Assistant Professor of Nursing
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Dami Ko Biography
Dami Ko
Areas of Expertise
Epidemiology
Child mental health in US and developing countries
About
Dr. Dami Ko is an assistant professor at the School of Nursing in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. Her program of research focuses on improving quality of life among solid organ transplant recipients through enhancing their ability to self-manage. More specifically, she has focused on identifying informational needs about post-transplant management as well as factors associated with one’s ability to self-manage such as cognitive function among liver transplant recipients. Dr. Ko’s research has been funded by International Transplant Nurses Society, Sigma, and Northeastern University.
Project Description
Socioeconomic status, such as income and education, is a strong contributing factor for health inequities in the liver transplant population. Low socioeconomic status is associated with poor transplant outcomes, including transplant rejection (i.e., a process in which a recipient’s immune system attacks a transplanted liver) and loss. However, socioeconomic inequities in health among liver transplant recipients living in urban areas, who make up more than 80% of the population in the United States (US), remains unclear in the literature.
This pilot study will be the first to examine the impact of socioeconomic factors from multiple levels (individual and neighborhood) on health outcomes (e.g., transplant loss and survival) at one-year and five-year post-transplant among urban liver transplant recipients. As a retrospective descriptive study, the national longitudinal data from United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) will be used. This study will provide preliminary data to inform the identification of at-risk urban liver transplant recipients for adverse health outcomes. Further, findings from this study will contribute to the development of interventions aimed to reduce health inequities in the population.
Publications – Past Five Years
Ko, D., & Bratzke, L. C. (In press). Cognitive Function in Liver Transplant Recipients Who Survived More Than 6 Months. Progress in Transplantation.
Ko, D., Myung, E., Moon, T., & Shah, D. (2019). Physical Activity in Persons with Diabetes: Its Relationship with Media Use for Health Information, Socioeconomic Status, and Age. Health Education Research, 34(3), 257-267.
Ko, D., Bratzke, L. C., Muehrer, R.J., & Brown, R. (2019). Self-management in liver transplant recipients. Applied Nursing Research, 45, 30-38.
Ko, D., Muehrer, R. J., & Bratzke, L. C. (2018). A Narrative Review of Self-management in Liver Transplant Recipients. Progress in Transplantation, 28(2), 100-115.
Ko, D., Bratzke, L. C., & Roberts, T. (2018). Self-management assessment in multiple chronic conditions: A narrative review of literature. International Journal of Nursing Studies, appli83, 83-90.
Ko, D., Lee, I., & Muehrer, R. J. (2016). Informational needs of liver transplant recipients during a two-year post-transplant period. Chronic Illness, 12(1), 29–40.
Martell, J., Rice, E., Crooks, N., Ko, D., & Muehrer, R. J. (2015). What are patients saying about sex after a kidney or simultaneous kidney/pancreas transplant? Progress in Transplantation, 25(3), 251–256.