Lei Zhang, PhD, MBA

Professor, Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship, Harriet G. Williamson Endowed Chair for Population Health Nursing

PhD, Biostatistics, 2006, University of Mississippi

Research Interests

• data and research support to maternal and child health
• oral health
• chronic disease
• tobacco control programs

Research Synopsis

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.

Recent accomplishments and honors

• 2024 - Lifetime Achievement Award in service and inclusive excellence, UMMC
• 2023 - Excellence in Research Award - Gold Medallion, UMMC
• 2021-2022 President, Mississippi Public Health Association
• 2019 - 2020 President-Elect, Mississippi Public Health Association
• 2019 - 2020 Treasurer/Immediate Past Chair, Applied Public Health Statistics Section, American Public Health Association
• 2018 Norman C. Nelson Order of Teaching Excellence Award, UMMC
• 2017 Alton B. Cobb Lifetime Achievement Award, Mississippi Public Health Association

Grants awarded

• 2022-2027 NIH, Grant Number: 1UG3MD018298-01. “Mississippi Violence Injury Prevention program (MS VIP)”. MS VIP conducts scientific research to better understand and prevent firearm violence and the resulting trauma, injuries, and mortality. It will develop, implement, and evaluate innovative community level interventions to prevent firearm and related violence, injury and mortality (CLIF-VP). Serve as Contact PI (Total $5.5 million).
• 2022-2025 HHS, Grant Number: 1ASTWH220111-01-00. “The SUD and IPV among Mississippi’s Moms – Initiative to Prevent and Treat program (SIMM Initiative)”. SIMM Initiative is designed to train substance use disorder (SUD) treatment providers to address intimate partner violence (IPV) with patients; and to train IPV staff on SUD. It emphasizes the intersection of IPV and SUD during pregnancy and postpartum. Serve as Contact PI (Total $2.1 million).
• 2018-2020 NIH, “Studying Risk to Improve Disparities in Mississippi (STRIDES)”. STRIDES is funded by NIH/National Cancer Institute Interagency Moonshot Funding. It focuses on racial disparity related to HPV and cervical cancer research and prevention. Served as MSDH PI (In-kind, total $300,000).
• 2019-2021 NIH, “Jackson Heart Study /Community Engagement Center (CEC)”. CEC is funded by NIH/NHLBI. It promotes cardiovascular health in the Jackson community and beyond. Served as Proxy/Co-PI of CEC and Director of the Evaluation Core (In-kind, total $1.1 million).
• 2020-2021 CDC, “Mississippi Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System BRFSS).” BRFSS is a surveillance project of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health departments. BRFSS collects state-specific, population-based data on health-related behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services (Total $500,000).
• 2019-2020 CDC, “Mississippi Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).” BRFSS is a surveillance project of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health departments. BRFSS collects state-specific, population-based data on health-related behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services (Total $400,000).
• 2019-2020 Heat-related Injuries in Mississippi. University of Kentucky (Total $13,000)
• 2018-2019 CDC, Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant. This program gives state health departments the ability to address prioritized public health needs in their jurisdictions. ($2 million)

Memberships

• 2023 - present, Member, Steering Committee Community Level Interventions for Firearm and Related Violence, Injury and Mortality Prevention (CLIF-VP), NIH
• 2022 - present, Member, Internal Advisory Committee (IAC), Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research
• 2021- present Member, UMMC Research Council
• 2021- present Member, UMMC Research Compliance and Management Committee
• 2021- present Member, UMMC Cancer Center and Research Institute
• 2021 - present Member, UMMC Workplace Violence Data Capture and Reporting Subcommittee
• 2021 - present Member, UMMC School of Nursing Executive Council
  2021 - present Member, UMMC School of Nursing Research Council
  2021 -present Co-Chair, Obesity Work Group, UProot – Building a Healthier Mississippi from the Ground Up, Mississippi State Department of Health
• 2022-2023 Board Member, Mississippi Public Health Association
• 2021 Member, Advisory Committee, Data Sharing/Visualization Project, Mississippi Public Health Institute
• 2020-2021 Member, Spiegelman Award (highest honor for public health statisticians under 40 years of age in US) Nomination Committee, Applied Public Health Statistics Section, APHA

