Dr. Issaka serves on the African American/Black Expert Panel for the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) focusing on overseeing equitable and inclusive trials and outreach for vaccines. The CoVPN was formed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the US National Institutes of Health to respond to the global pandemic.

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Dr. Issaka was one of several subject matter experts invited to a June 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention summit to answer key questions regarding mailed fecal immunochemical test (FIT) implementation in the United States. Meeting participants agreed that mailed FIT outreach represents a promising method to improve colorectal cancer screening. Mailed FIT helps address the ongoing need for the greater promotion of evidence‐based strategies to increase colorectal cancer screening participation.

(Full Report)

Dr. Issaka served as the senior investigator on a qualitative study to assess colorectal cancer survivor perspectives on barriers to colonoscopy completion after treatment and the potential role for a short message service (SMS) reminder. The study demonstrated that colorectal cancer survivors perceive SMS reminders as an acceptable, valuable tool for surveillance and recommended the exploration of provider- and system-level SMS interventions.

(Project Abstract)