About Me

Research: I am a data scientist and population health informatician with research focuses on addressing health disparities and patient outcome prediction, primarily on identifying and analyzing social determinants of health (SDoH), clinical characteristics, and other risk factors that adversely affect patients with substance use disorders, maternal health issues, and chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases—issues prevalent in underserved and Black communities. My lab employs population health informatics and machine learning to analyze large-scale multimodal data sets, including electronic health records, surveys, claims, and data from the NIH All of Us program. My ongoing work is supported by a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant and an NIH RCMI supplemental grant. Previously, my research was supported by NIH/VA, topics on chronic disease management across inpatient and outpatient settings, cirrhosis risk predictions in hospitalized patients, and mental health assessments using neuroimaging technologies. I was the PI of a National Science Foundation (NSF) major instrument research grant, which has facilitated the acquisition of a high-performance computing system to advance research and training in computational biology and data science at Meharry.  

Experiences: Throughout my career, I have been deeply committed to improving patient health outcomes. In my early years, my focus was on medical image-related studies, such as developing algorithms for breast tumor detection through mammogram image processing and pattern recognition, image registration for image-guided brain tumor surgery, and studying brain functional activities about mental health issues such as cannabis abuse. These projects were the focus of my Ph.D., postdoctoral, and early career at Vanderbilt University. However, I soon realized that more patient information is needed to fully understand the changes observed in imaging data. Therefore, I shifted my research focus toward patient healthcare and pursued advanced training in biostatistics. Later I worked on a variety of projects, including a CMS-funded project for healthcare transition and chronic disease management, as well as a Veterans Affairs (VA) project for risk-adjusted modeling for automatic surveillance of liver cirrhosis. These works illustrated novel healthcare models and risk factors that contributed to improving health quality and reducing costs. I was also part of a team that transformed the Veterans Affairs (VA) EHR to OMOP common data model.  Through these experiences, I have expanded my expertise in the field of health informatics, and become a researcher in combining health informatics and data science to solve complex research questions.

Education: One of the key objectives of my role is to advance and support the educational mission of data science at the School of Applied Computational Sciences, where more than 80 percent of the students are African American. My contributions include teaching courses and developing curricula in population health informatics, machine learning, predictive modeling, and advanced biostatistics. I also mentor students in various research projects. My lab has consistently supported and continues to support a diverse group of graduate and medical students, fostering their development in these critical areas of study. 

Service: Another key objective involves providing essential services within the Department, School of Applied Computational Sciences, Meharry Medical College, and the broader community. In addition to supporting research initiatives for medical and graduate students, I am serving as the Chair of the School Curriculum Committee, Vice Chair of the Meharry IRB, and a member of the Student Admissions Committee for both Master's and PhD programs in Data Science and Biomedical Data Science. 

I am very grateful to have been fully supported by our Dean, Dr. Fortune Mhlanga, the Grant Office at Meharry, Meharry Medical College, and a distinguished group of accomplished researchers with impressive track records in biomedical engineering, population health informatics, biomedical data science, and translational research from Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Centers (VUMC), and Veteran Affairs Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI). I am also very grateful for the internal and external financial support that helped me to conduct my research and support multiple graduate students in data science and biomedical data to join the lab and participate in research. The research experience help the students gain a deeper understanding of the importance of these fields and the potential for data-driven solutions to improve patient health outcomes.  

Under the leadership of SACS and Meharry, I have had the opportunity to serve in various roles and responsibilities that allow me to be deeply involved in the life of the institution. Through these contributions, I actively support the academic and personal growth of both students and faculty. I am proud in contributing to Meharry’s nurturing and dynamic environment, where both students and faculty can excel.