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Paula Aristizabal

A professional headshot of Dr. Paula Aristizabal, a Latina with a light skin tone, dark hair, and glasses, smiling at the camera.

Dr. Paula Aristizabal believes that cancer health disparities work should include collecting and sharing data about social determinants of health.

Credit: National Cancer Institute

  • Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, University of California San Diego
  • Medical Director, International Outreach Program, and Quality Improvement Lead, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego

Dr. Paula Aristizabal believes that understanding social determinants of health—the conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect their health and quality of life—can improve care and survival for all children with cancer, especially those from underserved communities.

Paula grew up in Colombia, where she witnessed health disparities firsthand, and now focuses her research on reducing barriers for Hispanic children with cancer. One way to accomplish this is to make sure that clinical trials consider the needs of Hispanic children and make it easier for them to find out about and enroll in trials. Collecting and sharing data from these children can help address cancer health disparities for other socially disadvantaged populations. “When we collect data and share it with the community,” Paula notes, “we can go to the next step to develop treatments and address and reduce disparities within childhood cancer.”

Paula was also featured in a 2019 Dialogue on Disparities blog post from NCI’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities.

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