The latest

January, 2019: I have decided to form my own consulting business, to take advantage of a widespread demand for the analysis of public health data. My business is called Pumphandle and the web site is pumphandle.me. The 'me' extension signifies Maine, not Macedonia - my wife and I have decided to move to a small island off the coast of Portland and I will conduct the business from there, albeit with semi-regular client meetings in DC and Atlanta. While I will retain my UAlbany affiliation, at least until my last few graduate students wrap things up, I won't necessarily be maintaining this page. Please go to pumphandle.me to see my latest goings-on.

Peer-reviewed journal articles (through Fall 2018, for newer publications see pumphandle.me)

Moslehi R, Zeinomar N,Boscoe FP. Incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma in Iranian provinces and American states matched on ultraviolet radiation exposure: an ecologic study. Environmental Pollution 2018; 234: 699-706. Abstract

Boscoe FP, Zhang X. Visualizing the diffusion of digital mammography in New York State. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention 2017, 26(4): 490-494. Preprint

Becerra AZ, Aquina CT, Mohile SG, Tejani MA, Schymura MJ, Boscoe FP, Xu Z, Hensley BJ, Noyes K, Monson JR, Fleming FJ. Variation in delayed time to adjuvant chemotherapy and its impact on disease-specific survival in stage III colon cancer patients. Annals of Surgical Oncology 2017; 24(6): 1610-1617. Abstract

Aquina CT, Becerra AZ, Xu Z, Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, Noyes K, Monson JRT, Fleming FJ. Non-elective colon cancer resection: a continued public health concern. Surgery 2017, 161(6): 1609-1618. Abstract

Becerra AZ, Aquina CT, Berho M, Schymura MJ, Boscoe FP, Noyes K, Monson JR, Fleming FJ. Surgeon, pathologist, and hospital-Level variation in suboptimal lymph node examination after colectomy: compartmentalizing quality improvement strategies. Surgery 2017; 161(5): 1299-1306. Abstract

Aquina CT, Mohile S, Tejani M, Becerra AZ, Xu Z, Hensley B, Arsalanizadeh R, Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, Noyes K, Monson J, Fleming F. The impact of age on complications, survival, and cause of death following colon cancer surgery. British Journal of Cancer 2017; 116: 389-397. Full text

Aquina CT, Becerra A, Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, et al. The association among blood transfusion, sepsis, and decreased long-term survival following colon cancer resection. Annals of Surgery 2017, 266(2): 311-317. Full text

Hutchison L, Boscoe FP. Improving vital status data using text searches. Journal of Registry Management 2016; 43(4): 195-196. Full text

Boscoe FP, Talbot TO, Kulldorff M. Public domain small-area cancer incidence data for New York State, 2005-2009. Geospatial Health 2016; 11(1): 304. Full text

Boscoe FP, Henry KA, Sherman RL, Johnson CJ. The relationship between cancer incidence, stage, and poverty in the United States. International Journal of Cancer 2016; 139(3): 607-612. Preprint

Wagner VL, Jing W, Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, Roohan PJ, Gesten FC. Improving adjuvant hormone therapy use in Medicaid Managed Care insured women. Preventing Chronic Disease 2016; 13: 160185. Full text

Mack JW, Chen K, Boscoe FP, Gesten FC, Roohan PJ, Schymura MJ, Schrag D. High intensity of end-of-life care among adolescent and young adult cancer patients in the New York State Medicaid program. Medical Care 2015; 53(12): 1018-1026. Abstract

Hassett MJ, Schymura MJ, Chen K, Boscoe FP, Gesten FC, Schrag D. Variation in breast cancer quality in New York and California based on race/ethnicity and Medicaid enrollment. Cancer 2016; 122(3): 420-431. Abstract

Conwell TJ, Boscoe FP. Urban/rural disparities in cancer incidence in New York State, 2008-2012. In preparation. Preprint

Boscoe FP. Persistent and extreme outliers in causes of death by state, 1999-2013. PeerJ 2015; 3: e1336. Full text

