Curricula Vitae in Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Name	Personal Focus	Summary
Dr. Cheryl L. Addy Department Chair/Head	physical activity, psychiatric epidemiology, categorical data analysis	Her interests include survey data analysis, community interventions, epidemiologic mehtods, and maternal and child health.
Anthony Alberg Department Chair/Professor	cancer epidemiology, tobacco control	Primary research focus: 1) Cancer Epidemiology – areas of interest lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and excess risk of malignancies experienced by those with personal history of keratinocyte carcinoma (non-melanoma skin cancer); 2) Health Effects of Tobacco - Relationship of 2nd hand smoke exposure to the risk of cancers other than lung cancer; 3) Tobacco Control - Topics ranging from determinants of adolescent smoking to the epidemiology of smoking cessation pharmacotherapy use in populations.
Dr. Pieter Baker, PhD, MPH Assistant Professor		Pieter Baker, Ph.D., MPH, University of California San Diego-San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health, 2020. He is an Assistant Professor, Epidemiology, Arnold School of Public Health.
Dr. Nansi Boghossian Associate Professor	Hospital quality, Medicaid expansion, & racial/ethnic disparities in maternal mortality & morbidity	Nansi Boghossian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health.
Dr. Monique Janiel Brown, PhD Assistant Professor	HIV/AIDS, Aging, Health disparities	Dr. Brown's research interests are in HIV intervention and prevention; childhood trauma; social, behavioral and mental health; and aging. She is interested in these as separate and intersecting areas of study. Dr. Brown was awarded a K01 award from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the impact of childhood sexual trauma on aging with HIV, and to develop an intervention addressing childhood sexual trauma with the aim of improving HIV treatment outcomes among adults living with HIV.
Dr. Bo Cai Professor	Model selection, nonparametric modeling, multivariate survival analysis and mixture models., Computational statistics, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, environmental health, child health and human reproductive study	His interests include: semiparametric modeling, longitudinal analysis and latent variable modeling, survival analysis and spatial modeling, computational statistics, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods and sampling methods. He applies these interests to child health and environmental health.
Alyssa Clay-Gilmour Assistant Professor	Blood Cancers, Leukemia, Multiple Myeloma, Blood and Marrow Transplantation	Dr. Alyssa Clay-Gilmour is a Genetic Epidemiologist, with expertise is in cancer pathology and prevention, molecular and clinical epidemiology, and large-scale genomics. Her research focuses on applying genetic/molecular epidemiological approaches to investigate disease risk. Specifically, her research focuses on Blood Cancers (acute/chronic leukemia), Multiple Myeloma, and Blood and Marrow Transplantation. She is also actively involved in epigenomic and pharmacogenomic projects.
Rahul Ghosal Assistant Professor	developing novel statistical methods such as Functional data analysis with applications in bioscienc, Distributional data analysis for modeling wearable data with applications in gait, aging and Alz	Dr. Rahul Ghosal is very interested in collaborative research to identify clinically relevant characteristic patterns of physical activity and sleep, and associate them with cognitive, behavioral, and neuropsychiatric endpoints. Please get in touch if interested in collaboration.
Dr. James William Hardin Professor	correlated data analysis, application of correlated data models to data from children (nutrition) and health outcomes (cancer,	In addition to serving as a Research Scientist with the Center for Health Sciences and Policy Research, Dr. Hardin is an Associate Research Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Director of the Biostatistics Collaborative Unit. He has written several textbooks and maintains an active research agenda. He has co-authored manuscripts on diet, nutrition, cognitive psychology, HIV, sexual behavior, cancer, and health services.
Dr. Linda J Hazlett Clinical Associate Professor	Clinical Epidemiology, Clinical Trials, Cancer Epidemiology	Dr. Hazlett's other interests are molecular epidemiology and public health advocacy and disabilities.
Dr. James R. Hebert Professor	Organizing a Statewide Cancer Prevention and Control Program, epidemiologic cancer research	The Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of South Carolina is dedicated to discovering the underlying causes of some of the largest cancer disparities in the world, especially those in African-Americans in comparison to their European-American counterparts. The Program's aim in discovery is to inform people and organizations who are willing and able to make a difference in the fight against cancer.
Mufaro Kanyangarara Assistant Professor	understanding the transmission dynamics of malaria, assessing the factors driving the burden of malaria, impact of prevention and control strategies	Mufaro Kanyangarara is an infectious disease epidemiologist with more than a decade of experience designing and implementing public health research projects internationally. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases and improving maternal, newborn and child health. Her current projects focus on understanding the transmission dynamics of malaria, assessing the factors driving the burden of malaria and the impact of prevention and control strategies.
Dr. Angela Dorothea Liese Professor	Epidemiology, nutritional epidemiology, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease	Dr. Liese's work focuses on epidemiology and prevention of obesity and diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents, methods and applications of nutritional epidemiology Metabolic Syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Jihong Liu Professor	Obesity, physical activity, perinatal and reproductive epidemiology	Dr. Liu's work has focused on two areas: 1) the impact of maternal obesity, gestational weight gain, and physical activity on pregnancy complications and birth outcomes; 2) the contribution of maternal (or early life), behavioral, social, and environmental factors to childhood obesity and child neurodevelopment. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Dr. Matthew Christopher Lohman Associate Professor	epidemiology of adverse health outcomes-hospitalizations & acquired disabilities among older adults, mental health disorders in age-related declines in physical and cognitive functioning	Dr. Matthew Lohman's primary area of research is in the epidemiology of adverse health outcomes, such as falls, hospitalizations and acquired disabilities among older adults. He is particularly interested in the role of mental health disorders in age-related declines in physical and cognitive functioning. He teaches epidemiological methods for masters and doctoral students.
