Usha Sambamoorthi, PhD

Member

Organization:

West Virginia University WVU Cancer Institute

Department:

WVU Cancer Institute Research Programs

Classification:

Faculty

• PhD, University of Madras, 1981

Ten Most Recent:

Explaining the increased health care expenditures associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease among elderly Medicare beneficiaries with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cost-decomposition analysis.
Ajmera M, Raval AD, Shen C, Sambamoorthi U.
Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2014;9:339-348.
PMC3986112.

Excess risk of chronic physical conditions associated with depression and anxiety.
Bhattacharya R, Shen C, Sambamoorthi U.
BMC Psychiatry. 2014;14:10
PMC3902063.

Use of antidepressants and statins and short-term risk of new-onset diabetes among high risk adults.
Bhattacharya R, Ajmera M, Bhattacharjee S, Sambamoorthi U.
Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2014;

Factors associated with utilization of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine during pregnancy among women in kenya: a cross-sectional study.
Haile ZT, Gurka KK, Chertok IR, Sambamoorthi U.
Matern Child Health J. 2014;18(5):1104-1113.

Health behaviors among breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors: a US population-based case-control study, with comparisons by cancer type and gender.
Lemasters TJ, Madhavan SS, Sambamoorthi U, Kurian S.
J Cancer Surviv. 2014; [Epub ahead of print]

Disability prevalence among adults: estimates for 54 countries and progress toward a global estimate.
Mitra S, Sambamoorthi U.
Disabil.Rehabil. 2014;36(11):940-947.

Cross-sectional association between the number of missing teeth and cardiovascular disease among adults aged 50 or older: BRFSS 2010.
Wiener RC, Sambamoorthi U.
Int J Vasc Med. 2014;2014:421567
PMC3928861.

Depression treatment patterns among individuals with osteoarthritis: a cross sectional study.
Agarwal P, Pan X, Sambamoorthi U.
BMC Psychiatry. 2013;13(1):121
PMC3640952.

Inhaled anticholinergic use and all-cause mortality among elderly Medicare beneficiaries with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Ajmera M, Shen C, Pan X, Findley PA, Rust G, Sambamoorthi U.
Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2013;8:287-294.
PMC3682815.

Antidepressant use and new-onset diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Bhattacharjee S, Bhattacharya R, Kelley GA, Sambamoorthi U.
Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2013;29(4):273-284.

Usha Sambamoorthi, Ph.D., is a Professor and Interim-Chairperson of the Department of Pharmaceutical Systems and Policy at West Virginia University (WVU) School of Pharmacy.  She is also the Director of the Graduate Program in Health Services and Outcomes Research.  Dr. Sambamoorthi is a health economist, who has dedicated her teaching, mentoring, and research efforts to improving population health by reducing disparities by gender, race/ethnicity, age, disability, and mental health.  To support her research, Dr. Sambamoorthi has consistently received funding from federal agencies such as AHRQ, NIH, and the Veteran Health Administration (VHA) -the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States.  Her work has also been supported by private foundations and private corporations.  In recognition of her commitment to diversity, education, scholarship, and research, Dr. Sambamoorthi received the 2018 Women In Science and Health (WISH) Advanced Career Excellence award from WVU.

Dr. Sambamoorthi’s research focuses on improving population health through examination of healthcare access, quality, and outcomes using “real-world” large data.  Her interest in interdisciplinary perspectives has led to numerous collaborative research publications and grants with physician researchers, epidemiologists, statisticians, psychologists, nurses, sociologists, policy and behavioral researchers. Dr. Sambamoorthi has over 200 collaborative publications in peer-reviewed high-impact journals.  She uses diverse national and international databases (example: UK Biobank) for analysis and triangulation of research findings.  Dr. Sambamoorthi has expertise in analyzing large national survey databases (NHIS, MEPS, BRFSS, NHANES, HRS, PSID and others), health insurance claims (Medicaid, Medicare – FFS and Advantage, Veteran Health Administration, and private insurance), and linked databases (SEER-Medicare, SEER-CAHPS, MCBS, Veteran Health Administration-Medicare) to answer timely healthcare delivery and policy questions.  As the director of WV CoHORTS data repository, she oversees the acquisition and updating of numerous federal, state, and commercial datasets.  

 Dr. Sambamoorthi’s mentorship skills are well known and she is often referred to as "Mentor Extraordinaire" by her peers.  Her mentees have included graduate students, post-docs, junior faculty, and clinicians from different health professions. The large number of peer-reviewed publications with her mentees bear evidence of her mentoring abilities. Dr. Sambamoorthi’s style of one-to-one mentoring and hands-on rigorous training has resulted in many of her mentees receiving local, national, and international awards for excellence in research.  Her mentoring skills was recognized by the American Public Health Association in 2010 with an Outstanding Mentor Award.  At West Virginia University, Dr. Sambamoorthi was recognized for her mentoring contributions with the WVU Vice President’s Award for Outstanding Mentorship and the WVU Health Sciences Center Award for Outstanding Mentorship, both in 2017.

Non-Programmatically Aligned MBRCC Members