About Meredith Ray

Meredith Ray, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health. Dr. Ray received her doctoral degree at the University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health in 2014 and her MPH at the University of Georgia, College of Public Health in 2009. Her general research interests are in Bayesian methods, fMRI brain imaging analysis, bioinformatics (epigenetics) and semi-parametric modeling. Her primary research focuses on methods for identifying significant regions of brain activation using fMRI meta-data and methods for identifying associations of DNA methylation with outcomes of interest.

Education

• PhD, Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
• MPH,Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
• BS, Mathematics, Piedmont College, Demorest, Georgia

Research Interests

• Bayesian methods
• Semi-parametric modeling
• fMRI brain imaging data analysis
• Bioinformatics

Selected Publications

1. Asos Mahmood, Meredith Ray, Kenneth D Ward, Aram Dobalian, SangNam Ahn, Longitudinal associations between insomnia symptoms and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older adults: a population-based cohort study, Sleep, Volume 45, Issue 6, June 2022, zsac019, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsac019.
2. Matthew P. Smeltzer, Meredith A. Ray, Nicholas R. Faris, Raymond U. Osarogiagbon. Genie Out of the Bottle: Is There a Role for Gene-Gene Interactions in Early Detection of Lung Cancer?. Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Volume 17, Issue 8, 2022; Pages 946-948. ISSN 1556-0864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtho.2022.05.012.
3. Smeltzer MP, Ray MA. Statistical considerations for outcomes in clinical research: A review of common data types and methodology. Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2022;247(9):734-742. doi:10.1177/15353702221085710.
4. Osarogiagbon RU, Liao W, Faris NR, Meadows-Taylor M, Fehnel C, Lane J, Williams SC, Patel AA, Akinbobola OA, Pacheco A, Epperson A, Luttrell J, McCoy D, McHugh L, Signore R, Bishop AM, Tonkin K, Optican R, Wright J, Robbins T, Ray MA, Smeltzer MP. Lung Cancer Diagnosed Through Screening, Lung Nodule, and Neither Program: A Prospective Observational Study of the Detecting Early Lung Cancer (DELUGE) in the Mississippi Delta Cohort. J Clin Oncol. 2022 Jul 1;40(19):2094-2105. doi: 10.1200/JCO.21.02496. Epub 2022 Mar 8. PMID: 35258994; PMCID: PMC9242408.
5. Meghan B. Meadows-Taylor, Nicholas R. Faris, Matthew P. Smeltzer, Meredith A. Ray, Carrie Fehnel, Olawale Akinbobola, Folabi Ariganjoye, Anita Patel, Alicia Pacheco, Anurag Mehrotra, Roy Fox, Robert Optican, Keith Tonkin, James Machin, Jeffrey Wright, Edward T. Robbins, Raymond U. Osarogiagbon. The Relative Survival Impact of Guideline-Concordant Clinical Staging and Stage-Appropriate Treatment of Potentially Curable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer; Chest. Volume 162, Issue 1, 2022; Pages 242-255. ISSN 0012-3692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2022.01.046.
6. Matthew P. Smeltzer, Meredith A. Ray, Nicholas R. Faris, Meghan B. Meadows-Taylor, Fedoria Rugless, Courtney Berryman, Bianca Jackson, Carrie Fehnel, Alicia Pacheco, Laura McHugh, Edward T. Robbins, Kenneth D. Ward, Lisa M. Klesges, and Raymond U. Osarogiagbon. Prospective Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Care Within a Community-Based Health Care System. JCO Oncology Practice 2023; 19:1, e15-e24.
7. M Alexander, J Burch, S Steck, C Chen, T Hurley, P Cavicchia, M Ray, N Shivappa, J Guess, H Zhang, S Youngstedt, K Creek, S Lloyd, X Yang and J Hebert. Case-Control Study of the PERIOD3 Clock Gene Length Polymorphism and Colorectal Adenoma Formation. Oncology Reports.
8. M A Ray, SD Youngstedt, H Zhang, SE Wagner, BE Harmon, G Jean-Louis, B Cai, TG Hurley, JR Hébert, RK Bogan and JB Burch. Examination of wrist and hip actigraphy using a novel sleep estimation procedure. Sleep Science. 2014.
9. H Zhang, X Tong, JW Holloway, FI Rezwan, GA Lockett, VK Patil, M A Ray, TM Everson, N Soto-Ramirez, SH Arshad, S Ewart and W Karmaus. The interplay of DNA methylation over time with Th2 pathway genetic variants on asthma risk and temporal asthma transition. Clinical Epigenetics. 15;6:8 2014.
10. P Ruiz, M A Ray, J Fisher, and M Mumtaz. Development of a Human Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Toolkit for Environmental Pollutants. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 12:7469-7480. 2011.
11. M Mumtaz, M A Ray, S Crowell, D Keys, J Fisher, and P Ruiz. Translational Research to Develop a Human PBPK Models Tool Kit – Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Journal of Tox. and Environmental Health. Part A. 75:6-24. 2012

Software Packages

• Example for website.R (Download file)