Susan G. Fisher, MS, PhD

​​

Professor

Associate Cancer Center Director for Cancer Health Disparities and Community Outreach

Chair and Professor, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University

Educational Background

  • PhD, Epidemiology, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1991
  • MS, Biostatistics, Georgetown University, 1981
  • Undergraduate degree, Johns Hopkins University, 1979

Memberships

  • American Public Health Association
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology
  • Society for Epidemiologic Research

Research Interests

  • Cancer
  • Public health
  • Clinical trials design
  • Epidemiologic studies
  • Lymphoma epidemiology    

Lab Overview

 

Dr. Fisher’s background includes training in nursing, biostatistics and cancer epidemiology. She has extensive experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of national, multi-center clinical trials and large observational studies. Dr. Fisher serves as the Associate Director for Cancer Health Disparities and Community Engagement at Fox Chase.  In this role she directs the Center’s Community Outreach and Engagement mission, working closely with the Office of Community Outreach to provide community cancer education, enhance screening, and engage community stakeholders in research. She is committed to ensuring that minority and disadvantaged individuals are equitably represented in scientific studies designed to understand the mechanisms underlying cancer disparities and to stimulate advances in cancer care.

In the past six years, Dr. Fisher has established a sustainable, multigenerational cohort of disadvantaged Philadelphia community residents who are philosophically engaged in individual and community health improvement across the life cycle through health research.  This community partnership, known as Temple Health: Block-by-Block, examines the nexus of biologic, social and environmental factors linked to risk of cancer and chronic disease; data are collected twice a year through in-home visits with community residents. This project serves as a springboard to optimize community participation in future discoveries leading to better health for all Americans.

Lab Description

Dr. Fisher’s independent research has been in the field of oncology with a particular interest in virally-induced malignancies; she has over 240 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Fisher collaborates on several multidisciplinary investigations related to health promotion, disease prevention and treatment; she has experience in the measurement of health outcomes including development and evaluation of composite assessment measures and in the management and analysis of large datasets. She has served as a mentor to numerous graduate students, post-doctoral trainees and junior faculty K-awardees, providing academic, research and professional advice through all phases of educational and career development. Dr. Fisher also serves as Chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences at Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine; in this role she directs biostatistics, health research informatics, epidemiology and health disparities research.

Selected Publications

Induction chemotherapy plus radiation compared with surgery plus radiation in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer. The Department of Veterans Affairs Laryngeal Cancer Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1991 Jun 13;324(24):1685-90. PubMed PMID: 2034244.

Fisher SG. Epidemiology: a tool for the study of human papillomavirus-related carcinogenesis. Intervirology. 1994;37(3-4):215-25. PubMed PMID: 7843932.

Fisher SG, Weber L, Carbone M. Cancer risk associated with simian virus 40 contaminated polio vaccine. Anticancer Res. 1999 May-Jun;19(3B):2173-80. PubMed PMID: 10472327.

Fisher SG. SV40-contaminated poliovirus vaccine and childhood cancer risk. JAMA. 1998 May 20;279(19):1527-8. PubMed PMID: 9605895.

Arlene A. Forastiere, Nofisat Ismaila, Jan S. Lewin, Cherie Ann Nathan, David J. Adelstein, Avraham Eisbruch, Gail Fass, Susan G. Fisher, Scott A. Laurie, Quynh-Thu Le, Bernard O’Malley, William M. Mendenhall, Snehal Patel, David G. Pfister, Anthony F. Provenzano, Randy             Weber, Gregory S. Weinstein, and Gregory T. Wolf: Use of Larynx-Preservation Strategies in the Treatment of Laryngeal Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology               Clinical Practice Guideline Update. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2017.75.7385 Journal of Clinical Oncology - 2017

Fisher SG, Devlin A.  Development of an urban community-based cohort to promote health disparities research. Int J Public Health. 2019 Sep;64(7):1107-1115. doi: 10.1007/s00038-019-01267-4. Epub 2019 Jun 20.   PMID:31222474

Additional Publications

The following ratings and reviews are based on verified feedback collected from independently administered patient experience surveys. The ratings and comments submitted by patients reflect their own views and opinions. Patient identities are withheld to ensure confidentiality and privacy. Learn more about our Patient Experience Ratings.

Ratings Breakdown

Loading ...

Patient comments

Loading ...
​​