Selected publications

• Risley, C., Douglas, K., Karimi, M., Brumfield, J., Gartrell, G., Vargas, R., Zhang, L. (2023). Trends in sexual risk behavioral responses among high school students between Mississippi and the United States: 2001 to 2019 YRBSS. Journal of School Health, 93(6):500-507. June. Doi: 10.1111/josh.13311
• Gordy, X., Bagwell, J., Jones, P., Ferrell, T., Kolbo, J., Zhang, L. (2022). Trends and subgroup comparisons in overweight and obesity prevalence among Mississippi public school students, 2005-2019. Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association. 63(4):93-104.
• Hall, K., Robinson, J., Cooke, W. III, Parnell, A., Zhang, L., Northington, L. (2022). Relationship between environmental air quality and congenital heart defects. Nurs Res, 71(4):266-274. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000590. Epub 2022 Mar 4. PMID: 35759718; PMCID: PMC9245123.
• Mendy, V., Rowell-Cunsolo, T., Bellerose, M., Vargas, R., Enkhmaa, B., Zhang, L. (2022). Cardiovascular disease mortality in Mississippi, 2000-2018. Preventing Chronic Disease. doi: 10.5888/pcd19.210385. PMID: 35201975; PMCID: PMC8880103.
• Yufeng, Z., Christman, B., Morris, M., Hillegass, W., Zhang, Y., Douglas, K., Kelly, C., Zhang, L. (2022). Adolescent behavioral risk analysis and prediction using machine learning: A foundation for precision suicide prevention. Proceedings of SPIE 12100. Multimodal Image Exploitation and Learning. doi:10.1117/12.2620105
• Elaine F. Molaison, Jerome R. Kolbo, Lei Zhang, Bonnie Harbaugh, Olivia Ismail, and Bethany Yurko. Significant Declines in Overweight and Obesity among Mississippi Public School Students. Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association, April 2020 (Accepted).
• Tanya Funchess, Morgan Bradwell, Stephanie McLeod, Eden Blackwell, Jerome R. Kolbo, Lei Zhang, and Olivia Hogan. Racial Disparities in Reproductive Healthcare among Parous and Nulliparous Women. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, April 2020 (Accepted).
• Seung Hee Lee, Lei Zhang, Donald L. Rubin, and Sohyun Park. Association of Health Literacy and Menu-labeling Usage with Sugar-sweetened Beverage Intake among Adults in Mississippi, 2016. American Journal of Health Promotion, April 2020 (Accepted).
• Wesley Q. Zhang, Shoujiang Tang, Thomas Dobbs, and Lei Zhang. Factors Associate with Colorectal Cancer Screening among Mississippi Adults – Findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Southern Medical Journal, April 2020 (Accepted. Manuscript Number – SMJ-20-028).
• Carolann Risley, Megan A. Clarke, Kim R. Geisinger, Mary W. Stewart, Lei Zhang, Kim W. Hoover, Laree M. Hiser, Kenyata Owens, Maria DeMarco, Mark Schiffman, and Nicolas Wentzensen. Racial Differences in HPV Type 16 Prevalence in Women with ASCUS of the Uterine Cervix. American Society Journal, April 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1002/cncy.22267).
• Glen Graves, Juanita Graham, Lauren Ryan, Changhong Wen, Lei Zhang, and Michelle Y. Owens. Implementing an Interpregnancy Care Project among Rural and Urban Mississippi Cohorts. Journal of Mississippi Medical Association. Vol. 61, No.2, 2020, 28-36.
• Ninglong Han, Crystal Veazey, Beryl W. Polk, Gerri Cannon-Smith, and Lei Zhang. Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors and Trends Associated with Blood Lead Levels and Children Younger than 6 Years Old in Mississippi, 2009-2015. Journal of Mississippi Medical Association. Vol. 60, No.6, 2019, 206-211.
• Howard H. Chang, Anqi Pan, David Lary, Lance A. Waller, Lei Zhang, Bruce Bracking, Richard Finley, and Fazlay S. Faruque. Time-series Analysis of Satellite-derived Fine Particulate Matter Pollution and Asthma Morbidity in Jackson, MS. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. June 2019. Article number: 280 (2019).
• Judy Gordy, Lei Zhang, Amy L. Sullivan, Jessica H. Bailey, and Elizabeth O. Carr. Teaching and Learning in an Active Learning Classroom – A Mixed-Methods Empirical Cohort Study. Journal of Dental Education, March 2019. 83(3):342-50.
• Vincent L. Mendy, Rodolfo Vargas, Marinelle Payton, Jennifer N. Sims, and Lei Zhang. Trend in the Stroke Death Rate among Mississippi Adults, 2000-2016. Preventing Chronic Disease. 2019 Feb 14; 16:E21. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd16.180425.
• Zhen Zhang, Lei Zhang, James Veillette, and Timothy Tate.Ensemble Modeling with SPSS Modeler. Proceedings for the 2018 Joint Statistical Meetings. Business and Economic Statistics Section – JSM 2018. 2873-2876.
• Carolann Risley, Kim R. Geisinger, Jennifer C. Robinson, Mary W. Stewart, Lei Zhang, Rhonda Alexander, and Stephen S. Raab. Precancerous Cervical Lesions and HPV Genotypes Identified in Previously Unsatisfactory Cervical Smear Tests after Inexpensive Glacial Acetic Acid Processing. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, April 2018. DOI: 10.1002/ijgo.12699.

