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Laura H. Gunn, PhD

Professor of Public Health Sciences

Affiliate Faculty of the School of Data Science

Director of Biostatistics Core

Dr. Laura H. Gunn received her PhD in Statistics and Decision Sciences from Duke University, during which time she also held a research training fellowship in Biostatistics with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Laura is currently Professor of Public Health Sciences and Director of Biostatistics Core at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte), as well as Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College London’s (ICL) School of Public Health (SPH) within the Faculty of Medicine. Prior to UNC Charlotte, Laura was Associate Professor of Public Health in Biostatistics, Department Chair of Health Sciences, and founding Program Director of Public Health at Stetson University, where she led the development of the undergraduate minor and major in Public Health, as well as co-developed undergraduate and graduate Data/Applied Analytics programs. Additional prior positions include Associate Director of the Global eHealth Unit within ICL’s SPH. During this time, she also served as Lead Biostatistician for Research Design Service London at ICL. Laura was Biostatistics Director and Interim Associate Dean of Georgia Southern University’s Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health (JPHCOPH), where she was among the founding faculty to develop masters and doctoral programs primarily in Biostatistics and Epidemiology within JPHCOPH and served on the core leadership team for Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accreditation. Laura served a term on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee; and, a sample of additional service roles includes: Treasurer for the American Statistical Association Georgia Chapter; Chair and Program Committee Chair of the Biopharmaceutical Applied Statistics Symposium; and reviewer for various statistics and health journals, as well as US and UK nationally-funded grants. Her research accounts for over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports, as well as serving as a PI or co-I on funded external grants and contracts totaling over $14 million, including National Institutes of Health (US) and National Institute for Health Research (UK) grants. She has over 200 invited and contributed regional, national, and international presentations.

Education/Training:

  • PhD Statistics and Decision Sciences (2004), Duke University
  • Pre-Doctoral Research Training Fellowship (2003-2004), Biostatistics Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
  • MS Statistics and Decision Sciences (2001), Duke University
  • BA Mathematics (1999), Jacksonville University

Teaching (at UNC Charlotte):

  • Capstone: Problem Solving in Healthcare Analytics (HCIP 6250)
  • Healthcare Data Analysis (HCIP 6102)
  • Introduction to Programming for Health Informatics (HCIP 5376)

Ongoing (Major) External Funding:

  • Gunn, L.H. (PI), Tudor-Locke, C. (PI), Dulin, M. (Co-I), and Moore-Harrison, T. (Co-I). The SKyRoCKeT Study: Surface-Knit and Reformulate CADENCE-Kids for Translation. National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) NIH R01 Grant R01HD105768 (~$2.9Mn). May/2022 – Mar/2027. 
  • Tucker, J.D. (PI), Zarwell, M. (PI), Nwaozuru, U. (PI), Gunn, L.H. (Co-I), Dulin, M. (Co-I), and Robinson, P. (Co-I). Community-Engaged Approaches to Expand HIV Self-Testing (CATEST). NIH: Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) Ending the HIV Epidemic Supplement Grant. (~$220K). Aug/2023 – Jul/2025.

  • Cramer, R.J. (PI), Baker, J. (PI), Franks, M. (Co-I), Gunn, L.H. (Co-I), Khazem, L. (Co-I), Bryan, C.J. (Co-I), and Grover, S. (Co-I). Piloting a Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (BCBT) Group Intervention for Suicidal Behavior among Active Duty Military Personnel. Department of Defense (DoD) Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program Clinical Trial Award W81XWH2210234 (~$4.1Mn). Aug/2022 – Jan/2027.

Awards:

  • Honorary Research Fellow (2013-Present), School of Public Health, Imperial College London.
  • 2021 Outstanding Faculty Research Award (2022), School of Data Science, UNC Charlotte. 
  • Community Partnership of the Year Award (2017), Center for Community Engagement, Stetson University. 
  • Faculty Award for Excellence in Service (2011), Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University.
  • Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring (2009), Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University. 

Research Areas:

Laura’s work as a biostatistical expert is applied, interdisciplinary, and collaborative across areas in Public Health, Healthcare, and Medicine. This includes recent and current projects that focus on health outcomes research, analysis of big data in population health at a national level in the UK, randomized trials, program evaluation, and community-based participatory research with local partnerships. Some of the specific health areas include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, community health needs assessments, dermatology, HIV, among others. 

