Denise Roe, Dr.P.H., is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and past Senior Associate Dean in MEZCOPH. She received a B.A. in Biology from UCLA, a M.S. in Biometrics from the University of Colorado, and a Dr.P.H. in Biostatistics from UCLA. She has been on the faculty of the University of Arizona since 1988. She collaborates with researchers in the Zuckerman College of Public Health, Arizona Cancer Center, College of Medicine, and College of Pharmacy in the design, conduct and statistical analysis of clinical, prevention and laboratory studies. Her statistical research interests include developing and evaluating statistical methods useful in clinical trials, prevention studies, pharmacokinetics, and longitudinal studies. She has served as the President-Elect, President, and Past-President of the Western North American Region of the International Biometric Society (1999 - 2001), and as a Member of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (1999 - 2001). She has served as a member of the Association of Schools of Public Health Data Committee (2002 - 2006) and the Associate Deans Retreat Planning Committee (2001 - 2006).

Dr. Roe’s independent statistical research has been shaped by the collaborative needs of the research groups of which she has been a part. She has collaborated with investigators for over 20 years in the former Medical Oncology Program Project, which evolved into the more recent Therapeutic Targeting of Hypoxic and Oxidative Stress Program Project. These grants included an emphasis on early drug development trials, such as pharmacokinetic studies. In support of these studies, she explored the statistical properties of averaging techniques used for pharmacokinetic parameters, which are often reciprocals and ratios of random variables (Roe and Karol, 1997). She also coordinated the efforts of and prepared the summary paper describing the results of the Population Pharmacokinetic Modeling Work Group, which explored alternative analysis techniques for population pharmacokinetic studies (Roe, 1997).

Her recent statistical research is focusing on measurement issues in physiologic parameters which require adjustment by other physiologic measurements. An example is the adjustment of measurements of oxidative damage (an early marker in cancer progression) by creatinine levels. The statistical issue is whether the 'adjustment factor' should also appear as an independent variable in the analysis. This will be explored theoretically and by computer simulation. 
 
Publications:

Robey IF, Baggett BK, Kirkpatrick ND, Roe DJ, Dosescu J, Sloane BF, Hashim AI, Morse DL, Raghunand N, Gatenby RA, Gillies RJ: Bicarbonate increases tumor pH and inhibits spontaneous metastases. Cancer Research (in press).

Clouser MC, Roe DJ, Foote JA, Harris RB: Effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on non-melanoma skin cancer incidence in the SKICAP-AK trial. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety (in press).

Clouser MC, Harris RB, Roe DJ, Saboda K, Ranger-Moore J, Duckett L, Alberts DS: Risk group, skin lesion history, and sun sensitivity reliability in squamous cell skin cancer progression. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 15:2292-2297, 2006.

VenkerCC, Goodwin JL, Roe DJ, Kaemingk KL, Mulvaney S, Quan SF: Normative psychomotor vigilance task performance in children ages 6 to 11--the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea (TuCASA).Sleep & Breathing 11:217-224, 2007.