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Chaya Pflugeisen – Research Scientist

MultiCare > Patient & Visitor Resources > Research > How to Get Involved > Investigators > Chaya Pflugeisen – Research Scientist

Chaya Pflugeisen, MSc, MEd (she/her)

Research Scientist

Contact
[email protected]

Back to Investigator Support

About Chaya

Education

MSc Statistics, The Ohio State University 2010

MEd Curriculum & Instruction, University of Washington 2006

BA Community Studies, with honors, University of California, Santa Cruz 1999

Expertise

Overview / Research Interests

Chaya’s research interests are generally focused on health equity and patient/community engagement using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Her primary research efforts are currently concentrated on exploring health care empowerment for transgender and gender-diverse youth, increasing diversity and equity in cancer clinical trial enrollment opportunities, and engagement of patients and caregivers in research. She is the co-founder of the Gender Health Research Program, a collaboration between the Mary Bridge Children’s Gender Health Clinic and the MultiCare Institute for Research & Innovation.

In her role as Research Scientist at MultiCare’s Research Institute, Chaya also supports a wide range of investigators engaged in research efforts within MultiCare Health System and partners at Washington State University, Kaiser Permanente, and the University of Washington. She has led and contributed to research investigating racial/ethnic disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic and in oncologic and obstetric health care delivery. She has evaluated patient experience within adolescent and young adult oncology, obstetric care, and among clinical trial participants. Chaya has also been involved in multi-project collaborations with providers in adolescent and young adult oncology and pediatric non-accidental trauma.

Publications

Select Peer Reviewed Publications

Due to a legal name change, some publications appear as BM Pflugeisen, rather than CM Pflugeisen.

Gender Health

  • Pflugeisen CM, Boomgaarden A, Denaro AA, Konicek D, Robinson E. Patient Empowerment Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth. LGBT Health. 2023 May 2. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2022.0276. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37126404.
  • Pflugeisen CM, Denaro AA, Boomgaarden A (2023). The Impact of Parent Support on Patient Empowerment in Trans and Gender Diverse Youth. LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 19:4, 300-309. DOI: 10.1080/27703371.2023.220385. Epub 20 Apr 2023.
  • Denaro A, Pflugeisen CM, Colglazier T, DeWine D, Thompson B. Lessons from grassroots efforts to increase gender-affirming medical care for transgender and gender diverse youth in the Community Health Care Setting. Transgender Health. 2022 X:X, 1–6, DOI: 10.1089/trgh.2021.0092.

COVID-19

Health Equity

  • Pflugeisen BM, Mou J, Drennan KJ, Straub HL. Demographic Discrepancies in Prenatal Urine Drug Screening in Washington State Surrounding Recreational Marijuana Legalization and Accessibility. Matern Child Health J. 2020 Dec;24(12):1505-1514. doi: 10.1007/s10995-020-03010-5. Epub 2020 Oct 3. PMID: 33009980.

Patient Experience

  • Pflugeisen BM, Patterson P, Macpherson CF, Ray BC, Jacobsen RL, Hornyak N, Johnson RH. Putting Adolescents and Young Adults in a Room Together: Launching an Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Council. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2019 Oct;8(5):540-546. doi: 10.1089/jayao.2018.0139. Epub 2019 May 23. PubMed PMID: 31120363.
  • Pflugeisen BM, Mou J. Patient Satisfaction with Virtual Obstetric Care. Matern Child Health J. 2017 Jul;21(7):1544-1551. doi: 10.1007/s10995-017-2284-1. PubMed PMID: 28176034.

For full publication list, please visit My Bibliography – NCBI (nih.gov)

Projects/Research Support

Promoting Patient Diversity, Inclusion, and Access to Cancer Clinical Trials through Navigation–A Community Oncology Diversity Project

  • Andy Hill Care Fund
  • Co-Investigator, with Deana Williams, PhD
  • This project will create and pilot a culturally grounded, anti-racist intervention to increase the engagement of communities of color in cancer clinical trials. We will form a racially/ethnically diverse community advisory board comprising cancer survivors of color and professionals serving cancer patients of color. Together, the study team and this advisory council will seek to identify and understand existing cancer clinical trial barriers among communities of color and preferences and needs for a culturally grounded patient navigator program. We will then develop a culturally conscious, anti-racist intervention, testing for feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and cost-effectiveness. The results of this study will provide preliminary data to inform a full-scale intervention, establishing a foundation for enrolling and retaining more people of color in cancer trials. In the long-term, this study has the potential to provide more representative clinical trial data that may lead to improvements in cancer screening, treatment, and mortality disparities among communities of color.

Youth, Caregivers, and Healthcare Professionals: Integrating stakeholder driven research for transgender youth

  • Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, 11/2022 – 11/2023
  • Principal Investigator
  • This project will convene gender-diverse youth, caregivers of gender diverse youth, and health care professionals from all levels of the institutional hierarchy. Using both focus group and survey methodology, we will work with stakeholders to first identify existing gaps in gender-affirming care access, experience, and delivery, and then to articulate and prioritize patient-centered outcomes research directions.

Understanding healthcare empowerment among gender diverse youth – The Gender Empower Study 

  • Mary Bridge Foundation, 03/2022 – 03/2023
  • Principal Investigator
  • This anonymous, nationally distributed survey will evaluate health care empowerment among gender diverse youth (ages 14-24) seeking gender-affirming care. Health care empowerment domain and overall scores will be analyzed in association to key demographic variables, including age, gender identity, region, level of integration of gender-affirmation in one’s life, and parental support.