About

Lisa H. Gren, PhD, MSPH is a Professor in the Division of Public Health at the University of Utah, affiliated with the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. Her research interests include promoting youth mental health and resilience through peer-mentoring, as well as identifying risk and protective factors related to maternal and child health metrics. She relies on mixed methods research approaches to identify and evaluate strengths-based solutions for improving community health. Dr. Gren is involved in workforce development in disease surveillance and research methodology, with a focus on integrating clinical and population health. She leads a team working on public health workforce skill development, including efforts to establish national credentialing for disease intervention professionals, such as the Certified in Disease Intervention (CDI) credential. Her work includes evaluating community college pathways for preparing professionals for the CDI exam and developing graduate-level courses to strengthen public health workforce knowledge and skills. Dr. Gren earned her MSPH and PhD in Public Health at the University of Utah and holds a BS in Microbiology from Brigham Young University.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Radiology
• Cardiology
• Oncology
• Pathology
• Surgery
• Cancer research
• Physical therapy
• Virology
• Gastroenterology
• Geography
• Demography
• Clinical psychology

Selected publications

• A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences, Attitudes, Preparation, and Barriers of Primary Care Providers Related to Their Care for Patients With Refugee Backgrounds

  Journal of Primary Care & Community Health · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Primary care providers (PCPs) have a responsibility to care for patients with refugee backgrounds, often treating unfamiliar diseases and addressing culturally rooted concerns for which the provider has limited knowledge. Despite mandatory cross-cultural training requirements for medical school accreditation, studies among healthcare providers have reported a lack of training and feeling unprepared in caring for immigrant and refugee populations. Our aim was to determine the experiences, attitudes, preparedness, skills, and barriers PCPs have in caring for patients with refugee backgrounds. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with PCPs which were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using template analysis. RESULTS: Nine PCPs were interviewed. Medical specialties included family medicine (n = 5), internal medicine (n = 2), and pediatrics (n = 2). Resulting themes highlighted the complexity of caring for patients, that on-the-job experiences were helpful in building preparedness, while training during clinical degree programs was limited, and that numerous barriers posed as challenges to providing care. CONCLUSIONS: Caring for patients with refugee backgrounds presents unique challenges that affect the patient-provider relationship. While PCPs find caring for patients with refugee backgrounds rewarding, they are faced with time constraints, cultural differences, and complex challenges that require interdisciplinary strategies to mitigate.

  PublisherDOI

• P435: Integrating genetics into all medicine and healthcare through interprofessional education*

  Genetics in Medicine Open · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Evaluating United States Air Force hearing conservation educational materials for compliance, readability, understandability, and actionability

  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene · 2025-08-25

  article

  = 12). Overall mean compliance was 84% (CI: 63,100) (USAF), 83% (CI: 62,100) (DoD), and 88% (CI: 67,100) (OSHA), respectively. Overall mean understandability was 75% (CI: 63,87) and actionability was 89% (67,100). There was good agreement between the three evaluators for each of the criteria (87-90%). Overall mean readability was grade level 10.68 ± 1.68 on the FKGL scale. For educational materials, 65 of the 67 (97%) were above the recommended 6th-grade reading level, and 62 of the 67 (93%) educational materials were above the average American 8th-grade reading level. This study established compliance, understandability, actionability, and readability scores for educational materials that military service members receive upon entry into the hearing conservation program, gathered from active-duty, CONUS Air Force bases. Using the determined scores, recommendations, such as providing active feedback and condensing information, were given to improve future hearing conservation educational materials.

  PublisherDOI

• Performance of a full-scale anaerobic UASB digester treating blackwater from an urban city district in Helsingborg, Sweden

  Cleaner Water · 2025-05-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  The growing global population has increased the demand for circular sanitation, solutions that enhance energy and nutrient recovery. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of blackwater (BW) offers a promising solution, but its application in full-scale UASB reactors remains unexplored. This study evaluated the performance of a full-scale UASB (50 m3) treating BW collected from a new city district (Oceanhamnen) located in Helsingborg, Sweden, over 130 weeks, applying two different organic loading rates (OLRs), focusing on COD removal, biogas production, and mass balances for COD, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and compared its performance with previous lab-scale studies. The full-scale UASB achieved its highest COD removal efficiency (88%) and degree of methanisation (0.77 kg COD-CH4 kg⁻¹ CODin) during the low organic loading rate (OLR) phase. In the higher OLR phase, COD removal dropped to 72% due to sludge washout, although the degree of methanisation remained high (0.71 kg COD-CH4 kg⁻¹ CODin). Mass balance results showed 69% of influent COD was converted into methane, while 28% remained in the effluent, likely due to sludge washout. The decanted effluent contained 92% of N and 82% of P reflecting the low sludge production. Compared with lab-scale studies, the full-scale UASB achieved comparable COD removal and biogas yields despite challenges like sludge washout during the high OLR. The results confirm that the full-scale application of blackwater treatment is suitable for circular sanitation solutions. Further research is needed to optimize solids retention and reduce effluent COD for sustainable full-scale operations, as well as optimizing the energy balance calculations.

