Departmental Affiliations
Avonne E. Connor, PhD, MPH, is a cancer epidemiologist who studies breast cancer and cancer health disparities among women and underserved populations across the cancer continuum.
Contact Info
Research Interests
breast cancer; health disparities; ethnicity/race; obesity; Hispanic Americans; African Americans; cancer survival; polymorphisms/genetic variants; tumor phenotype; chronic inflammation; quality of life
Experiences & Accomplishments
I am a cancer epidemiologist, focused on breast cancer in women and cancer health disparities research, with a background in both basic and public health sciences and expertise in conducting population-based research. With a focus on modifiable lifestyle factors, biological factors, and more recently social inequities, I have conducted research that identifies women at risk of breast cancer and poor health outcomes after breast cancer utilizing different epidemiologic methods and well established population-based data sources. My research focuses on studying cancer outcomes among African American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white women and underserved populations on both local and national levels. My research goals are to improve our understanding of the underlying causes of cancer disparities among US minority women and underserved populations and implement changes to reduce cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality.
Honors & Awards
2012 Delta Omega Honor Society, Beta Pi Chapter
2014 Ho-Ching Yang Memorial Faculty Award, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2016 JH-BIRCWH Scholar, Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical & Translational Research
2018 University of Louisville, Alumni Fellow of the Year for the School of Public Health & Information Sciences
2018 Minority & MSI Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award, American Association for Cancer Research
2020 National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute, Loan Repayment Program (LRP) recipient
2021 Minority & MSI Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award, American Association for Cancer Research
2022 National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute, LRP renewal recipient
Select Publications
Selected Publications
Connor AE, Schmaltz C, Jackson-Thompson J, Visvanathan K. (2021). Comorbidities and risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among a population-based cohort of diverse breast cancer patients. Cancer. doi: 10.1002/cncr.33530.
Connor AE, Visvanathan K, Boone SD, Nader R, Baumgartner KB, Baumgartner RB. (2019) Fructosamine and diabetes as predictors of mortality among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white breast cancer survivors. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2019; 5:3. doi: 10.1038/s41523-018-0099-x
Dibble KE, Kaur M, Connor AE. (2021) Disparities in healthcare utilization and access by length of cancer survivorship among population-based female cancer survivors. Journal of Cancer Survivorship. 2021 Oct 18. doi: 10.1007/s11764-021-01110-x. Online ahead of print.
Connor AE, Kaur M, Dibble KE, Visvanathan K, Dean LT, Hayes J. (2021) Racialized economic segregation and breast cancer mortality among women in Maryland. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. 2022 Feb;31(2):413-421. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-21-0923. Epub 2021 Dec 3.
Connor AE, Dibble KE, Visvanathan K. (2023) Lifestyle factors in Black female breast cancer survivors—Descriptive results from an online pilot study. Frontiers Public Health. 2023 Mar 14;11:1072741.doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1072741. eCollection 2023.
Connor AE, Kaur M, Sheng JY, Hayes JH. (2022) Racial disparities in mortality outcomes among women diagnosed with breast cancer in Maryland: impact of cardiovascular disease and clinical characteristics. Cancer. 2022 Feb 15;128(4):727-736. doi: 10.1002/cncr.33889. Publication highlighted by journal editorial.