Research

I am interested in developing and applying statistical methods that address important public health and scientific issues. So far, my work has focused on methods and applications studying the health effects of air pollution in vulnerable populations such as children and older adults. I predominantly work with data from large observational cohort studies.

Statistical interests:
Longitudinal models, multilevel models, effect modification, integrated models, latent variables, scaling regression coefficients, reproducible research, modern prediction techniques (machine learning)

Substantive interests:
Environmental epidemiology, biomarkers, aging, exhaled nitric oxide, asthma, traffic-related pollution, cancer, mHealth, wearable sensors

Projects:

PhD thesis projects:

My PhD thesis (advisor: Tom Louis) was composed of three parts. In the first project, "Identifying effect modifiers in air pollution time-series studies using a two-stage analysis", we developed and implemented a method to systematically identify potential effect modifiers of the relationship between daily mortality counts and daily levels of ambient particulate matter in a subset of cities in the National Morbidity and Mortality Air Pollution study. In the second project, "Surrogate models for the low physical activity criterion of frailty in older adults" we developed and implemented methods to: (a) streamline assessement and (b) fill in missing values for physical activity, one of 5 criteria used in a common clinical phenotype of generontologic fraily, in the Cardiovascular Health Study. In the third project, "Modification by frailty status of ambient air pollution effects on lung function in older adults in the Cardiovascular Health Study", we related longitudinal assessments of lung function to either: (a) recent summaries of pollution and current gerontologic frailty status or (b) cumulative summaries of pollution and frailty status history.

Reproducible Research:

As statistical analyses become increasingly complex, we have a growing need to accurately reproduce results. While at JHSPH, I worked with Dr. Roger Peng to create an R package called 'stashR' (A Set of Tools for Administering SHared Repositories) which is part of a toolkit for conducting and distributing reproducible research, particularly in the context of the Sweave system to interweave code (in R) and text (in LaTeX).

Recent Publications

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Han DH, Leventhal AM, Stokes AC, Audrain-McGovern JE, Eckel SP, Liu J, Harlow AF.Epidemiology. 2025 Mar 31. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001855. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40164563

Xiang AH, Lin JC, Chow T, Yu X, Martinez MP, Chen Z, Eckel SP, Schwartz J, Lurmann FW, Kleeman MJ, McConnell R, Rahman MM.Environ Res. 2025 Mar 20;275:121449. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2025.121449. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40120739

Niu Z, Anderson EC, Yang T, Chen X, Vigil M, Guo F, Grubbs BH, Eckel SP, Toledo-Corral CM, Johnston J, Dunton GF, Lurvey N, Al-Marayati L, Howe CG, Habre R, Bastain TM, Breton CV, Farzan SF.JACC Adv. 2025 Mar 17;4(4):101660. doi: 10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.101660. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40101499Free article.

Baumert BO, Maretti-Mira AC, Walker DI, Li Z, Stratakis N, Wang H, Zhao Y, Fischer FC, Jia Q, Valvi D, Bartell SM, Chen C, Inge T, Ryder J, Jenkins T, Sisley S, Xanthakos S, Kleiner DE, Kohli R, Rock S, Eckel SP, La Merrill MA, Aung MM, Salomon MP, McConnell R, Goodrich J, Conti DV, Golden-Mason L, Chatzi L.Res Sq [Preprint]. 2025 Mar 4:rs.3.rs-5960979. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5960979/v1.PMID: 40092438Free PMC article.Preprint.

Pan S, Li Z, Walker DI, Baumert BO, Wang H, Goodrich JA, Rock S, Inge TH, Jenkins TM, Sisley S, Bartell SM, Xanthakos S, Lin X, McNeil B, Robuck AR, Mullins CE, La Merill MA, Garcia E, Aung MT, Eckel SP, McConnell R, Conti DV, Ryder JR, Chatzi L.Environ Sci Technol. 2025 Mar 11;59(9):4364-4375. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c13902. Epub 2025 Feb 25.PMID: 39995310Free PMC article.

Schimke C, Garcia E, Silva SJ, Eckel SP.Environ Epidemiol. 2025 Feb 13;9(2):e370. doi: 10.1097/EE9.0000000000000370. eCollection 2025 Apr.PMID: 39957762Free PMC article.

Yu X, Rahman MM, Lin JC, Chow T, Lurmann FW, Chen JC, Martinez MP, Schwartz J, Eckel SP, Chen Z, McConnell R, Hackman DA, Xiang AH, Garcia E.Am J Epidemiol. 2025 Feb 11:kwae462. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwae462. Online ahead of print.PMID: 39930955

Pardo N, Eckel SP, Niu Z, Habre R, Yang T, Chen X, Vigil M, Grubbs B, Al-Marayati L, Lurvey N, Toledo-Corral C, Johnston J, Dunton G, Breton C, Bastain TM, Farzan SF.Hypertension. 2025 Feb 10. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.124.23979. Online ahead of print.PMID: 39925272

Yang X, Eckel SP, Maldonado LE, Yang T, Chen X, Vigil M, Toledo-Corral CM, Dunton GF, Grubbs BH, Al-Marayati L, Lerner D, Lurvey N, Habre R, Farzan SF, Bastain TM, Breton C.J Endocr Soc. 2025 Jan 28;9(2):bvae222. doi: 10.1210/jendso/bvae222. eCollection 2025 Jan 6.PMID: 39876876Free PMC article.

Beglarian E, Chen JC, Li Z, Costello E, Wang H, Hampson H, Alderete TL, Chen Z, Valvi D, Rock S, Chen W, Rianon N, Aung MT, Gilliland FD, Goran MI, McConnell R, Eckel SP, Lee M, Conti DV, Goodrich JA, Chatzi L.J Bone Miner Res. 2025 Mar 15;40(3):372-381. doi: 10.1093/jbmr/zjaf002.PMID: 39808688Free PMC article.