Research Interests
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Browse research interests, publications, and other information about our faculty members in the Faculty Expertise Directory.
Search the DirectoryGrants and contracts
Many of our faculty serve as principal investigators on grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health and foundations to support biostatistics research topics, including:
- Febrile seizures in childhood
- Breast cancer
- Periodontal disease
- Toxicogenomics
View selected work our faculty are currently involved in as PI or subcontract PI.
Project No. R01DE024984 – NIH. “Spatiotemporal models for periodontal disease monitoring and recall frequencies,” Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, PI. Total costs: $1,147,939. Grant period: 9/25/15 to 7/31/20 (NCE). The long term goal is to bridge the gap between academic dental basic science researchers and periodontal practitioners by integrating these methods into available chair-side dental software packages which would facilitate development of cost-effective (dental) treatment plans.
PhRMA Foundation. “Druggable 3D genomics of metastasis”, Mikhail Dozmorov, PI. Total costs: $100,000. Grant Period: 01/01/19 – 12/31/19. This project will develop a biostatistical method and a software tool for the joint normalization and comparison of multiple 3D structures.
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. “Retrospective study of acute pericarditis”, Tamas Gal, PI. Total costs: $82,103. Grant Period: 10/29/18 – 10/29/19. This project will determine the natural history and current state of the art treatment of acute pericarditis in a large urban academic center.
Project No. R21HL144199- NIH. “A new pacing approach for cardioprotection and repair in heart failure”, Donna McClish, Subcontract PI. Total costs: $40,058. Grant Period: 01/15/19 – 12/31/20.
This project explores the molecular mechanisms and clinical feasibility of a novel cardiac pacing method, compatible with existing pacing hardware, for cardiac conditioning to improve outcomes in heart failure.
Project No. 520A922829 - Virginia Department of Health. “Urban Institute: Healthy Places, healthy lives”, Roy Sabo, PI. Total Costs: 16,986. Grant Period: 06/01/19 – 11/29/19. This contract will model USA LEEP data with the HOI, and will provide related consultation and support to ensure the visualization functions intended.
VCU Internal Grant. “Missing data analysis in hierarchical models for multisite randomized trials”, Yongyun Shin, PI. Total costs: $40,000. Grant Period: 07/01/18 – 12/31/19. The proposed project will develop methods and software for the efficient estimation to discover new answers to important unsolved questions, and extend the approach further to missing data analysis of a binary outcome for an MRT.
Project No. R01CA197205- NIH. “A Post-Visit Patient Portal Tool to Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening”, Yongyun Shin, Subcontract PI. Total costs: $345,312. Grant Period: 08/01/16 – 07/31/20. The proposed project will test the effectiveness and impact of a patient portal tool, e-Assist, for engaging and supporting primary care patients in their decision making regarding, and ultimately in their obtaining, CRC screening.
Nanobeake Inc. “NanoSpectrometer Biomarker Discovery and Confirmation Study”, Ekaterina Smirnova, Subcontract PI. Total costs: $44,729. Grant Period: 03/01/19 – 10/31/19. The primary goal of this study was to design and conduct a clinical study to identify and classify cancer biomarkers in exhaled human breath. Early stage cancer detection, which dramatically increases the chances of patient's survival, is currently done with low dose computed tomography (CT); however, this important screening test is expensive and may increase health risks associated with radiation exposure.
Project No. U240D023382- NIH. “ECHODAC (Environmental influences on child health outcomes data analysis center)”, Ekaterina Smirnova, Subcontract- PI. Total costs: $78,980. Grant Period: 05/01/19 – 08/31/20. The primary goal of this study was to determine how physical activity influences the development of different outcomes, such as childhood obesity, asthma and neurodevelopment, and contributes to positive health as well.
Project No. R37NS043209. Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University (NIH). “Consequences of prolonged febrile seizures in childhood,” Shumei Sun, subcontract PI. Total costs: $1,233,759. Grant period: 5/1/10 to 4/30/20. This study examines the consequences of febrile status epilepticus and will clarify the relationship between FSE, hippocampal atrophy, mesial temporal sclerosis, and subsequent epilepsy and cognitive impairment.
Project No. R01AG048801 – NIH. “Juvenile protective factors and their effects on aging,” Shumei Sun, PI. Total costs: $1,476,309. Grant period: 8/15/16 to 5/31/20. This study plans to to apply longitudinal modeling and time-to event analyses to the data set generated by 2,567 participants in the Fels Longitudinal Study over a period of eight decades in order to ascertain if certain putative juvenile protective factors (JPF) and juvenile protective states (JPS) can delay the onset of age-related disease (ARD) and promote healthy aging in subjects who retain juvenile levels of such protective factors in adulthood.
McGuire Research Institute. “McGuire Research Institute (Bajaj),” Leroy Thacker, Contract PI. Total costs: $72,000. Grant period: 07/01/19 – 06/30/22. The objective of this contract is to assist with statistics and analysis of data.
National Cancer Institute. "Statistical modeling of animal exposures, well depth, and drinking water exposures and cancer risk,” David Wheeler, Contract PI. Total costs: $16,500. Grant period: 09/19/19 – 09/18/20. The objective of this contract is to conduct spatial analysis of animal feeding operations for participants of the Iowa Women’s Health Study.
NIH. “Clarifying the role of tobacco retail outlets on maternal smoking during pregnancy and child secondhand smoke exposure,” David Wheeler, Co-PI. Total costs: $1,922,079. Grant period: 05/02/2019 – 04/30/2023. The purpose of this proposed study is to examine, in a southeastern US county, the extent to which TRO density and proximity is related to biomarkers of smoke exposure (cotinine) in 1000 women and 400 children. In addition, the study will model the degree to which theoretical policy changes regulating TROs impact exposure to carcinogenic tobacco smoke and related health-care costs.
Centers
Our faculty serve as key partners in research centers across Virginia Commonwealth University.
Our faculty serve as key partners in research centers across Virginia Commonwealth University.
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