NWTEC Success Story: Biostatistician Kacey Little Wins Award
NWTEC’s Award-Winning Research Highlights Underreporting of AI/AN Cases in Oregon’s Communicable Disease Data
Kacey Little, MPH, who serves as a Biostatistician at the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center, received the 2026 Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Annual Conference Poster Award for Health Equity and Tribal Epidemiology for her poster on “Misclassification of American Indian/Alaska Native People in Oregon’s Communicable Disease Data.”
Kacey’s poster highlighted the issue of misclassification of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people in disease surveillance systems used to track, treat, and prevent sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and other communicable diseases. The analysis found that between 2014-2022, at least one fifth (20%) of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HIV cases among AI/AN people were undercounted in Oregon’s communicable disease data.
In her discussion of the data findings, Kacey noted the issue of inconsistency in collecting accurate demographic information for some communicable diseases, which contributes to these high rates of AI/AN misclassification.
Kacey highlighted the continued need for education and support for case investigators to collect accurate demographic information and for culturally based prevention programs for AI/AN people and communities. Kacey’s poster was also nominated for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Award for Outstanding Epidemiology Practice in Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities.
Kacey Little, MPH, Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center Biostatistician.
