Lei Zhang, PhD, MBA

Lei Zhang, PhD, MBA

Professor - Associate Dean for Research and Schola

Department:
SON-Instruction School Nursing

Email:
lzhang2@umc.edu

Work Phone:
(601) 815-9780

Biography

Dr. Lei Zhang is professor and associate dean for research and scholarship in School of Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). In addition to the associate dean title, he serves as the school's Harriet G. Williamson Endowed Chair for Population Health Nursing. He also holds the secondary appointments as professor of data science in UMMC’s John D. Bower School of Population Health and professor of Health Administration in School of Health Related Professions.

Prior to becoming an associate dean, Dr. Zhang served as director and chief research biostatistician of Office of Health Data and Research at the Mississippi State Department of Health, where he oversaw surveillance, research and program evaluation for maternal and child health, chronic disease, oral health, tobacco control, and occupational health programs.

He is a certified public manager from the Mississippi State Personnel Board and a graduate from the State Executive Development Institute of Mississippi.

Dr. Zhang's research interests and expertise focus on statistics education, complex sampling and survey data analysis, public health statistics and surveillance, youth obesity, maternal health and infant mortality, and violence research and prevention.

Education

University of Mississippi Medical Center, PhD, Biostatistics2006
University of Mississippi Medical Center, MS, Biostatistics2004
University of Louisiana at Monroe, MBA, Business1998
Chengdu University of Technology, BS, Engineering1989

Academic Appointments or Other Previous Appointments

Professor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Population Health
Professor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Health Related Professions
Harriet G. Williamson Endowed Chair of Population Health Nursing, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Nursing

Sponsored Program Funding

Extramural, A Multimodal and Interdisciplinary Data Science Training Program to Enhance a Diverse Workforce for Addiction Research, NIH09/2024 - 09/2029
Extramural, The SUD and IPV among Mississippi’s Moms – Initiative to Prevent and Treat program (SIMM Initiative), HHS09/2022 - 09/2026
Extramural, Mississippi Violence Injury Prevention program (MS VIP), NIH09/2022 - 09/2027

Publications

Journal Article

Matthew Morris, Laura Vearrier, Matthew Kutcher, Masoumeh Karimi, Fazlay Faruque, Alyscia Severance, Michelle Brassfield, and Lei Zhang Understanding disparities in firearm mortality: The role of person- and place-based factors. Injury. 20252025
Aman I, Welsch M, Zhang L, Mann J, Davis R, Islam R, Clark J, Brodell R, Nahar V Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception of Medical and Nursing Students Towards Telemedicine/Telehealth Journal of Health and Social Sciences. 2025; 10:86-982025
Zhang Z, Gordy XZ, Zhang L. Obesity Prevalence and Trend Among Mississippi High-School Students: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) Obesities, 5(1), 6.2025
Rebeccah Sokol, Maureen Walton, Daniel Lee, Laura Seewald, Victor Medina Del Toro, Mahum Farooqui, Gregory Sallabank, Marc Zimmerman, Mark Edberg, Yan Wang, Tanya Zakrison, Elizabeth L. Tung, William B. Hillegass, Laura Vearrier, Lei Zhang, Matthew E. Kutcher, Dara Blachman‑Demner, and Patrick M. Carter Advancing Science to Prevent Firearm Violence in Communities: A Process for Harmonizing Studies to Develop Research Infrastructure Prevention Science. 2024; 25:1122-11322024
Zhang S, Lefmann T, Lim Y, Robbins C, Zhang L Religiosity’s Links to Adolescent Wellbeing and the Role of Supportive Networks and Sex. Youth & Society, I-23, 20242024
Zhang Z, Mitra A, Schroeder J, Zhang L The Prevalence of and Trend in Drug Use among Adolescents in Mississippi and the United States: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) 2001–2021 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2024; 21(7):9192024
Klamm M, Stewart M, Duck A, Lim C, Brocks T, Zhang L, Tacy J Increasing autonomous motivation for physical activity among adolescents. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 2024;29:e12423.2024
Joseph Tacy, Alaina Herrington, James Hughes, Masoumeh Karimi, Robyn MacSorley, Sharon McElwain, Daniel Weiss, and Lei Zhang. Examining the use of a digital stethoscope within academia. STORM, 2023; 2(2), 32-392023
Clark J, Burrell A, Arnold A, Schmitz T, Zhang L, Jones D, Summers R, Bondurant W, Nahar V Experience and perception of clinical research participation at an academic medical center. Journal of Health and Social Sciences. 2023; 8: 249-2612023
Risley C, Douglas K, Karimi M, Brumfield J, Gartrell G, Vargas R, and Zhang L Trends in sexual risk behavioral responses among high school students between Mississippi and the United States: 2001 to 2019 YRBSS J Sch Health2023
Crouch J, Winters K, Zhang L, Stewart M Telehealth during the Pandemic: Patients Perceptions and Policy Implications Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 2022; 55:141-1482022
Gordy, X., Bagwell, J., Jones, P., Ferrell, T., Kolbo, J., Zhang, L. Trends and subgroup comparisons in overweight and obesity prevalence among Mississippi public school students, 2005-2019. Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association2022
Hall, K., Robinson, J., Cooke, W. III, Parnell, A., Zhang, L., Northington, L. Relationship between environmental air quality and congenital heart defects. Nurs Res2022
Mendy, V., Rowell-Cunsolo, T., Bellerose, M., Vargas, R., Enkhmaa, B., Zhang, L. Cardiovascular disease mortality in Mississippi, 2000-2018. Preventing Chronic Disease.2022
Yufeng, Z., Christman, B., Morris, M., Hillegass, W., Zhang, Y., Douglas, K., Kelly, C., Zhang, L. Adolescent behavioral risk analysis and prediction using machine learning: A foundation for precision suicide prevention. Multimodal Image Exploitation and Learning.2022

