Caryn Peterson
ChicagoCHEC Role: Planning and Evaluation Core Co-Leader
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Caryn Peterson is a Research Assistant Professor in Epidemiology in the Division of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Global Health faculty at the School of Public Health (SPH), University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and Co-Director of UIC’s Cancer Education and Career Development Program. Trained as a cancer/infectious disease epidemiologist (MS, PhD), Dr. Peterson has expertise in implementation evaluation and quantitative analytic methods in social epidemiology. Her work has demonstrated the effects of individual- and community-level socioeconomic variables on ovarian cancer survival, differences in socio-cultural and behavioral characteristics and barriers to receiving care, and the increased risk of HPV-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinomas associated with higher area-level socioeconomic status. Dr. Peterson’s current work explores clinical and community-based solutions to improve HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening rates in Chicago and French-speaking West Africa.