Recent Publications:

2024:

  1. Zarwell, M., Patton, A., Gunn, L.H., Benziger, A., Witt, B., Robinson, P.A., and Terrell, D.F. (in press). PrEP Awareness, Willingness, and Likelihood to Use Future HIV Prevention Methods among Undergraduate College Students in an Ending the HIV Epidemic Jurisdiction. Journal of American College Health.
  2. Richardson, S.C., Gunn, L.H., Phipps, M., and Azasu, E. (2024). Factors Associated with Suicide Risk Behavior Outcomes Among Black High School Adolescents. Journal of Community Health, 49, 466–474. 
  3. Shaw Jr., G., de Castro, B., Gunn, L.H., Norris, K., and Thorpe Jr., R.J. (2024) mHealth Application Use Among U.S. Obese Adults: Do Access and Application eHealth Literacy Skills Matter? JMIR mHealth and uHealth,12, e46656, 1-17.
  4. Ray, K.K., Gunn, L.H., Garcia Conde, L., Raal, F.J., Wright, R.S., Gosselin, N.H., Leiter, L.A., Koenig, W., Schwartz, G.G., Landmesser, U. and ORION investigators. (2024). Estimating Potential Cardiovascular Health Benefits of Improved Population Level Control of LDL Cholesterol through a Twice-Yearly siRNA-Based Approach: A Simulation Study of a Health-System Level Intervention. Atherosclerosis, 391, 117472, 1-10.
  5. Ngamasana, E.L., Zarwell, M., Eberly, L., and Gunn, L.H. (2024) Difference in Physical and Mental Health of Informal Caregivers Pre- and Post-COVID-19 National Emergency Declaration in the United States. SSM-Population Health, 25, 101609, 1-9.
  6. Zarwell, M., Bowling, J., Gunn, L.H., Kissler, N., McComas, M., Patton, A., Ragunathan, R., and Brown, R. (2024) Collectives for Care: Perspectives of Providers and Community Members in Transgender Health Care in a Southern U.S. City. Journal of Homosexuality, 71(1), 96-119.
  7. Glass, A., Melton, N.C., Moore, C., Myrick, K., Thao, K., Mogaji, S., Howell, A., Patton, K., Martin, J., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2024). A Novel Method for Assessing Risk-Adjusted Diagnostic Coding Specificity for Depression Using a U.S. Cohort of Over One Million Patients. Diagnostics, 14, 426, 1-24.
  8. Bolin, L., Crane, P., and Gunn, L.H. (2024). Exploring Cytokine Networks in Resistant Hypertension. Nursing Research, 73(1):16-25.
  9. Bucko, A., McAvoy, C.R., Boikova, M., Fiorentino, M., Moore-Harrison, T., Dulin, M., Gunn, L.H., and Tudor-Locke, C. (2024) Muscular and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in 18-20 Year-Olds. International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings, 16(3), 143.
  10. Biokova, M., McAvoy, C.R., Bucko, A., Fiorentino, T., Moore-Harrison, T., Dulin, M., Gunn, L.H., and Tudor-Locke, C. (2024) Accuracy and Efficiency of Directly Observed Cadence: The SKyRoCKeT Study. International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings, 16(3), 37.
  11. Mesz, B., Tedesco, S., Reinoso-Carvalho, F., ter Horst, E., Molina, G., Gunn, L.H., and Kussner, M. Marble Melancholy: Using Crossmodal Correspondences of Shapes, Materials, and Music to Predict Music-Induced Emotions, pgs. 91-104. In Chen, N., Sørensen, T.A., Spence, C., eds. (2024). Crossmodal Correspondence. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA.

2023:

  1. Korvink, M., Gunn, L.H., Molina, G., Hackner, D., and Martin, J. (in press) A Novel Approach to Developing Disease and Outcome Specific Social Risk Indices. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 65(4), 727-734.
  2. Korvink, M., Gunn, L.H., Molina, G., Hayes, T., Selves, E., Duan, M., and Martin, J. (in press) Risk Adjustment of ICD-10-CM Coded Potential Inpatient Complications Using Administrative Data. Medical Care, 61(8), 514-520.
  3. Baker, J.C., Grover, S., Gunn, L.H., Charles, C., Rikli, H., Franks, M.J., Khazem, L.R., Williams, S., Ammendola, E., Washington, C., Bennette, M., Starkey, A., Schnecke, K., Cain, S., Bryan, C.J., and Cramer, R.J. (in press). Group Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention Compared to Dialectal Behavior Therapy Skills Group for Military Service Members: A Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial. BMC Psychiatry, 23:904, 1-15.
  4. Ray, K., Gunn, L., Conde, L.G., Raal, F., Wright, R.S., Gosselin, N., Leiter, L., Koenig, W., Schwartz, G., and Landmesser, U. (2023) Estimating the Potential Impact of LDL-C Lowering Through SIRNA Therapies on Population Health: A Simulation Study. Atherosclerosis, 379, Supp 1, S22.
  5. Mesz, B., Tedesco, S., Reinoso-Carvalho, F., ter Horst, E., Molina, G., Gunn, L.H., and Kussner, M.B. (2023) Marble Melancholy: Using Crossmodal Correspondences of Shapes, Materials, and Music to Predict Music-Induced Emotions. Frontiers in Psychology, 2023 Aug 31, 14:1168258.
  6. Ngamasana, E.L., Zarwell, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2023) Physical and Mental Health of Informal Caregivers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States. BMC Public Health 23, 2349.
  7. Siqueira, J., ter Horst, E., Molina, G., Gunn, L.H., Reinoso-Carvalho, F., Sezen, B., and Peña-Garcia, N. (2023) Branding in the Eye of the Storm: The Impact of Brand Ethical Behavior on Brand Commitment During the Covid-19 Crisis in a South American Country. Journal of Marketing Analytics, 11, 95-115.
  8. Cornelius, J., Gunn, L.H., Dalton, C., and Davis, B. (2023) Nurse Practitioner Model of Care for the Initiation of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. A Case Series Study. Nursing Open, 10, 1135-1143.

2022:

  1. Gunn, L.H., McKay, A.J., Feng, A., Louie, M.J., Ballantyne, C.M., and Ray, K.K. (2022) Estimated Cardiovascular Benefits of Bempedoic Acid in Patients with Established Cardiovascular Disease. Atherosclerosis Plus, 49, 20-27.
  2. McKay, A.J., Gunn, L.H., and Ray, K.K. (2022) Assessing the External Validity of the SAFEHEART Risk Prediction Model in Patients with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia in a UK Routine Care Cohort. Atherosclerosis, 358, 68-74.
  3. McKay, A.J., Gunn, L.H., Ference, B.A., Dorresteijn, J.A.N., Berkelmans, G.F.S., Visseren, F.L.J., and Ray, K.K. (2022) Is the SMART Risk Prediction Model Ready for Real World Implementation? A Validation Study in a Routine Care Setting of Approximately 380,000 Individuals. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 29(4), 654-663.
  4. Hageman, S.H.J., McKay, A.J., Ueda, P., Gunn, L.H., Jernberg, T., Hagström, E., Bhatt, D.L., Steg, P.G., Läll, K., Mägi, R., Gynnild, M.N., Ellekjær, H., Salvedt, I., Tuñon, J., Mahillo, I., Aceña, A., Kaminski, K., Chlabicz, M., Sawicka, E., Tillman, T., McEvoy, J.W., Di Angelantonio, E., Graham, I., De Bacquer, D., Ray, K.K., Dorresteijn, J.A.N., and Visseren, F.L.J. (2022) Estimation of Recurrent Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Event Risk in Patients with Established Cardiovascular Disease: the Updated SMART2 Algorithm. European Heart Journal, 43(18), 1715-1727.