Book Chapter

Bhuiyan A, Zhang L “Chapter 25 – Multivariate Analysis Using SAS” in Amal Mitra (Editor), Statistical Approaches for Epidemiology: From Concept to Application. Springer Nature. ISBN-13: 978-30314178322023
Goodman M, Zhang L “Chapter 12 – Quantitative Research Methods” in Melody Goodman and Vetta L. Sanders Thompson (Editor), Public Health Research Methods for Partnerships and Practice. 2017 by Taylor & Francis/Routledge. ISBN 978-1498785068.2017
Zhang L, Graham J. “Chapter 11 - Maternal and Child Health in Mississippi” in Mario Azevedo (Editor), The State of Health and Health Care in Mississippi 2015 by University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-62846-000-1.2015

Presentations

State/Local Invited Seminars/Lectures, Co-occurring intimate partner violence and substance use during the perinatal period: Teaching providers how to screen and intervene, Mississippi State Department of Health, Jackson, MS01/2025
State/Local Invited Seminars/Lectures, Linking Solutions to Violence: Communities, Hospitals, and Healthcare, Mississippi Public Health Association Annual Conference, Vicksburg, MS11/2024
Poster Presentation, Youth violence trends on school property in the United States: Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2001- 2021, American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN10/2024
National and International Invited Seminars/Lectures, Small area estimation methods for county level obesity prevalence estimation: generalized linear mixed models vs. machine learning techniques, American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN10/2024
Poster Presentation, African American Diabetes Risk Assessment Using Machine Learning: Jackson Heart Study, American Public Health Association Annual and Expo, Minneapolis, MN10/2024
Regional Invited Seminars/Lectures, Application of Stepped-Wedge Trial Design in Community-Engaged Gun Violence Prevention and Research, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, School of Public Health, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX10/2024
Regional Invited Seminars/Lectures, Application of Stepped-Wedge Trial Design in Community-Engaged Gun Violence Prevention and Research, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA08/2024
Poster Presentation, Prevalence of the Violence-Related Behaviors among Mississippi public high school students-findings from analysis of YRBSS., Mississippi Public Health Association Annual Conference, Jackson, MS08/2023
Poster Presentation, Associations of bacterial vaginosis and smoking with HPV clearance/persistence and precancer in STRIDES: Studying Risk and Improving Disparities in Mississippi., International Papillomavirus Conference., Washington, D.C.07/2023
Poster Presentation, Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Mississippi, March-November 2021., UMMC School of Nursing Research and Scholarship Day, Flowood, MS04/2023

Honors, Awards, and Recognition

Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professorship, UMMC2025
Lifetime Outstanding Service Award, Applied Public Health Statistics Section2024
Lifetime Achievement Award- Pillars, UMMC2024
Excellence in Research Award- Gold, UMMC2023
Norman C. Nelson Order of Teaching Excellence Award, UMMC2018
Alton B. Cobb Lifetime Achievement Award, Mississippi Public Health Association2017

Professional Membership and Service

American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Member
IRB, Mississippi State Department of Health, Appointed by the State Health Officer, Member
Jackson Heart Study Ancillary Studies Subcommittee, Member
Advisory Committee, Community Research Fellow Training, Mississippi State Department of Health, Member
Data Use Council for Mississippi Healthcare Data System, Member
State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, Mississippi Department of Mental Health, Member
Steering Committee, Hinds County /National Children’s Study, Member
American Statistical Association, Member
American Public Health Association, Member
Mississippi Public Health Association, Member
Mississippi Health Data System Task Force, Member
Mississippi Patient Information System Replacement and Electronic Health Record (EHR) Steering Committee, Member
Council on African American Affairs, Member
Curriculum Committee, School of Public Health, Jackson State University, Member
MPH Admission Committee, School of Public Health, Jackson State University, Member
Chair Search Committee, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Jackson State University, Member
Mississippi Chronic Disease Coalition, Member
Mississippi Alliance School Health, Member
Governor’s Task Force on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Member
Governor’s Task Force on Obesity Prevention, Member
Governor’s Task Force on Teen Pregnancy, Member
Mississippi Suicide Prevention Workgroup, Member