  PublisherDOI

• Capturing Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Dose Among Breast Cancer Patients With the Utah All‐Payer Claims Database Compared With Gold‐Standard Abstraction

  Cancer Medicine · 2024-11-01

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the validity of the Utah statewide All-Payer Claims Database (APCD), we compared breast cancer-specific treatments and dosages with gold-standard abstraction of medical records. STUDY DESIGN: In this pilot study, breast cancer treatments were abstracted by a certified tumor registrar at the Utah Cancer Registry (UCR) for patients diagnosed in 2013 with breast cancer. The abstraction of medical records was the gold standard for comparison with treatments identified in the APCD. The reliability and agreement between the treatment identified in the APCD and abstraction data were measured with sensitivity and specificity. Dose consistency was measured with the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). RESULTS: Compared with the 186 abstractions, the sensitivity of the APCD to identify chemotherapy agents was high: 89% for any agent, 91% for carboplatin, 83% for docetaxel, 82% for doxorubicin, or 94.7% for biologic therapy. The consistency between the chemotherapy dosage identified in the claims and the abstraction varied from 63% to 76%. For radiotherapy, the sensitivity of the claims to identify the completed radiotherapy regimen was 66%. The ICC between radiotherapy doses identified in the claims and the abstraction was 54% (95% confidence interval [CI], 48%, 67%). CONCLUSIONS: Employing these novel methods, the claims were highly reliable in identifying cancer treatment agents overall, namely carboplatin, docetaxel, and trastuzumab. The claims were of moderate utility in capturing the treatment dose information. In addition to the APCD, the use of multiple data sources improved the completeness of cancer treatment information.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mammography Among Women Residing in Urban Versus Rural Utah: Breast Cancer Survival

  Cancer Medicine · 2024-12-01

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Annual or biennial breast cancer screenings are recommended for women 40 and older. Women residing in rural areas have worse breast cancer survival rates than urban women, but no study has focused on rural versus urban residence in Utah regarding breast cancer screening and mortality. METHODS: Cases (n = 14,516) were women aged > 39 diagnosed with a first primary invasive breast cancer between 1998 and 2017 in Utah. Controls (n = 63,117) without a history of breast cancer were matched to cases by birth year and birth state. Mammography screening status was identified by Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. Logistic regression was used to assess the odds of breast cancer diagnosis. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess survival outcomes for rural and urban breast cancer patients based on screening status. RESULTS: Screening mammography usage among rural patients diagnosed with breast cancer was lower (17.7%) than urban usage (20.7%). Usage of screening mammograms resulted in higher odds of breast cancer diagnosis at localized stage rather than at a regional and distant stage. Rural breast cancer cases had a higher proportion of deaths, and a lower proportion screened, than urban breast cancer cases. Hazard ratios showed that screening mammography usage was associated with better survival among both rural (HR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.44-0.57) and urban (HR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.39-0.82) breast cancer cases. CONCLUSION: Screening mammography usage was associated with better overall survival regardless of place of residence. Removing barriers and improving information regarding breast cancer screenings are needed in both rural and urban settings in Utah to increase mammography usage, with the overall goal of increasing early detection and outcomes of breast cancer.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Correction: Mindfulness-based Interventions to Improve Relational and Mental Health of Firefighters: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study

  Clinical Social Work Journal · 2024-06-19

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring the preferences of traditional versus Western medicine in the Spiti Valley region of India: A qualitative approach

  Dialogues in Health · 2024-06-18 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Background: Traditional healing practices are prevalent in rural and mountainous areas of India where Western medicine is not accessible. WHO guidelines recommend integration of traditional and Western medicine to meet rural primary care needs. We explored three dimensions of rural patients' decision-making and satisfaction with their medical care: pregnancy-related concerns, pediatric care for children under five, and acute injuries. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using a phenomenological approach in India's Spiti Valley between August and October 2023. Sixteen individuals, age 18 years and older, participated in one-on-one interviews. The interviews were transcribed from Hindi into English, reviewed for accuracy by a native speaker, and imported into Dedoose software. Data were analyzed using inductive coding. Findings: Multiparous women aged 35-44 were concerned about pregnancy complications, leading them to choose Western medicine despite access and cost barriers. Pediatric illness requiring urgent care at night was a concern for women with children under five. Those in the injuries group reported having to travel for care beyond basic first aid. Overall, concerns were about limited access to some services locally, as well as costs of travel, medical procedures, and medications when services were obtained beyond the local area. Interpretation: All participants considered their traditional healer their first point of contact for medical care. A number of Western medical services were not available locally. These findings suggest a need to strengthen access to and integration of Western and traditional medical care in rural settings in India.

  PublisherDOI

• Development of a Refugee Health Research Agenda in North America

  Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health · 2024-10-17 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• COMPARING ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE AND WATCHFUL WAITING AND RADICAL TREATMENT USING MACHINE LEARNING MODELS AMONG PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS

  Urologic Oncology Seminars and Original Investigations · 2024-03-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Joseph B. Stanford

  Utah Department of Health

  59 shared

• Maureen A. Murtaugh

  University of Utah

  58 shared

• Jessica Greenwood

  58 shared

• Matthew S. Thiese

  Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions

  57 shared

• Ulrike Ott

  University of Utah

  57 shared

• Srinivasan Beddhu

  VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System

  57 shared

• Mia Hashibe

  Huntsman Cancer Institute

  56 shared

• Kimberly D. Brunisholz

  42 shared

Labs

• Lisa H. Gren LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Public Health

  University of Utah

• Other, Public Health

  University of Utah