  5. Gunn, L.H., McKay, A.J., and Ray, K.K. (2022) Is SAFEHEART ‘Safe’ to Extend to Other Populations”? Assessment of SAFEHEART Risk Prediction Model External Validity Among an English Cohort of Routine Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Participants. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 79(9)S,1634.
  6. Korvink, M., Molina, G., Martin, J., Sullivant, H., and Gunn, L.H. (2022) A Novel Approach to Identification of Responsible Physicians Using Acute Inpatient Administrative Claims Data. American Journal of Managed Care, 28(7), e263-e270.
  7. Armbrister, A.J., Finke, A.M., Long, A.M., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2022) Turning Up the Volume to Address Biases in Predicted Healthcare-Associated Infections and Enhance U.S. Hospital Rankings: A Data-Driven Approach. American Journal of Infection Control, 50(2), 166-175.
  8. Mishra, R., Verman, H., Aynala, V.B., Arredondo, P.R., Martin, J., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2022) Diagnostic Coding Intensity among a Pneumonia Inpatient Cohort Using a Risk-Adjustment Model and Claims Data: A U.S. Population-Based Study. Diagnostics, 12(6), 1495.
  9. Kniep, N., Achidi, T., Flynn, C., Gangur, J., Khot, M., Kueider, L., Mannadiar, S., Pokhrel, K., Raghuwanshi, R., Rajwani, A., Rotteck, A., Sharp, N., Shenoy, S., Stoney, M., Wang, H., Zhang, Q., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2022) County-Level Sociodemographic Factors Associated with COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality in North and South Carolina. North Carolina Medical Journal, 83(5), 48-56. 
  10. Buckman, M., Grant, A., Henson, R., Ribeiro, J., Roth, K., Stranton, D., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2022). A Review of Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Acute Myocardial Infarction-Related Mortality and Hospital Readmissions. Hospital Practice, 50(1), 1-8.
  11. Rios, N.G., Oldiges, P.E., Lizano, M.S., Daucet-Wadford, D.S., Quick, D.L., Martin, J., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2022) Modeling Coding Intensity of Procedures in a U.S. Population-Based Hip/Knee Arthroplasty Inpatient Cohort Adjusting for Patient- and Facility-Level Characteristics. Healthcare, 10(8), 1368.
  12. Restrepo, S., ter Horst, E., Zambrano, J.D., Gunn, L.H., Molina, G., and Salazar, C.A. (2022) Hierarchical Bayesian Classification Methods to Identify Topics by Journal Quartile with Application in Biological Sciences. Education for Information, 38(1), 93-112.
  13. Lunn, Y., Patel, R., Sokphat, T.S., Bourn, L., Fields, K., Fitzgerald, A., Sundaresan, V., Thomas, G., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2022) Assessing Hospital Resource Utilization with Application to Imaging for Patients Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. Healthcare, 10(2), 248.
  14. Gunn, L.H., Ghosh, S., ter Horst, E., Markossian, T., and Molina, G. (2022) Respecting Opposing Viewpoints through Debate and Discussion of Controversial Public Health Issues: A Double-Blinded Active Learning Design. College Teaching, 70(2), 186-195. 
  15. Shaw, G., Castro, B., Gunn, L.H., Norris, K., and Thorpe, T. (2022). mHealth App Use and Obesity: A Covariate Analysis of Significant Demographic Characteristics. Obesity, 30, S1(309), 178.

