium study, and Dr. Weeks leads the Cancer Research Network project team.

The Outcomes Project of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is a second national outcomes study led by Dr. Weeks and colleagues in COPR. The NCCN is an affiliation of 19 cancer centers nationwide, with a primary commitment to monitoring and improving the quality of cancer care in the network and nationwide.

Dr. Weeks also leads the economic component of a number of national randomized oncology trials conducted by the Cancer and Leukemia Group B. By combining data from a variety of sources, including completed trials, tumor registries, medical bills, and patient reports, COPR investigators examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treatments for a variety of common cancers.

A third major area of research is the assessment of patient preferences and the incorporation of patient values about quality of life and outcomes into decision-making. Specific projects include assessments of the preferences and concerns of patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation, of parents who have lost children to childhood cancer, and of patients with advanced cancer, in regard to the risk-benefit trade-offs of treatment.

Select Publications

• Lee SJ, Loberiza FR, Rizzo JD, Soiffer RJ, Antin JH, Weeks JC. Optimistic expectations and survival after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2003;9:389-96.
• Edge SB, Niland J, Bookman M, Ottesen R, Lepisto E, Weeks JC. Adoption of sentinel lymph node biopsy as a component of standard care for breast cancer in Comprehensive Cancer Centers. J Natl Cancer Inst 2003;95:1514-21.
• Elkin EB, Weinstein MC, Winer EP, Kuntz KM, Schnitt SJ, Weeks JC. HER-2 testing and trastuzumab therapy for metastatic breast cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis. J Clin Oncol 2004;22:854-63.
• Earle CC, Neville BA, Landrum ME, Ayanian JZ, Block SD, Weeks JC. Trends in the aggressiveness of cancer care near the end of life. J Clin Oncol 2004;22:315-21.
• Joffe S, Harrington DP, George SL, Emanuel EJ, Budzinski LA, Weeks JC. Satisfaction of the uncertainty principle in cancer clinical trials: retrospective cohort analysis. BMJ 2004;328:1463-6.
• Wittenberg E, Winer E, Weeks JC. Patient utilities for advanced cancer: effect of current health on values. Med Care 2005;43:173-81.
• Steyerberg EW, Earle CC, Neville BA, Weeks JC. Racial differences in surgical evaluation, treatment, and outcome of locoregional esophageal cancer: a population-based analysis of elderly patients. J Clin Oncol 2005;23:510-7.
• Elkin EB, Weinstein MC, Kuntz KM, Bunnell CR, Weeks JC. Adjuvant ovarian suppression versus chemotherapy for premenopausal, hormone-responsive breast cancer: quality of life and efficacy tradeoffs. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2005;93:25-34.
• *Christian CK, Niland JC, Edge SB, Ottesen RA, Hughes ME, Theriault R, Wilson J, Hergrueter CA, Weeks JC. A multi-institutional analysis of the socioeconomic determinants of breast reconstruction: a study of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Ann Surg (in press).
  
  

Investigators

• Lathan, Christopher, MD, MPH
• Hassett, Michael, MD, MPH
• Mack, Jennifer, MD, MPH
• Christian, Caprice, MD, MPH

Trainees

• Abel, Gregory, MD, MPH