Departmental Affiliations
Norma Kanarek, PhD, is an epidemiologist whose research focuses on the health of populations, patient participation in clinical trials, the use of preventive health services, and cancer etiology.
Contact Info
Research Interests
- Environmental Health Sciences;
- public health practice;
- public health performance;
- surveillance;
- tracking;
- community health;
- community health assessment;
- applied epidemiology;
- cancer
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Experiences & Accomplishments
Thirty years of public health experience in academia, a state department of health, not-for-profit companies, and a medical care setting. Extensive experience in preparing data for use by various audiences interested in public health. Demonstrated ability to combine knowledge of disease etiology, health services and statistics into practical tools for public health practitioners. Track record of managing technical and multidisciplinary staff and projects; linking population based data to program use; teaching graduate students the application of epidemiology or environmental health sciences to public health.
Dr. Kanarek is an epidemiologist whose research focuses on the health of populations, patient participation in clinical trials, the use of preventive health services and cancer etiology. Her work is at the interface of cancer research and public health practice; between policy and program development; and connecting basic science findings and cancer prevention and control research, linking internal investigators to enhance cross-disciplinary research. In studies of clinical trial participation, she has defined the catchment area for the Johns Hopkins (JH) Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (SKCCC) and described participation by race and geography. Work underway includes examination of clinical trial participation differences among the five SKCCC cancer-site-defined programs. In addition to her research, she maintains close ties with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, chairing the state’s cancer Surveillance Advisory Committee and the Surveillance Chapter Committee of the Maryland Cancer Plan (2010-14). She is a member of the SKCCC Cancer Prevention and Control Program and a Member of the Education, Training, and Mentoring Committee for the current Howard-Hopkins Cancer Centers Partnership (U54). These responsibilities provide a broad background for advising training grant and other students about potential collaborations and translational opportunities at JH.
Honors & Awards
Al Gore Hammer Award Recipient (2000)
Additional Activities:
- Community Health Status Indicators | Report Designer/Advisor to CDC
- Co Chair of the Surveillance chapter of the Maryland Comprehensive Cancer Plan
- Designer of the “priority diamond” Methodology featured in: Health Status Indicator Reports: State of the Art,” Healthy People 2000 Statistics and Surveillance, CDC/NCHS (No. 8), May 1996 and Brownson RC, Baker E, Leet T, and Gillespie KN, Evidence Based Public Health; Oxford Press, NYC: 2003.
On the Web:
Select Publications
Kanarek N, Stanley J, and Bialek R. Local Public Health Agency Performance and Community Health Status. 2006. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2006 November/December;12(6):522-527
Kanarek N, Stanley J, and Bialek R. Local Public Health Agency Performance and Community Health Status. 2006. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2006 November/December;12(6):522-527
Kanarek N, Stanley J, and Bialek R. Local Public Health Agency Performance and Community Health Status. 2006. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2006 November/December;12(6):522-527
Shaio SJ, Su SC, and Kanarek N. County-Level Basics of Living Affects Overall Mortality Rate in the United States – 2000. Applied Research in Quality of Life 2006. 1:97-106.
Kanarek N and Kanarek MS. “Smoking cessation in clinical trials: A health research ethic” (Submitted)
Kanarek NF and Bialek R. “County Readiness to meet Healthy People 2010 Objectives” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice May-June 2003; 9(3): 249-254.