Boscoe FP, Pradhan E. A Medicare-associated spike in U.S. cancer rates at age 65, 2000-2010. Public Health Reports 2015; 130(4): 343-348. Full text

O'Grady TJ, Gates MA, Boscoe FP. Thyroid cancer attributable to overdiagnosis in the United States, 1981-2011. International Journal of Cancer 2015; 137(11): 2664-2673. Abstract

Boscoe FP, Pradhan E. The most distinctive causes of death by state. Preventing Chronic Disease 2015; 12: 140395. Full text

Kohler BA, Sherman RL, Howlader N, Jemal A, Ryerson AB, Henry KA, Boscoe FP, Cronin KA, Lake A, Noone AM, Henley SJ, Eheman CR, Anderson RN, Penberthy L. Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2011, Featuring Incidence of Breast Cancer Subtypes by Race/Ethnicity, Poverty, and State. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2015; 107(6): 10.1093/jnci/djv048. Full text

Sherman RL, Boscoe FP, O'Brien DK, George JT, Henry KA, Soloway LE, Lee DJ. Misclassification of sex in central cancer registries. Journal of Registry Management 2014; 41(3): 120-124. Full text

Boscoe FP. Trends in reporting delay in United States central cancer registries. Journal of Registry Management 2014, 41(3): 135-138. Full text

Boscoe FP, Johnson CJ, Sherman RL, Stinchcomb DG, Lin G, Henry KA. The relationship between area poverty rate and site-specific cancer incidence in the United States. Cancer 2014, 120(14): 2191-2198. Full text

Edwards BK, Noone A-M, Mariotto AB, Simard EP, Boscoe FP, Henley SJ, Jemal A, Cho H, Anderson RN, Kohler BA, Eheman CR, Ward EM. Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975-2010, featuring prevalence of comorbidity and impact on survival among persons with lung, colorectal, breast or prostate cancer. Cancer 2014; 120(9): 1290-1314. Full text

O'Grady TJ, Kitahara CM, DiRienzo AG, Boscoe FP. Randomization to screening for prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancers and thyroid cancer incidence in two large cancer screening trials. PLOS ONE 2014; 9(9): e106880. Full text

Henry KA, Sherman RL, McDonald K, Johnson CJ, Lin G, Stroup AM, Boscoe FP. Associations of census tract poverty with subsite-specific colorectal cancer incidence rates and stage of disease at diagnosis in the United States. Journal of Cancer Epidemiology 2014, Article ID 823484. Full text

Surdu S, Fitzgerald EF, Bloom MS, Boscoe FP, Fletcher T, Carpenter DO, Haase RF, Gurzau E, Rudnai P, Koppova K, Kumar R, Vahter M, Leonardi G, Goessler W, F�votte J, Fletcher T. Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes XRCC1 and XRCC3, occupational exposure to arsenic and sunlight, and the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer in a European case-control study. Environmental Research 2014, 134: 382-389. Full text

Surdu S, Fitzgerald EF, Bloom MS, Boscoe FP, Carpenter DO, Haase RF, Gurzau E, Rudnai P, Koppova K, Fevotte J, Vahter M, Leonardi G, Goessler W, Kumar R, Fletcher T. Occupational exposure to arsenic and risk of non-melanoma skin cancer in a multinational European study. International Journal of Cancer 2013; 133(9): 2182-2191. Abstract

Surdu S, Fletcher T, Fitzgerald E, Bloom MS, Boscoe FP, Carpenter DO, Haase RF, Gurzau E, Rudnai P, Koppova K, F�votte J, Kumar R, Vahter M, Leonardi G, Goessler W. Occupational exposure to ultraviolet radiation and risk of non-melanoma skin cancer in a multinational European study. PLOS ONE 2013; 8(4): e62359. Full text

