Lucy A. Peipins, PhD

Lucy A. Peipins, PhD, is a senior epidemiologist in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control’s Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch (EARB). She first came to CDC in 1993 as an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati and has worked as an epidemiologist and Assistant Director for Science at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She has also worked as Director of the Division of Waterborne Hazards Control in the Virginia Department of Health and as an assistant professor in the Department of Family Practice at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Dr. Peipins received her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York College at Buffalo, a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a PhD in epidemiology at the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Peipins has conducted research and published on topics related to environmental health, breast cancer screening, risk perception and medical decision-making. Her work in the EARB has included a study of perceived risk and use of ovarian cancer screening, an investigation of transportation barriers to cancer screening and treatment using geographic information systems, and analyses of the role that structural factors such as lack of sick leave play in cancer screening. She is currently working with colleagues in EARB to develop and conduct a survey on the barriers to communicating cancer risk within families, and is conducting analyses on optimistic bias in perceived risk of breast cancer and on knowledge about genetic risk of cancer among women in the National Institute of Environmental Health Science’s Sister Study cohort. The most recent articles Dr. Peipins has first-authored include—

• 2014 Cognitive and affective influences on perceived risk of ovarian cancer.
• 2013 Racial disparities in travel time to radiotherapy facilities in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
• 2012 Characteristics of U.S. counties with no mammography capacity.
• 2012 The lack of paid sick leave as a barrier to cancer screening and medical care-seeking: results from the National Health Interview Survey.
• 2011 Time and distance barriers to mammography facilities in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
• 2006 Impact of women’s experiences during mammography on adherence to rescreening.
• 2003 Radiographic abnormalities and exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in the community of Libby, Montana, USA.