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Matthew P. Banegas, PhD, MPH

Meet Matthew Banegas

Farming and health research both require meticulous recordkeeping, a skill Matthew Banegas learned from his grandfather, who had a farm in rural New Mexico. Banegas now studies disparities in cancer care with the goal of better understanding and reducing those disparities.

Dr. Banegas accepted a position at University of California, San Diego but continues to work on studies at CHR.

Matthew (Mateo) P. Banegas, PhD, MPH, MS, is an associate professor and co-director of the Center for Health Equity Education and Research (CHEER) in the Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences (RMAS) at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.

Trained as a health services researcher, Dr. Banegas focuses on two primary areas of investigation: (1) the associations between social and economic risk factors with health and health care outcomes over the life course and (2) health system strategies to identify and address social and economic barriers to health care.

Currently, Dr. Banegas is co-principal investigator of two grants funded by the National Institutes of Health. “Cancer Financial Experience (CAFÉ), a clinic-based intervention to address financial hardship for people with cancer, is one of the first NCI-funded randomized controlled trials that aims to mitigate financial hardship from cancer.

 “Evaluating the Impact of Dental-Medical Integration Among Medicare Beneficiaries: A Population-Based Approach” is a study to evaluate the impact of KPNW’s innovative dental-medical integration program on Medicare-aged adults at high risk of poor dental health, chronic diseases, and social needs.

Before joining UCSD, Dr. Banegas served as co-lead of the Cancer Disparities Integration Program, part of the Kaiser Permanente NCI (National Cancer Institute) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP).

He also served as advisory committee member of the Kaiser Permanente Social Needs Network for Evaluation and Translation (SONNET), a learning network to promote rigorous evaluation and development of programs that address social, economic and behavioral needs among KP members.

Dr. Banegas received his PhD in health services research, with a concentration on cancer prevention and control, from the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He completed his postdoctoral work in the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at the National Cancer Institute in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Health Services and Economics Branch.

Selected Current Studies

  • Clinic-Based Intervention to Address Financial Hardship for People with Cancer (NCI)
  • Project Orca: Integrating Cost Communication into Clinical Care (RWJF)
  • The Effectiveness, Safety, and Costs of Guideline-Concordant Lung Nodule Care (NCI)
  • Work and Financial Issues among Colorectal Cancer Survivors Pilot (PCORI)

Selected Publications

  • Banegas MP, Yabroff K, O'Keefe Rosetti M, Ritzwoller DP, Fishman PA, Salloum RG, Elston Lafata J, Hornbrook MC. Medical Care Costs Associated with Cancer in Integrated Delivery Systems. Journal of National Comprehensive Cancer Network 2018 Apr;16:402-410 [PMID: 29632060]
  • Banegas MP, Dickerson JF, Kent EE, de Moor JS, Virgo KS, Guy GP Jr, Ekwueme DU, Zheng Z, Nutt S, Pace L, Varga A, Waiwaiole L, Schneider J, Yabroff KR. Exploring barriers to the receipt of necessary medical care among cancer survivors under age 65 years. J Cancer Surviv 2018 Feb;12(1):28-37. [PMID: 28852970]
  • Banegas MP, Guy GP, de Moor JS, Ekwueme DU, Virgo KS, Zheng J, Kent E, Nutt S, Yabroff KR. Financial Hardship among Working-age Cancer Survivors: Medical Debt and Bankruptcy. Health Affairs 2016 Jan 1;35(1):54-61. [PMID: 26733701]
  • Emerson M, Banegas MP, Chawla N, Achacoso N, Alexeeff SE, Adams AS, Habel LA. Disparities in prostate, lung, breast and colorectal cancer survival and comorbidity status among urban American Indians and Alaskan Natives. Cancer Research 2017 Dec 1;77(23):6770-6776 [PMCID: PMC5728425]
  • Banegas MP, John EM, Slattery ML, Gomez SL, Yu M, LaCroix AZ, Pee D, Chlebowski RT, Hines LM, Thomson CA, Gail MH. Projecting Individualized Absolute Invasive Breast Cancer Risk in U.S. Hispanic Women. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2016 Dec 20;109(2). pii: djw215 [PMID: 28003316; PMCID: PMC5174188]
  • Zheng J, Jemal A, Guy GP, Han X, Banegas MP, Li C, Ekwueme DU, Yabroff KR. Annual Medical Expenditure and Productivity Loss among Colorectal, Female Breast, and Prostate Cancer Survivors in the United States. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2015 Dec 24;108(5). [PMCID: PMC4849808]
  • McDougall JA, Banegas MP, Wiggins C, Rajput A, Chiu VK, Flores K, Kinney A. Rural Disparities in Treatment-Related Financial Hardship and Adherence to Surveillance Colonoscopy in Diverse Colorectal Cancer Survivors. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 2018 Mar 28. pii: cebp.1083.2017. [PMID: 29593011, Epub 2018 Mar 28]
  • Zheng Z, Han X, Guy GP Jr, Davidoff AJ, Li C, Banegas MP, Ekwueme DU, Yabroff KR, Jemal A. Do cancer survivors change their prescription drug use for financial reasons? Findings from a nationally representative sample in the United States. Cancer 2017 Apr 15;123(8):1453-1463 [PMID: 28218801]

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