2021:

  1. Gunn, L.H., McKay, A.J., Molokhia, M., Valabhji, J., Molina, G., Majeed, A., and Vamos, E.P. (2021) Associations between Attainment of Incentivised Primary Care Indicators and Emergency Hospital Admissions among Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A Population-Based Historical Cohort Study. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 114(6), 299-312.
  2. Pescheny, J.V., Gunn, L.H., Pappas, Y., and Randhawa, G. (2021) The Impact of the Luton Social Prescribing Programme on Mental Well-Being: A Quantitative Before-and-After Study. Journal of Public Health, 43(1), e69-e76.
  3. Gunn, L.H., Vamos, E.P., Majeed, A., Normahani, P., Jaffer, U., Molina, G., Valabhji, A., and McKay, A.J. (2021) Associations between Attainment of Incentivised Primary Care Diabetes Indicators and Incident Lower Limb Amputation for those with Type 2 Diabetes: A Population-Based Historical Cohort Study. BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care, 9(1), e002069.
  4. Kurian, N., Maid, J., Mitra, S., Rhyne, L., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2021) Predicting Hospital Overall Quality Star Ratings in the USA. Healthcare, 9(4), 486.
  5. McKay, A.J., Gunn, L.H., Thirunavukkarasu, S., Vamos, E.P., Nugawela, M., Majeed, A., Molina, G., and Sivaprasad, S. (2021) Associations between Attainment of Incentivised Primary Care Indicators and Incident Diabetic Retinopathy in England: A Population-Based Historical Cohort Study. BMC Medicine, 19(1), 93.
  6. Cook, K., Foster, B., Perry, I., Hoke, C., Smith, D., Peterson, L., Martin, J., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2021) Associations between Hospital Quality Outcomes and Medicare Spending per Beneficiary in the USA. Healthcare, 9(7), 831.
  7. McKay, A.J., Gunn, L.H., Vamos, E.P., Valabhji, J., Molina, G.,  Molokhia, M., and Majeed, A. (2021) Associations between Attainment of Incentivised Primary Care Diabetes Indicators and Mortality in an English Cohort. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 174(Apr 2021), 108746.
  8. Vlaev, I., Taylor, M.J., Taylor, D., Gately, P., Gunn, L.H., Abeles, A., Kerkadi, A., Lothian, J., Jreige, S.K., Alsaadi, A., Al-Kuwari, M.G., Gholoum, S., Al-Kuwari, H., Darzi, A., and Ahmedna, M. (2021) Testing a Multicomponent Lifestyle Intervention for Combating Childhood Obesity. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 824.
  9. Cramer, R.J., Gunn, L.H., Kaniuka, A.R., and Rasmussen, S. (2021). Making the Case for a Preferences in Information Processing Model of Suicide. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 40(4), 359-380.
  10. McKay, A.J., Gunn, L.H., Nugawela, M., Thirunavukkarasu, S., Majeed, A., Vamos, E.P., Molina, G., and Sivaprasad, S. (2021) Associations between Attainment of Incentivised Primary Care Indicators and Incident Sight-Threatening Diabetic Retinopathy in England: A Population-Based Historical Cohort Study. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 23(6), 1322-1330.
  11. Cortes, M.C., Gonzalez, L.V., Gunn, L.H., ter Horst, E., Molina, G., Restrepo, S., and Zambrano, J.D. (2021) Assessment of Research Topic Prevalence by Journal Impact Quartile in Oral Health Sciences using Bayesian Methods. Sage Open, 11(3), 1-8.
  12. Ray, K.K., Gunn, L.H., McKay, A., Feng, A., Louie, M., and Ballantyne, C. (2021) Estimated Cardiovascular Benefits of Bempedoic Acid in Patients with Established Cardiovascular Disease. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 77(18) S1, 1460.
  13. Daley, S., Kajendrakumar, B., Nandhakumar, S., Personett, C., Sholes, M., Thapa, S., Xue, C., Korvink, M., and Gunn, L.H. (2021) County-level Socioeconomic Status Adjustment of Acute Myocardial Infarction Mortality Hospital Performance Measure in the U.S. Healthcare, 9(11), 1424.

2020:

  1. Bowling, J., Barker, J., Gunn, L.H., and Lace, T. (2020) “It Just Feels Right”: Perceptions of the Effects of Community Connectedness among Trans Individuals. PLoS One, 15(10): e0240295.
  2. Kanchanachitra, M., Chamchan, C., Kanchanachitra, C., Suttikasem, K., Gunn, L.H., and Vlaev, I. (2020). Nudge Interventions to Reduce Fish Sauce Consumption in Thailand. PLoS One, 15(9): e0238642.
  3. Kennedy, A.B., Riyad, C.N.Y., Gunn, L.H., Brown, A.G., Dunlap, K.B., Knutsen, M.E., and Dahl, A.A. (2020). More Than Their Test Scores: Redefining Success with Multiple Mini-Interviews. Medical Science Educator. 30, 1049-1060.
  4. Jaffe, K., ter Horst, E., Gunn, L.H., Zambrano, J.D., and Molina, G. (2020).  A Network Analysis of Research Productivity by Country, Discipline, and Wealth. PLoS One, 15(5): e0232458.
  5. Reinoso-Carvalho, F., Gunn, L.H., Molina, G., Narumi, T., Spence, C., Suzuki, Y., ter Horst, E., and Wagemans, J. (2020). A Sprinkle of Emotions vs a Pinch of Crossmodality: Towards Globally Meaningful Sonic Seasoning Strategies for Enhanced Multisensory Tasting Experiences. Journal of Business Research. 117, 389-399.
  6. Gunn, L.H., ter Horst, E., Markossian, T., and Molina, G. (2020). Associations between Majors of Graduating Seniors and Average SATs of Incoming Students within Higher Education in the U.S. Heliyon, 6:e03956.
  7. Reinoso-Carvalho, F., Gunn, L.H., Horst, E., Spence, C. (2020). Blending Emotions and Cross-Modality in Sonic Seasoning: Towards Greater Applicability in the Design of Multisensory Food Experiences. Foods, 9(1876).