Nasar Ahmed
Focus
Health Disparities; Cancer Epidemiology, Intervention Development
Biography
Dr. Ahmed is the Founding Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and has served from 2004-2012. He established Research & Evaluation units in response to emerging public health needs, at the Indiana State Department of Health, and the Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Prevention Research Core through the Meharry-Vanderbilt University Alliance. Dr. Ahmed served as founding President of the Council of Epidemiology Chairs & Directors (CEC), an international organization with mission is to provide forums for the exchange of ideas in epidemiology and to share strategies for effective leadership in the academic environment and address emerging public health issues.
Dr. Ahmed has been recognized as a successful researcher and teacher. He is a four-time recipient of the American Association for Cancer Research & NCI’s Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award. In 2023, he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar. In 2010, as a national level recognition of an effective teacher, he was inducted into the Association of School of Public Health/Pfizer Teaching Excellence Academy.
Dr. Ahmed’s background is in social epidemiology and intervention development. He has national and international experience in intervention development, program evaluation, and research. He has been the principal investigator of several research projects involving cancer, cardiovascular diseases, school health, smoking, and physical activity. He co-developed with Prof. Marian Zeitlin a 3-Stage Behavioral Trial Model utilizing the Positive Deviance Research Concept. This model with the concept has been applied in intervention in several countries.
Currently, his research focuses on chronic disease, cancer epidemiology, health disparities, intervention development, and evaluation.
Education
- Tufts University, Ph.D.
- University of the Philippines at Los Baños, M.P.S.
- Jahangirnagar University, B.Sc (Honors), M.Sc.
Publications
Health Disparity (selected articles)
Ahmed, NU. Delgado, M; and Saxena A. Trends and disparities in the prevalence of physicians’ counseling on exercise among the U.S. adult population, 2000-2010. Preventive Medicine, Feb 9, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.01.015
Chang-Martinez C, Ahmed NU, Natale RA, Messiah SE. State-Mandated Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Screen Time Policies in Child Care Centers. Health Promotion Practice, May, 2018: 19(3) 411-417. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1524839917729125
Ahmed, NU. Delgado, M; and Saxena A. Trends and disparities in the prevalence of physicians’ counseling on diet and nutrition among the U.S. adult population, 2000-2011. Preventive Medicine, June 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.05.014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.05.014
Ahmed NU, Pelletier V, Winter K, Albatineh A. Factors explaining racial/ethnic disparities in rates of colorectal cancer screening. American Journal of Public Health 103 (7) e91-99; May 2013. https://dx.doi.org/10.2105%2FAJPH.2012.301034
Haber G, Ahmed NU, Pekovic V. Family history of cancer and its association with breast cancer risk perception and repeat mammography. American Journal of Public Health 102 (12) 2322-29; 2012. https://dx.doi.org/10.2105%2FAJPH.2012.300786
Ahmed NU, Smith G, Haber G. Belcon M. Are women with functional limitations at high risk of underutilization of mammography screening? Women’s Health Issues 19: 79-87, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2008.09.001
Ata A, Elzey JD, Insaf TZ, Grau AM, Stain SC, Ahmed NU. Colorectal cancer prevention: Adherence patterns and correlates of tests done for screening purposes within US populations. Cancer Detection and Prevention 30: 134–143, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdp.2006.02.003
Ahmed NU, Smith G, Flores AM, Pamies R, Mason HRC, Woods K, Stain S. Racial/ethnic disparity and predictors of leisure-time physical activity among U.S. men. Ethnicity &Disease 15 (1); 40-52; 2005. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15720048
Intervention (selected articles)
Ahmed NU, Haber G, Semenya KA, Hargreaves MK. Randomized controlled trial of mammography intervention in insured very-low-income women. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 19 (7):1790-1798, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-10-0141
Ahmed NU, Fort J, Malin A, Semenya K, Haber G. Breast cancer knowledge and barriers to mammography screening in a managed care low-income population. Journal of Cancer Education 24: (4) 261-6, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1080/08858190902973077
Ahmed NU, Fort J, Malin A, Hargreaves MK. Barriers to mammography screening in a managed care population. Public Administration and Management 14: (1), 2009. https://doi.org/10.1080/08858190902973077
Delgado, M, Ahmed NU. Physician-Delivered Dietary Counseling: A Review. Journal of Nature and Science (JNSCI), 2(5):e192, July 2016.
