Project Investigator Biography

Judith S. Kaur, M.A., M.D. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine 200 First Street SW Rochester, MN 55905 phone: (507) 266-5365 fax: (507) 538-0823 email: kaur.judith@mayo.edu

Dr. Judith S. Kaur is an Associate Professor of Oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She is the Medical Director for the Native American Programs of the Mayo Comprehensive Cancer Center. All three Mayo sites are involved in outreach to American Indians and Alaska Natives through these programs.

The first program, Native WEB, conducts outreach training for nurses serving Native American and other underserved women to provide access to breast and cervical cancer prevention and screening. Native C.I.R.C.L.E., the second program, provides and develops culturally appropriate cancer education materials for laypersons, allied health personnel, and clinicians working in Native communities. The third program, Spirit of E.A.G.L.E.S., empowers intervention studies in Native populations, provides scholarship support for students in medicine or biological sciences training, and advocates for improved cancer prevention and control in American Indian and Alaska Native populations. This is funded by the National Cancer Institute's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. Dr. Kaur's research also includes a special interest in women's cancers, particularly breast and cervical cancers.

In 2007, Dr. Kaur was awarded "Physician of the Year" by the Association of American Indian Physicians. In the following year, 2008, she was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board by President George W. Bush (4 year appointment) and was also became a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care. Dr. Kaur is one of the Medical Directors for Mayo Clinic's Hospice program and the Research Director for the Palliative Care Program and Course Director for an "Intensive Case-based Training in Palliative Care" for the Indian Health Service

Dr. Kaur is also the Director of the Mayo Clinic Hospice Program and Palliative Care Task Force. She is the Principal Investigator for a Molecular Markers Study in Breast Cancer in American Indian and Alaska Native women as well as a mammographic and clinical risk-factor analysis study. Dr. Kaur received her M.A. in Counseling from Northwestern University and her M.D. from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.