Gloria Coronado, PhD, is an epidemiologist who champions affordable, long-term solutions to health disparity issues. She leads a well-funded research portfolio that inspires health system leaders to make sensible, evidence-informed choices to engage hard-to-reach populations in life-saving preventive behaviors.

Dr.  Coronado has developed several innovative, cost-effective interventions to improve rates of participation in cancer screening among patients served by community health centers. Her work has led to successful partnerships with large health plans, state institutions, and community clinics. She currently directs or co-directs three programs that employ systems-based approaches to raise the rates of colorectal cancer screening and follow-up in health plans and clinics in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Dr. Coronado’s research uses existing health system data and population segmentation approaches to proactively deliver outreach to patients who need it the most; her research strives to promote health care efficiency while advancing equity.

Dr. Coronado’s team specializes in applying patient-engagement strategies to develop culturally relevant health education material. Materials developed by her team (English- and Spanish-language patient-facing materials, e.g. fact sheets, videos, training modules) have been disseminated to hundreds of health systems and community organizations across the United States.

Dr. Coronado came to the University of Arizona Cancer Center from the Center for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, where she led several practice-based research projects to improve colorectal cancer screening and follow-up. She also mentored several trainees and early-stage investigators; in 2020 she was named Mentor of the Year by the Health Care Systems Research Network. 

Over the course of her career, Dr. Coronado has served as the principal investigator, co-investigator or co-principal investigator on over 35 federally funded grants; she has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts. She previously served as a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Improving the Representation of Women and Minorities in Clinical Trials and Research. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Coronado received her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Washington and then was a research associate professor in the university’s Department of Epidemiology. She also received training at Stanford University.