Lauren Hamel
Biography
Lauren Hamel is an Associate Professor (Research Eduacator), tenured in the department of Oncology.
Lauren M. Hamel, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Oncology (Tenured) and Co-Program Leader of the Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute and the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. She is also the faculty director of KCI’s Medical Interaction Research Archive and Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Department of Oncology.
Dr. Hamel is an expert in patient-provider communication, cancer treatment disparities, and in building and testing interventions to improve patient-physician communication. She is PI of two recently completed NIH-funded studies assessing nonverbal communication that occurs between Black patients with cancer and their oncologists during clinical interactions. Using video-recorded naturally occurring cancer treatment discussions, she is investigating aspects of nonverbal communication as potential markers of racial attitudes (e.g., physician implicit bias, patient suspicion of medical care) and predictors of interaction outcomes.
Currently, Dr. Hamel is PI of an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Health Equity Grant to test the effectiveness of a patient-focused intervention on patient-clinician treatment cost discussions and other patient financial toxicity-related outcomes. She has 50+ publications including articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals including Cancer, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, JCO Oncology Practice, and Cancer Control.
Office Address
4100 John R. St. MM03CB
Detroit, MI 48201
Education/Training
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Communication and Behavioral Oncology, Wayne State University School of Medicine/Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, Michigan
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Organizational Behavior,
Dublin City University Business School, Dublin, Ireland
PhD, Communication, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
MA, Communication, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
BA, Communication Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Office Phone
313-576-9672
Honors and Awards
2023, College Teaching Award, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI
2022, Association of American Cancer Institutes’ Leadership Diversity and Development Initiative
2022, Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Outstanding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Faculty Scholar
2022, Michigan Cancer Healthlink Faculty Award, Karmanos Cancer Institute Office of Cancer Health Equity and Community Engagement
2021, Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Research Excellence Award, Clinical Researcher
Research
Dr. Hamel's research is driven by her goal of mitigating clinical communication disparities and moving toward equity in healthcare. She is an expert in patient-provider clinical communication and the design and testing of clinic-based and community-engaged interventions to improve the quality of clinical communication. Her work has been continuously funded in 2014, largely by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.
Publications
- Eggly S, Moore TF, Baidoun F, Mattei LH, Jang H, Kim S, Keaton Williams K, Brown-Miller V, & Hamel LM. Ask Questions (ASQ): Implementation of a question prompt list communication intervention in a network of outpatient medical oncology clinics. Patient Educ Counsel. 2023; 113. PMID: 37207383
- Eggly S, Senft N, Kim S, Heath EI, Jang H, Moore TF, Baidoun F, Manning M, Penner LA, Carducci MA, Lansey D, & Hamel LM. Addressing multilevel barriers to participation in clinical trials among Black and White men with prostate cancer through the PACCT study. Cancer Medicine. 2023; 12: 8604-8613. PMID: 36540051
- Burmeister J, Dominello MM, Soulliere R, Baran G, Dess K, Loughery B, Jang H, Kim S, Kim H, Jelich M, Laszewski P, Zelko C, & Hamel LM. A direct patient-provider relationship with the medical physicist reduces anxiety in radiotherapy patients. Internat J Rad Oncol *Bio* Phys. 2023; 115: 233-243. PMID: 36243227
- Hamel LM, Moulder R, Ramseyer FT, Penner L, Albrecht TL, Boker S, & Eggly S. Nonverbal synchrony: An indicator of clinical communication quality in racially-concordant and racially-discordant oncology interactions. Cancer Control. 2022; 29: 1-11. PMID: 35801386
- Hamel LM, Dougherty DW, Mabunda L, *Tadesse E, *Hill R, *Ghanshani S, & Eggly S. How do you DISCO? Developing and implementing the Discussions of Cost App to reduce financial toxicity and improve treatment cost communication. Oncol Issues. 2022; 37: 23-31.