Dr. Alexander McLain Associate Professor	Survival analysis, joint modeling of longitudinal and survival data, multiple testing, maternal and child health, mixed-effects models	Dr. McLain uses his interests to apply them to his research in maternal and child health, fecundity, and environmental health.
Dr. Anwar Merchant Professor	Diabetes and its complications, Link between oral health and systemic health, Nutrition	Chronic diseases share many common mechanisms and etiologies. My research interest is to explore these links (primarily cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and periodontal disease) to identify new ways to prevent them. One of my current projects evaluates the role of periodontal microorganisms in the development of cardiovascular complications in youth with type 1 diabetes.
Maggi Miller, PhD Research Assistant Professor	Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, qualitative data analysis	Maggi Miller received her MS in health promotion from the University of Delaware and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of South Carolina. She is a research assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. At the OSA, Dr. Miller manages the SC Alzheimer’s Disease Registry and focuses on aging research and program evaluation. Her primary responsibilities for OSA involve research, grant writing, preparation and publication of scientific manuscripts.
Dr. Robert R Moran Clinical Associate Professor	Nutritional Instruments	His teaching interests surround nutritional instruments and his past research projects have all included diabetes, prevention, and assessments to help kids and people struggling.
Dr. Melissa S Nolan Associate Professor	patient-oriented clinical research, infectious diseases, health disparities	Dr. Nolan is a translational researcher, whose work integrates field epidemiology, laboratory science, and clinical investigations. Her current projects focus on pediatric and autochthonous Chagas disease in the Americas, developing a remote sensing model for prioritizing mosquito breeding habitats for insecticide application in resource-limited areas, defining the immunologic response to polyparasitism in pediatric populations, and clarifying the clinical impact of COVID-19 during pregnancy.
Dr. Andrew Ortaglia, PhD Clinical Associate Professor	Conditional quantile estimation, survival analysis, health aspects of physical activity	Andrew Ortaglia, MSPH, Ph.D. is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health.
Harris Pastides, PhD, MPH Administrator	sustainability, innovation, the University's role in the development of a knowledge economy	Harris Pastides is an academic and university administrator who served as the 28th president of the University of South Carolina from 2008 until 2019. He served on the Synovus board of directors. On October 3,2018, he announced his intention to retire from the presidency of USC, the last day of which he served on July 31,2019. He was again appointed Interim President at South Carolina after Bob Caslen resigned on May 13,2021, officially taking office May 21, 2021 and serving until July 1,2022.
Nandita Perumal Assistant Professor		Dr. Nandita Perumal is a perinatal and pediatric epidemiologist and an applied public health researcher with expertise in leading interdisciplinary research to improve maternal, newborn, and child health in vulnerable populations. A key focus of her work is in understanding the causes of adverse events in the perinatal period and the consequences for health and development throughout the life course, particularly in low-resource settings. Dr. Perumal received her PhD and MPH in epidemiology.
Dr. Stella Coker Watson Self Assistant Professor	applications to vector borne disease, ecology, conservation, and maternal-neonatal health	Stella Self is interested in Bayesian spatio-temporal modeling, spatial clustering analysis, disease forecasting, random effects models, and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Her work has applications to vector borne disease, ecology, conservation, and maternal-neonatal health. She frequently collaborates with researchers at Prisma Health-Upstate.
Dr. Susan E. Steck, PhD Professor	Nutritional epidemiology, Cancer epidemiology, Public health	Dr. Steck's research focuses on the role of nutrition in cancer prevention and control using epidemiologic methods. In particular, she is interested in innovative methods for describing dietary patterns related to disease mechanisms, and identifying modifiable lifestyle factors and screening biomarkers to reduce cancer related health disparities in breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers.
Myriam Torres, PhD, MPH Clinical Associate Professor	Hispanic/Latino Health	Myriam E. Torres, PhD, MSPH is a Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Consortium for Latino Health Studies in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health.
Dr. Yuan Wang Assistant Professor	mathematical and statistical modeling of data from electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of clinical groups with brain disorders such as epilepsy	Dr. Wang's current research is focused on mathematical and statistical modeling of data from electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of clinical groups with brain disorders such as epilepsy. The main research topics that interest her are in joint modeling of structural and functional neuroimaging data, topological signal processing of neuroimaging time series, and topological brain network analysis.
Dr. Jingkai Wei Assistant Professor		Jingkai Wei is an Assistant professor of epidemiology.
Dr. Jiajia Zhang, PhD Professor	developing methodologies for analyzing censored failure time data	My current research interests are in developing methodologies for analyzing censored failure time data. These types of data arise frequently from many fields of cancer/clinical studies. Specific statistical interests lie in nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation, semiparametric estimating equations, survival models, mixture cure models and frailty models.