PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE
Investigating Health Disparities
HONG XIAO
Title: Associate Professor of Economics and Social &
Administrative Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Florida A&M University
Education: Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Socioeconomics,
University of Iowa; B.S., Pharmacy, Beijing University
(formerly Beijing Medical University)
Age: 39
Although many scientists have a passion for research because they enjoy working in a laboratory, Dr. Hong Xiao chose her field because she wanted to interact with patients. That’s how Xiao, a native of China, found herself in the American heartland, studying pharmacy administration with Drs. Henri R. Manasse Jr. and Bernard Sorofman.
“The United States has a very developed system of graduate studies, so I came to the states for my Ph.D.,” she says. “First I went to the University of Illinois in Chicago, but my advisor [Manasse] moved a year later, so I followed him to the University of Iowa.”
Sorofman, Xiao’s co-advisor for her dissertation, still admires the work she did as a student studying the effects of pharmacy closures in rural Iowa. Manasse says she “undertook her research work with inquisitiveness and vigor. She has maintained all of these qualities as a faculty member and researcher in her discipline. She makes us all very proud to have been affiliated with her.”
While in graduate school, Xiao was introduced to the Geographic Information System. GIS has been used for many years in urban planning, but it is a relatively new application in health care research. One of Xiao’s career goals is to apply GIS to cancer research, especially prostate cancer.
“My other interest is access to care for vulnerable populations, and I use GIS as a tool to identify first whether disparities exist and then try to investigate the underlying factors that contributed to the disparity,” she says. “Right now, I’m looking at social behaviors like screening for cancer, prevention, diet, smoking, health or lifestyle factors.” She is also doing a pilot study of the incidence of prostate cancer in Florida.
