Tomas Nuño, PhD, has joined the University of Arizona Department of Emergency Medicine as research assistant professor.
With expertise in epidemiology and biostatistics, Dr. Nuño’s work will focus on providing research support for department faculty members, serving as associate director of ScholarQuest (the department’s program that delivers a resident curriculum in epidemiology, biostatistics and research methods), and establishing a research program centered on the reduction of cardiovascular health disparities in emergency medicine populations, including racial and ethnic minorities and rural populations.
Dr. Nuño employs health services, health economics and comparative effectiveness (the direct comparison of existing health-care interventions to determine which work best for specific patients) to his research methods. He is an expert in the use of large government and cancer-specific databases to investigate cancer prevention and control issues regarding screening and outcomes among racial and ethnic minorities and underserved populations.
Dr. Nuño received a bachelor’s degree in managerial economics from the University of California, Davis, and a master’s degree in economics at the UA. He completed his doctorate in epidemiology at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. His dissertation explored the use of breast and cervical cancer screening among rural Hispanic and American Indian women in Arizona. A key part of his research evaluated a promotora-administered intervention to promote breast and cervical cancer screening in communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Promotoras are members of the public trained to provide basic health education and guidance to their community.
Dr. Nuño completed a postdoctoral research fellowship with the Arizona Area Health Education Center-funded Clinical Outcomes and Comparative Effectiveness Research (COCER) Academic Fellowship Program. The program provides training in clinical outcomes and comparative effectiveness research, with a specific focus on primary health care for rural and underserved patients, families and communities in Arizona.
In September 2012, Dr. Nuño was awarded a three-year grant from the National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) as part of the UA Cancer Center Cancer Prevention and Control Translational Research Training Program, which supports development and implementation of an institutional, curriculum-dependent, postdoctoral training program in areas such as cancer prevention and control, and population sciences.
The recipient of national awards, including the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities Scholar-in-Training Award and the Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools (HSHPS) Health Services Research Scholar Award, Dr. Nuño has published more than a dozen scholarly articles and book chapters.
“We are very fortunate to recruit such an amazing talent!" said Samuel Keim, MD, chair of the UA Department of Emergency Medicine. “He will be a tremendous asset to the department’s ongoing research programs.”