Dr. Lailea Noel’s research investigates the social and economic conditions that contribute to lower cancer treatment utilization and higher mortality rates in marginalized communities, particularly communities of color, and communities within residentially segregated urban and rural neighborhoods. She has a passion for conducting community-based participatory research and has a wealth of experience engaging communities, social scientists and medical professionals in such research partnerships. Her research interest and approach are informed by the two decades she spent as an oncology social work administrator at prestigious organizations — including the American Cancer Society and University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center — prior to pursuing her Ph.D.
During her doctoral studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Noel participated in a five-year, community-based participatory research project in an area with high rates of poverty and the worst cancer mortality rates in metropolitan St. Louis. Her dissertation work, supported by an American Cancer Society Doctoral Training Grant in Oncology Social Work, explored the experiences of African American women in St. Louis, who had not started treatment for breast cancer six-months to two years following diagnosis. Since she joined the NYU Silver faculty in 2016, and was the 2018-19 Donald D. Harrington Faculty Fellow at The University of Texas at Austin.