Cathy Samayoa

Dr. Cathy Samayoa is an Assistant Professor at San Francisco State University (SFSU), focusing on transdisciplinary health equity research. Her work emphasizes biomarkers of stress, premature aging, and resilience mechanisms in marginalized populations, particularly Latinas with breast cancer. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Her research spans both clinical and community-engaged approaches, including NIH-funded studies using the All of Us dataset to explore breast cancer disparities. She leads interventions like the Nuevo Amanecer-II RCT, which employs peer-delivered stress management strategies for rural Latina survivors. Dr. Samayoa also investigates estrogen receptor β agonists' therapeutic potential in preclinical models of breast cancer progression.

Key themes in her work include culturally tailored interventions, biospecimen collection challenges among Spanish-speaking populations, and the role of social determinants in health outcomes. She advocates for community-based participatory research (CBPR) to address systemic inequities in cancer care and survivorship.