Walker GV, Giordano SH, Williams M, Jiang J, Niu J, MacKinnon J, Anderson P, Wohler B, Sinclair AH, Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, Buchholz TA, Smith BD. Muddy water? Variation in reporting receipt of breast radiation therapy by population-based tumor registries. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics 2013; 86(4): 686-693. Abstract

Zhang X, Kahn AR, Boscoe FP, Buckley PM. An automated algorithm for consolidating dates of diagnosis from multiple sources. Journal of Registry Management 2013; 40(1): 36-39. Full text

Mack JW, Chen K, Boscoe FP, Gesten FC, Roohan PJ, Weeks JC, Schymura MJ, Schrag D. Underuse of hospice care by Medicaid insured patients with stage IV lung cancer in New York and California. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013; 31(20): 2569-2579. Abstract

Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, Zhang X, Kramer R. Heuristic algorithms for assigning Hispanic ethnicity. PLoS ONE 2013; 8(2): e55689. Full text

Yung R, Hassett M, Chen K, Gesten F, Roohan P, Boscoe FP, Sinclair AH, Schymura MJ, Schrag D. Initiation of Adjuvant Hormone Therapy by Medicaid Insured Women with Non-metastatic Breast Cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2012; 104(14): 1102-1105. Full text

Sinclair AH, Schymura MJ, Boscoe FP, Yung RL, Chen K, Roohan P, Tai E, Schrag D. Measuring Colorectal Cancer Care Quality for the Publicly Insured in New York State. Cancer Medicine 2012; 1(3): 363-371. Full text

Boscoe FP, Henry KA, Zdeb MS. A Nationwide Comparison of Driving Distance Versus Straight Line Distance to Hospitals. Professional Geographer 2012; 64(2): 188-196. First page preview

Soloway LE, Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, Weinstein AL, Qiao B, Kahn AR, McLaughlin CC. Thyroid Cancer Incidence in Highly Observant Jewish Neighborhoods in Metropolitan New York City. Thyroid 2011; 21(11): 1255-1261. Abstract

Yung RL, Chen K, Abel GA, Foster CG, Roohan PJ, Boscoe FP, Sinclair AH, Schymura MJ, Schrag D. Cancer Disparities in the Context of Medicaid Insurance: A Comparison of Survival for Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Hodgkin Lymphoma by Medicaid Enrollment. The Oncologist 2011; 16(8): 1082-1091. Abstract

Henry KA, Johnson CJ, Boscoe FP, et al. Travel Time to Diagnosing Facility and Nearest Mammography Facility and Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis. Journal of Community Health 2011; 36(6): 933-942. Full text

Boscoe FP, Schrag D, Chen K, Roohan PJ, Schymura MJ. Building Capacity to Assess Cancer Care in the Medicaid Population in New York State. Health Services Research 2011; 46(3): 805-820. Abstract

Boscoe FP, Johnson C, Henry KA, Goldberg DW, Shababi K, Elkin EB, Ballas LK, Cockburn M. Geographic Dimensions of the Choice of Mastectomy versus Breast-Conserving Surgery for Early Stage Breast Cancer. The Breast 2011; 20(4): 324-328. Abstract

Boscoe FP. Towards the Use of a Census Tract Poverty Indicator Variable in Cancer Surveillance. Journal of Registry Management 2010; 37(4): 148-151. Full text

Curriero FC, Klassen AC, Boscoe FP, Kulldorff M. Using Imputation to Provide Location Information for Nongeocoded Addresses. PLoS ONE 2010, 5(2): e8998. Full text

Henry KA, Niu X, Boscoe FP. Geographic Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Survival. International Journal of Health Geographics 2009, 8:48. Full text

Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ, Hsieh MC, Williams MA, Henry KA. Issues with the Coding of Pacific Islanders in Central Cancer Registries. Journal of Registry Management 2008, 35(2): 48-52. Full text

Boscoe FP. Subdividing the Age Group of 85 Years and Older to Improve US Disease Reporting. American Journal of Public Health 2008, 98(7): 1167-1170. Full text

