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, Cho J, Vogel EA, Harlow AF, Tackett AP, Eckel SP, McConnell R, Barrington-Trimis JL, Leventhal AM.Am J Epidemiol. 2023 Nov 17:kwad230. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwad230. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37981712

Yu X, Rahman MM, Carter SA, Lin JC, Chow T, Lurmann FW, Chen JC, Martinez MP, Schwartz J, Eckel SP, Chen Z, McConnell R, Xiang AH, Hackman DA.JAMA Psychiatry. 2023 Nov 15:e234347. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.4347. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37966844

Corona K, Yang T, Dunton G, Toledo-Corral C, Grubbs B, Eckel SP, Johnston J, Chavez T, Lerner D, Lurvey N, Al-Marayati L, Habre R, Farzan SF, Breton CV, Bastain TM.J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Oct 28. doi: 10.1007/s10903-023-01542-w. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37897652

Malin AJ, Hu H, Martínez-Mier EA, Eckel SP, Farzan SF, Howe CG, Funk W, Meeker JD, Habre R, Bastain TM, Breton CV.Environ Health. 2023 Oct 26;22(1):74. doi: 10.1186/s12940-023-01026-2.PMID: 37880740Free PMC article.

Chen JC, Baumert BO, Li Y, Li Y, Pan S, Robinson S, Rubbo B, Costello E, He J, Hampson H, Beglarian E, Rock S, Goodrich JA, Eckel SP, Aung MT, McConnell R, Conti DV, Chatzi L.Environ Res. 2023 Dec 15;239(Pt 1):117308. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117308. Epub 2023 Oct 7.PMID: 37813138Review.

Kim JA, Park S, Fetters L, Eckel SP, Kubo M, Sargent B.J Mot Learn Dev. 2022 Dec;10(3):429-448. doi: 10.1123/jmld.2021-0062. Epub 2022 Nov 11.PMID: 37781091

Hernandez-Castro I, Eckel SP, Howe CG, Niu Z, Kannan K, Robinson M, Foley HB, Yang T, Vigil MJ, Chen X, Grubbs B, Lerner D, Lurvey N, Al-Marayati L, Habre R, Dunton GF, Farzan SF, Aung MT, Breton CV, Bastain TM.Environ Health. 2023 Sep 22;22(1):66. doi: 10.1186/s12940-023-01017-3.PMID: 37737180Free PMC article.

Niu Z, Habre R, Yang T, Grubbs BH, Eckel SP, Toledo-Corral CM, Johnston J, Dunton GF, Lurvey N, Al-Marayati L, Lurmann F, Pavlovic N, Bastain TM, Breton CV, Farzan SF.Lancet Reg Health Am. 2023 Aug 21;25:100575. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2023.100575. eCollection 2023 Sep.PMID: 37727593Free PMC article.

Ji N, Johnson M, Eckel SP, Gauderman WJ, Chavez TA, Berhane K, Faham D, Lurmann F, Pavlovic NR, Grubbs BH, Lerner D, Habre R, Farzan SF, Bastain TM, Breton CV.BMC Med. 2023 Sep 7;21(1):341. doi: 10.1186/s12916-023-03050-y.PMID: 37674158Free PMC article.

Harlow AF, Han DH, Eckel SP, McConnell R, Leventhal AM, Barrington-Trimis JL.Addiction. 2023 Dec;118(12):2317-2326. doi: 10.1111/add.16319. Epub 2023 Aug 24.PMID: 37620973