Melanie Wall, PhD
- Professor of Biostatistics (in Psychiatry)
On the web
Overview
Dr. Wall has worked extensively with modeling complex multilevel and multimodal data on a wide array of psychosocial public health and psychiatric research questions in both clinical studies and large epidemiologic studies. She is an expert in longitudinal data analysis and latent variable modeling, including structural equation modeling focused on mediating and moderating (interaction) effects where she has made many methodological contributions. She has a long track record as a biostatistical mentor for Ph.D. students and NIH K awardees and regularly teaches graduate level courses in the Department of Biostatistics in the Mailman School of Public Health attended by clinical Masters students, Ph.D. students, post-docs, and psychiatry fellows. Her current research mission is improving the accessibility and application of state-of-the-art and reproducible statistical methods across different areas psychiatric research.
Academic Appointments
- Professor of Biostatistics (in Psychiatry)
Administrative Titles
- Area Leader, Department of Psychiatry - Mental Health Data Science
Gender
- Female
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- BS, 1993 Truman State University
- PhD, 1998 Iowa State University
Editorial Boards
Statistical Editor, Psychiatric Services
Honors & Awards
American Statistical Association Fellow
Research
My current research mission is improving the accessibility and application of state-of-the-art and reproducible statistical methods across different areas psychiatric research. For example, I am currently the Quantitative Unit Methods Core director of the OPAL NIMH funded center grant aimed at improving care for people with schizophrenia. The quantitative methods core aims to use flexible and data-adaptive statistical and machine learning methods to determine who will benefit most from each intervention by identifying (possibly high-dimensional) tailoring variables as well as develop statistical methods suitable for building optimal multistage treatment regimens for patients with schizophrenia. Another example is my leadership in the statistical analyses of national data monitoring the impact of drug policy change (i.e. medical and recreational marijuana laws, opioid prescribing practices, Affordable Care Act) on substance use disorder rates, mortality, and treatment.
Research Interests
- Biostatistics
Selected Publications
- Blanco C, Wall M, Olfson M. Psychological aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(9): 2757-2759. 2020.
- van der Ven, E., Scodes, J., Basaraba, C., Pauselli, L., Mascayano, F., Nossel, I., Bello, I., Humensky, J., Susser, E., Wall, M., Dixon, L. Trajectories of Occupational and Social Functioning in People with Recent-Onset Non-Affective Psychosis enrolled in Specialized Early Intervention Services across New York State. Schizophrenia Research, 222, 218-226. 2020.
- Hasin D, Shmulewitz D, Cerda M, Keyes K, Olfson M, Sarvet A, Wall M. US adults with pain, a group increasingly vulnerable to nonmedical cannabis use and cannabis use disorder: 2001-2002 and 2012-2013. American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(7), 611-618. 2020.
- Pinto, R. M., Kay, E. S., Choi, C. J., Wall, M. Interprofessional collaboration improves linkages to primary care: A longitudinal analysis. AIDS Care. 32(8):970-978. 2020.
- Raffo C, Hasin D, Appelbaum P, Wall M. A data-driven method for identifying shorter symptom criteria sets: The case for DSM-5 alcohol use disorder. Psychological Medicine, 49(6): 931-939. 2019.
- Sarvet A, Wall M, Fink D, Greene E, Le A, Boustead A, Pacula R, Keyes K, Cerda M, Galea S, Hasin D. Medical marijuana laws and adolescent marijuana use in the United States: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Addiction. 113(6): 1003-1016. 2018.
- Wall MM, Hu M, Griesler P, Cheslack-Postave K, Feng T, Kandel D. Nonmedical Prescription Opioids and Pathways of Drug Involvement in the US: Generational Differences. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 182, 103-111. 2018.
- Nossel I, Wall MM, Scodes J, Marino L, Zikha S, Bello I, Malinovsky I, Lee R, Radigan M, Smith T, Sederer L, Gu G, Dixon L. Results of a coordinated specialty care program for early psychosis and predictors of outcomes. Epub ahead of print in Psychiatric Services, 2018.
- Olfson M, Wall M, Liu S, Wang S, Crystal S, Blanco C. Risks of fatal opioid overdose during the first year following nonfatal overdose. Epub ahead of print in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2018.
- Raffo C, Hasin D, Appelbaum P, Wall M. A data-driven method for identifying shorter symptom criteria sets: The case for DSM-5 alcohol use disorder. Epub ahead of print in Psychological Medicine, 2018
For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov