This page provides a concise overview of my education, academic appointments, funded research, teaching, mentoring, and professional service. For external publication profiles, you can also visit Google Scholar, PubMed, and ORCID.
Education
- B.S. Mathematics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 2003
- M.S. Statistics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 2006
- M.S. Statistics, UCLA, 2010
- Ph.D. Quantitative Psychology, UCLA, 2010
Appointments
- Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 2021-present
- Research Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 2018-2021
- Senior Research Statistician Developer, SAS Institute, Cary, NC, 2014-2018
- Research Statistician Developer, SAS Institute, Cary, NC, 2011-2014
Grants and Studies
Active
Interplay between biological aging and neuropsychiatric phenotypes after trauma
- Source/Agency: NIH
- Period: 8/20/2025 – 04/30/2029
- Role: Co-I (4.2% effort)
Sex-Dependent micro-RNA-mediated pathways to chronic musculoskeletal pain following trauma
- Source/Agency: NIH
- Period: 9/01/2023 – 08/31/2028
- Role: Co-I and Biostatistician (8% effort)
Discovering DIagnostics, SubtypEs, and NaTurAl history of traumatic brain iNjury (TBI) vs. non-TBI Recovery to Gain MiLitary advantagE
- Funding Agency: CDMRP
- Period: 9/30/2022 – 9/29/2026
- Role: Co-I (20% effort)
Prevention/Reduction of ASRs and PTSD to Sustain Warfighter Performance with Osanetant, a best-in-class NK3R Antagonist
- Funding Agency: CDMRP
- Period: 9/30/2022 – 9/29/2026
- Role: Co-I (10% effort)
Promoting Rapid Return to Functioning after Acute Stress Reaction: Assessing the Efficacy of the iCOVER Intervention
- Funding Agencies: CDMRP
- Grant Period: 09/30/2023 – 09/29/2027
- Role: Co-I (5% from 9/30/2023 -9/29/2026, 10% from 9/30/2026-9/29/2027)
Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors among Women Sexual Assault Survivors: A Proof-of Concept and Feasibility Study
- Source/Agency: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
- Grant Period: 10/12/2024 – 12/31/2026
- Role: Co-I and Biostatistician (7%)
Pending
Developing and Validating an AI Tool for Preoperative Evaluation in High-Risk Elderly Patients
- Role: PI (25% effort)
- Amount $1,498,065.00
- Source/Agency: NIH
Title: Enabling AI-Driven Research for Chronic Posttraumatic Pain: A Cloud-Based Platform Integrating Harmonized Data, Knowledge Graphs, and Advanced AI Tools
- Role: PI (25% effort)
- Amount $2,084,396.00
- Source/Agency: NIH
Completed
WISE
- Title: Written Exposure Therapy to Improve Outcomes after Trauma
- Funding Agency: National Center for PTSD
- Grant Period: 9/1/2020-8/30/25
- Role: Co-I (0% effort)
BACPAC
- Title: Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program Data Integration, Algorithm Development and Operations Management Center
- Funding Agency: NIH/NIAMS
- Grant Period: 9/26/2019 – 5/31/2024
- Role: Co-I (15% effort)
AURORA
- Title: Longitudinal Assessment of Posttraumatic Syndromes (The AURORA Study)
- Grant Type (or Number): U01MH110925
- Funding Agency: NIMH
- Grant Period: 2016-2022
- Role: Co-I (40% effort)
VENTURE
- Title: VENTURE Trial: Vitamin D to ENhance TraUma REcovery
- Grant Amount: $280,158
- Funding Agency: NIMHD
- Grant Period: 8/1/2021-7/31/2023
- Role: Co-I (0% effort)
Heroes Health
- Title: Heroes Health Initiative
- Grant Amount: $250,000
- Funding Agency: The Rockefeller Foundation
- Grant Period: 7/1/2020 - 6/30/2021
- Role: Co-I (0%)
Teaching and Mentoring
In addition to formal teaching, I mentor graduate students, junior biostatisticians, and interdisciplinary collaborators through active research projects, including study design, programming workflow development, methodological decision-making, and scientific communication.
- Choosing the best way to analyze data, Castillo Scholars, School of Medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2022-2023
- Scale Development, Guest lecture, Biostatistics Department, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2022
- Lecturer, Item Response Theory: What It Is and How You Can Use the IRT Procedure to Apply It, Computer Technology Workshops, Joint Statistical Meetings, 2015
- Getting Started in Research and Resources Available to Help You Reach Your Goals, Faculty Development Seminar, Department of Anesthesiology, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2020
Professional Service
- Editorial Board, Journal of Statistical Software: 2012-
- Awards Committee, Mental Health Statistics Section (MHSS), American Statistical Association: 2023-
- Departmental Research Committee, Department of Anesthesiology, UNC-Chapel Hill: 2019-
- Journal Reviewer: Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Journal of Statistical Software, Multivariate Behavior Research, Psychometrika, Statistics in Medicine