Henry KA, Boscoe FP. Estimating the accuracy of geographical imputation. International Journal of Health Geographics 2008, 7:3. Full text

Boscoe FP. Issues with the Coding of Asian Race in Central Cancer Registries. Journal of Registry Management 2007, 34(4): 135-139. Full text

McLaughlin CC, Boscoe FP. Effects of Randomization Methods for Permutation Tests on Statistical Inference in Disease Cluster Detection. Health and Place 2007, 13(2): 152-163. Abstract

Boscoe FP, Schymura MJ. Solar Ultraviolet-B Exposure and Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the United States, 1993-2002. BMC Cancer 2006, 6: 264. Full text

Boscoe FP, Ward MH, Reynolds P. Current Practices in Spatial Analysis of Cancer Data: Data Characteristics and Data Sources for Geographic Studies of Cancer. International Journal of Health Geographics 2004, 3:28. Full text

Boscoe FP, Miller BA. Year 2000 Population Estimation Error and its Impact on 1991-1999 Cancer Rates. Professional Geographer 2004, 56(4): 516-529. First page preview

Boscoe FP, McLaughlin CC, Schymura MJ, Kielb CL. Visualization of the Spatial Scan Statistic Using Nested Circles. Health and Place 2003, 9(3): 273-277. Abstract

Boscoe FP, Pickle LW. Choosing Geographic Units for Choropleth Rate Maps, with an Emphasis on Public Health Applications. Cartography and Geographic Information Science 2003, 30(3): 237-248. Full text

Boscoe FP. The Insanities of an Exalted Imagination: The Troubled First Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2003, 127(3): 291-308. First page preview

Boscoe FP, Kielb CL, Schymura MJ, Bolani TM. Assessing and Improving Census Tract Completeness. Journal of Registry Management 2002, 29(4): 117-120. Full text

Boscoe FP, McLaughlin CC. The Effect of Seasonal Residence on Cancer Incidence Rates. Journal of Registry Management 2002, 29(1): 3-7. Full text

Boscoe FP. A New Calculation of the Geographic Center of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Geographer 2001, 38(2): 56-68. Full text

Boscoe FP. A Project of Doubtful Utility: Measuring Legislative Opposition to the Pennsylvania Canal. Political Geography 2000, 19(8): 997-1011. Full text

MacEachren AM, Boscoe FP, Haug D, Pickle LW. Geographic visualization: Designing manipulable maps for exploring temporally varying georeferenced statistics. Proceedings, IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization 1998; 87-94. Full text

Boscoe FP, Prytherch DE. Landscape Evolution and Cartographic Bias in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Geographer 1996, 33(2): 80-92. Full text

Davidson CI, Harrington JR, Stephenson ML, Small MJ, Boscoe FP, Gandley RE. Seasonal Variations in Nitrate, Sulfate, and Chloride Concentrations in the Greenland Ice Sheet: Relationship to Atmospheric Concentrations. Atmospheric Environment 1989, 23: 2483-2493. Full text

Edited books and book chapters

Boscoe FP, ed. Geographic Health Data: Fundamental Techniques for Analysis. Wallingford, UK: CABI Press, 2013. Amazon link

Boscoe FP, O'Brien DS, McLaughlin CC. Geographic Information Systems. In Cancer Registry Management: Principles and Practice, 3rd edition. HR Menck, DM Gress, LG Mulvihill, AC Griffin, eds. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 2011. 413-431. Book overview

Boscoe FP. The Use of Residential History in Environmental Health Studies. In Geospatial Analysis of Environmental Health. JA Maantay and SL McLafferty, eds. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 2011. 93-110. Book overview

Goldberg DJ. A Geocoding Best Practices Guide. Borchers R, Boscoe FP, Cockburn MG and 9 others, eds. Springfield, IL: North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, 2008. 287 pp. Full text

Boscoe FP. The Science and Art of Geocoding: Tips for Improving Match Rates and Handling Unmatched Cases in Analysis. In Geocoding Health Data: The Use of Geographic Codes in Cancer Prevention and Control, Research, and Practice. G Rushton et al., eds. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2008. 95-109. Book overview

Boscoe FP, McLaughlin CC, O'Brien DS. Geographic Information Systems: Analysis and Presentation of Cancer Registry Data. In Central Cancer Registries: Design, Management and Use. HR Menck, ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 2007. 169-191. (This is largely the same material as in the 2011 edition listed above).

