Chaeryon Kang

Contributions to Public Health 

• Statistical methods for Precision medicine, Personalized medicine, and Latent subgroup analysis: To achieve the optimal goal of "the right treatment for the right person at the right time," I have developed and applied statistical theories and methods for latent subgroup identification and classification problem, where subgroups have a different association, heterogeneous treatment effect, or are characterized using different features to find the optimal and personalized treatment recommendation rules.

1. Kang, C., Janes, H., and Huang, Y. Combining biomarkers to optimize patient treatment recommendations. Biometrics, 2014; 70(3), 695-707 (with discussion).  https://doi.org/10.1111/biom.12191
2. Kang, C., Janes, H., Tajik, P., Groen, H., Mol, B., Koopmans, C. et al. Evaluation of biomarkers for treatment selection using individual participant data from multiple clinical trials. Statistics in medicine, 2018; 37(9), 1439-1453. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.7608

• Statistical methods in HIV/AIDS research: I have been working on the application and development of statistical methods for HIV/AIDS studies. The results can be used to design a more efficient randomized clinical trial study for vaccine development and make inferences for heterogeneous immune correlates analysis with high-dimensional biomarkers. 

1. Kang, C., Huang, Y., & Miller, C. J. A discrete-time survival model with random effects for designing and analyzing repeated low-dose challenge experiments. Biostatistics, 2015; 16(2), 295-310. https://doi.org/10.1093/biostatistics/kxu040
2. Kang, C., Huang, Y. Identification of immune response combinations associated with heterogeneous infection risk in the immune correlates analysis of HIV vaccine studies. The Annals of Applied Statistics, 2023; 17(2), 1199-1219. https://doi: 10.1214/22-AOAS1665 

• Mobile health data analysis: I am interested in the problem of mHealth(mobile health) for physical activities, pain management, dynamic predictions, and precision medicine. I was awarded the National Science Foundation grant (NSF 1557765) for methodological development in a pain study using mHealth data as one of the five PIs. I am currently interested in functional data analysis of actigraphy and Fitbit data. 

1. Clifton, S. M., Kang, C., Li, J. J., Long, Q., Shah, N., & Abrams, D. M. Hybrid statistical and mechanistic mathematical model guides mobile health intervention for chronic pain. Journal of Computational Biology, 2017; 24(7), 675-688. https://doi.org/10.1089/cmb.2017.0059
2. Jonassaint, C., Kang, C., Prussien, K., Yarboi, J., Sanger, M. S., Wilson, J. D. et al. Feasibility of implementing mobile technology-delivered mental health treatment in routine adult sickle cell disease care. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 2020; 10 (1): 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/iby107

• Research in Physical activities, Brain and Aging, Cognitive Psychology, and Alzheimer's Disease: I have participated in multiple projects for research in physical activity, brain aging, and cognitive health as a site PI, co-I, primary statistician, and statistical mentor, including IGNITE (R01AG053952, Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise), FLAME (Examining the Persistence of Neurocognitive Benefits of Exercise (R01AG083156),  eBACH (P01HL040962, Biobehavioral studies of cardiovascular disease) and REACT (R01AG060741-01, Rhythm Experience and African Culture Trial) studies.

1. Wilckens, K. A., Stillman, C. M., Waiwood, A. M., Kang, C., Leckie, R. L., Peven, J.C., Foust, J.E., Fraundorf, S.H., and Erickson, K. I. Exercise interventions preserve hippocampal volume: A meta‐analysis. Hippocampus, 2021; 31(3), 335-347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.11.007
2. Hidalgo, C. M., Collins, A. M., Crisafio, M. E., Grove, G., Kamarck, T. W., Kang, C., Leckie, R. L., MacDonald, M., Manuck, S. B., Marsland, A. L., Muldoon, M. F., Rasero, J., Scudder, M.R., Velazquez-Diaz, D., Verstynen, T., Wan, L.,, Gianaros, P.J., and  Erickson, K. I. Effects of a laboratory-based aerobic exercise intervention on brain volume and cardiovascular health markers: protocol for a randomized clinical trial. BMJ open, 2023; 13(11), e077905. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077905

• Research in Mental health and Psychiatry: I worked as a graduate research assistant at the UNC-CH Schizophrenia Research Center. I have also participated in multiple PCORI-funded projects for research in mental health, collaborating with the UPMC Center for High-Value Health Care team. 

1. Gilmore, J. H., Kang, C., Evans, D. D., Wolfe, H. M., Smith, J. K., Lieberman, J. A., Lin, W., Hamer, R. M., Styner, M. and Gerig, G. Prenatal and neonatal brain structure and white matter maturation in children at high risk for schizophrenia.  American Journal of Psychiatry, 2010; 167(9), 1083-1091.
2. Schuster, J., Nikolajski, C., Kogan, J., Kang, C., Schake, P., Carney, T., and Reynolds III, C.F. A payer-guided approach to widespread diffusion of behavioral health homes in real-world settings. Health Affairs, 2018; 37(2), 248-256. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1115