Patricia Coogan

Dr. Coogan’s research interests focus on environmental and societal influences on disease and on pharmacoepidemiology. She has served as principal or co-investigator on several large case-control studies of medication use and cancer and has published extensively on the relation of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, statins, antidepressants, and other drugs to the risk of colorectal, breast, and other cancers. Dr. Coogan is a co-investigator on the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), a prospective cohort study of 59,000 African American women, and has led the effort to identify environmental influences on disease in that cohort. Past studies in this area have included the detailed characterization of the neighborhood built and social environments and the assessment of their influence on physical activity and weight gain. Currently, she is assessing the influence of neighborhood factors on other health outcomes, like asthma and cardiovascular disease. She is also principal investigator of a study of air pollution and the incidence of diabetes and hypertension. Other interests include psychosocial influences on health and their interaction with environmental influences.