Elena Elkin, Ph.D., M.P.A.
Fellowship Year(s): 2016-2017
Profession: Researcher
Specialty:
Fellowship Details:
Associate Outcomes Research Scientist/Associate Professor of Healthcare Policy and Research
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center/Weill Cornell Medical College
Sen Whitehouse (D-RI)
New York
At time of Fellowship
Elena Elkin is an Associate Outcomes Research Scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and an Associate Professor of Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell Medical College. She conducts investigator-initiated and collaborative research in health services and health outcomes and teaches medical students, graduate students, and fellows. She was the recipient of National Cancer Institute K07 Career Development Award from 2007 to 2012.
Elkin’s research explores the determinants of cancer screening, treatment, and outcomes using population-based observational data analysis, decision analysis, and patient surveys. Her recent funded work involves development and evaluation of web-based decision aids for women in their 40s considering screening mammography and current and former smokers eligible for lung cancer screening. Her other research interests include the economic impact of cancer treatment on patients, their families, and the health care system, as well as understanding and improving clinical decision-making processes from both patient and provider perspectives. She conducts cost-effectiveness analyses of clinical and behavioral interventions and advises numerous trainees in studies of cancer treatment patterns, complications, survival, and cost using the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare dataset.
Elkin received a BS from Cornell University, an MPA from New York University, and a PhD in health policy from Harvard University.
Current Info:
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
Health Care Costs;Health Services Research
Since Fellowship:
Dr. Elkin studies determinants of cancer screening, treatment, and outcomes using population-based observational data analysis, decision analysis, and patient and provider surveys. Much of her research addresses questions about screening mammography.
Her recent work involves the development and evaluation of a web-based tool, Breast Screening Decisions, to help women in their 40’s decide when to start and how often to have screening mammograms. She also studies the cost and cost effectiveness of clinical, behavioral, and educational interventions for cancer patients and survivors. At Mailman, she teaches Decision Analysis for Clinical and Public Health Practices (HPM P8568), offered in the spring semester for the Comparative Effectiveness and Outcomes Research (CEOR) certificate.
Previously, Dr. Elkin was a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell Medical College. In 2016-2017, she
served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, working in the office of U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI). She is currently a member of the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC).
Dr. Elkin received her PhD in Health Policy, with a concentration in Decision Sciences, from Harvard University. She has a MPA in Health Policy and Management from New York University and a BS in Communications from Cornell University.