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About

Parisa Tehranifar is a leading health disparities researcher whose work illuminates how surgical innovations can inadvertently widen gaps in cancer care. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology adoption, race, and ethnicity in pelvic cancer treatment, particularly prostate cancer. Through a series of highly cited studies, she has systematically documented that robot-assisted surgery (RAS) and minimally invasive techniques are not equally available across racial and ethnic groups. Her 2023 systematic review (6 citations) was among the first to synthesize evidence on these disparities, while her subsequent work (4 citations, 2023) demonstrated that these differences translate into unequal post-prostatectomy outcomes. Most recently, Tehranifar has advanced the field by testing two physician-level mechanisms—segregated and differential treatment—to explain why Black and Hispanic patients are less likely to receive robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (2 citations, 2024). Her contributions are critical for understanding how technological progress in medicine can perpetuate, rather than reduce, health inequities. By moving beyond simply documenting disparities to investigating their root causes, Tehranifar provides actionable insights for health systems and policymakers seeking to ensure that all patients benefit equally from surgical advances.