Ahmed NU, Fort JG, Micah TH, Dickerson P Belay Y. Changes needed in the healthcare system: Perspectives of lay health workers on cancer prevention. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management: 29: (1) 17-23, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004479-200601000-00003
Ahmed NU, Fort JG, Micah TH, Belay Y. How the health care system can improve screening mammography rates for underserved women: A closer look at the health care delivery system. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management. 24 (3), 17-26, 2001. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11433552
Chang CM, Ahmed NU, Natale, RA. Residential Segregation, Neighborhood Social and Physical Context in Obesity Disparities in Hispanic Preschoolers: A Conceptual Model. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice Vol.10, Issue 2. July 12, 2017. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol10/iss2/4/
Ahmed NU, Fort JG, Elzey J, Bailey S. Empowering factors in repeat mammography: Insights from the stories of underserved women. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management: 27 (4) 368-375, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004479-200410000-00007
Ahmed NU, Zeitlin MF, Beiser AS, Super CM, Gershoff SN, Ahmed MA. Community-based trial and ethnographic techniques for the development of hygiene intervention in rural Bangladesh. Int’l Quarterly of Community Health Education 12 (3): 183-202, 1991-92. https://doi.org/10.2190/EX5T-H8NU-P4YJ-1RCN
Ahmed NU, Winter K, Albatineh A, Haber G. Clustering very low-income, insured women’s mammography screening barriers into potentially functional subgroups. Women’s Health Issues, 22(3) 259-266; 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2012.02.001
Llau AF, Ahmed NU. Identification of an Accident Prediction Model for Red Light Camera Analysis. Biom Biostat Int J. 4 (3):00095. http://dx.doi.org/10.15406/bbij.2016.04.00095
Methods (selected articles)
Gullhar M, Kibria BMG, Albatineh A, Ahmed NU. A comparison of some confidence intervals for estimating the population coefficient of variation: A simulation study. Statistics & Operations Research Transactions, 36(1): 45-68; 2012. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e965/26b7513923052a9665ccc12b7b06ab022dba.pdf
Khan HMR, Saxena A, Rana S, Ahmed NU. Bayesian Method for Modeling Male Breast Cancer Survival Data. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 15 (2), 663-669; 2014. http://journal.waocp.org/article_28642_ba49f50e7dfc51c38faa1be58933c801.pdf
Azam MN, Yeasmin M, Ahmed NU and Chakraborty H. Modeling Occurrence of Dengue Cases in Malaysia (Letter to the editor). Ir J Public Health. 45 (11): 1511–1512. Nov 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5182261/
Khan HMR, Albatineh A, Alshahrani S, Jenkins N, Ahmed NU. Sensitivity analysis of predictive modeling for responses from the three-parameter Weibull model with a follow-up doubly censored sample of cancer patients. Computational Stat & Data Analysis, 55(12): 3093-3103, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csda.2011.05.017
Belcon M, Ahmed NU, Younis M. Analysis of national healthcare systems: Searching for a model for developing countries– Trinidad and Tobago as a Test Case. Public Administration and Management 14: (1), 2009. https://spaef.org/article/925/Analysis-of-National-Healthcare-Systems-Searching-for-a-Model-for-Developing-Countries-Trinidad-and-Tobago-as-a-Test-Case
Khan HMR, Albatineh A, Tefsa S, Jenkins N, Ahmed NU. Predictive inference from two-parameter Weibull model given a doubly censored sample of hepatocellular carcinoma of liver patients. Journal of Applied Statistical. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286497093_Predictive_inference_from_two-parameter_Weibull_model_given_a_doubly_censored_sample_of_hepatocellular_carcinoma_of_liver_patients