Poster presentations

• Karimi, M., Vargas, R., Zhang, L. (2023). Prevalence of the Violence-Related Behaviors among Mississippi public high school students-findings from analysis of YRBSS. Mississippi Public Health Association Annual Conference, Jackson, MS.
• Risley, C.,Wentzensen, N., Talluri, R., Reaves, S., Karimi, M., Maihle, N., Owens, K., Geisinger, K., Rives, R., Hiser, L., Jannela, A., Stewart, M., Zhang, L., Dobbs, T., Clarke, M. (2023). Associations of bacterial vaginosis and smoking with HPV clearance/persistence and precancer in STRIDES: Studying Risk and Improving Disparities in Mississippi. International Papillomavirus Conference.
• Risley, C., Wentzensen, N., Talluri, R., Reaves, S., Karimi, M., Maihle, N., Owens, K., Geisinger, K., Rives, R., Hiser, L., Jannela, A., Stewart, M., Zhang, L., Dobbs, T., Clarke, M. (2023). University of Mississippi Medical Center, National Cancer Institute, Join pathology center, Walter Reed Medical Center. Mississippi State Department of Health. International Papillomavirus Conference, Washington, D.C.
• Zhang, L., Vargas, R., McLeod, S., Liu, X., Hernandez-Morales, V., Young, D., Byers, P. (2023). Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Mississippi, March-November 2021. UMMC School of Nursing Research and Scholarship Day, Flowood, MS.
• Bhattacharjee, S., Song, M., Zhang, L., Wang, B., Gong, P., Zhang, C., (2022). Suicide risk prediction in youth using machine learning methods. MCBIO, Virtual
• Brumfield J., Stewart, M., Zhang, L., Mena, L. (2022). How to accelerate access to STD testing: A model nurse-led clinic. University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Nursing Research and Scholarship Day, Flowood, MS
• Christman B., Hillegass W., Zhang Y., Kelly C., Morris M., Douglas K., Zheng Y., Zhang L. (2022). Assessment of suicidality amongst Mississippi adolescents using the youth risk behavior survey: A parametric approach. University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Nursing Research and Scholarship Day. Flowood, MS.
• De Los Angeles Hernandez-Morales, V., Mendy, V., Vargas, R., Sharma, M., Zhang, L., Mawson, A., Payton, M., Quintero-Restrepo, W., (2022). Development of a diabetes type 2 risk score for African Americans: Jackson Heart Study. 150th APHA Annual Conference, Boston, MA.
• Gordy, X., Bagwell, J., Jones, P., Ferrell, C., Kolbo, J., Camp, L., Zhang, L. (2022). Trends and subgroup comparisons in overweight and obesity prevalence among Mississippi public school students, 2005-2019. University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Nursing Research and Scholarship Day, Flowood, MS
• Klamm, M. M., Duck. A. A., Welsch, M. A., Yan, Y., Torres, E. R., Wade, B., Stewart, M. W., Clayton, J., Zhang, L. (2022). Dispersion of daily physical activity behaviors in school-age children: A novel approach to measure patterns of physical activity. Sigma International Nursing Society, Research Day, Memphis, TN
• Mitra, A., Bhuiyan, A., Zhang, L., Payton, M., Tchounwou, P. (2022). An increasing trend of obesity among adolescents in Mississippi: The youth risk behavior surveillance system (YRBSS), from 2011-2012 through 2019-2020. APHA Annual Conference, Boston, MA.
• Naylor, S. B., Winters, K., Butler, K. R., Jr., Zhang, L., Hiser, L. M. (2022). Exploration of recruitment strategies for enrollment in an Alzheimer’s disease intervention study. University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences Research Day, Jackson, MS
• Qing, L., Provencio-Vasquez, E., Palusci, V., Zhang, L., Feder, L., Susser, E., (2022). Preventing perinatal depression, self-harm ideation, and substance use to design injury related maternal early warning systems and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Virtual. NIH Office of Research on Women's Health Workshop on Gender and Health. 
• Zhen, Y., Christman, B., Morris, M., Hillegass, W., Zhang, Y., Douglas, K., Kelly, C., Zhang, L. (2022, March) Adolescent behavioral risk analysis and prediction using machine learning: A foundation for precision suicide prevention. University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Nursing Research and Scholarship Day, Flowood, MS.

Education