Boscoe FP. Cement Industry. In Encyclopedia of New York State, PR Eisenstadt and LE Moss, eds. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005. Also contributed nine additional entries: Connecticut Gore, Extinct Counties, Massachusetts Reserve, Samuel Ogden, Ogden Land Company, Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries, Water Supply - Upstate Cities, Stone Arabia Patent, and Totten and Crossfield Patent. Book overview

Wiggins L. Using Geographic Information Systems Technology in the Collection, Analysis and Presentation of Cancer Registry Data: A Handbook of Basic Practices. Abe T, Borchers R, Boscoe FP and 9 others, eds. Springfield, IL: North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, 2003. 73 pp. Full text

Selected newsletter items, editorials, code, preprints, etc.

Conwell TJ, Boscoe FP. Urban/rural disparities in cancer incidence in New York State, 2008-2012. PeerJ Preprints 2015; 3: e1500.

Boscoe FP. Breast cancer screening, incidence, and mortality across US counties. NAACCReview, July 13, 2015. Full text

Boscoe FP. Benign prostatic hyperplasia mortality in California. NAACCReview, May 21, 2015. Full text

Boscoe FP. Misclassification of sex in central cancer registries. NAACCReview, April 27, 2015. Full text

Boscoe FP. The English language is not fair! Runaway Daydreamer (blog), June 20, 2014. Link

Boscoe FP. Figshare.com - a home for posters. NAACCR Narrative, Summer 2014: 25. Full text

Boscoe FP. Towards better conference presentations. NAACCR Narrative, Summer 2014: 26. Full text

Boscoe FP. The GIS Handbook of Basic Practices: 10 Years Later. NAACCR Narrative, Winter 2013: 4. Full text

Boscoe FP. Boscoe FP. Online scholarly communication. AAG Newsletter 2012, 47(11): 21. Full text

Boscoe FP. Latitude/Longitude to UTM Conversion (and Vice Versa). SAS Code

Boscoe FP. Converting Shapefiles to KML for Viewing in Google Earth and Google Maps. SAS Code

Boscoe FP. Medical Geography and Quantification: Observations from the Boston AAG Meeting. AAG Newsletter 2008, 43(6): 11. Full text

Boscoe FP, Sherman CG. On Socioeconomic Gradients in Cancer Registry Data Quality. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2006, 60(6): 551. Full text

Boscoe FP, Talbot TO. Asthma and Air Toxics: Another Potential Source of Positive Bias. Environmental Health Perspectives 2003, 111(16): A871. Full text

Teaching

Geographic Information Systems using QGIS (independent study)- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University at Albany - 2016

Geographic Information Systems and Public Health (EPI 621)- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University at Albany - 2003-2013

Older courses, guest lectures, workshops, advising, service, awards, conference proceedings, etc. are listed in my full cv. See link at the top of the page.

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Orienteering

I discovered this sport in 2007, and it's become my primary hobby. 2017 was arguably my best year so far, with three top finishes in ultramarathon-distance races. Here was a particularly good result from 2016. 2018 plans are still evolving.

Italian

In 2014 I decided it was time to learn a language other than English. It has already led to three trips to Italy and a number of good friends met through language-learning sites. Spedirmi una nota in italiana!

About me

I am a Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, with my principal appointment at the New York State Cancer Registry located in nearby Menands, NY. My research interests include cancer and chronic disease epi-demiology, medical geography, environmental health, spatial methods, cartography, geo-graphic information systems, demographics, and disease registration.

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