Featured Research Projects
Albany Infant and Mother Study (AIMS)
The Albany Infant and Mother Study (AIMS) is a prospective cohort study of pregnant women and their babies born at Albany Medical Center. Led by Principal Investigator Allison Appleton, this study is examining how prenatal psychosocial factors and aspects of the physical environment may jointly influence the growth, health, and development of children. The AIMS team is also examining the biologic and epigenetic mechanisms that may link psychosocial adversity and exposure to environmental toxicants during pregnancy with infant health and child development. To date, 300 mother and infant pairs have enrolled in the study, and follow-up with families is ongoing. The study population is largely socially disadvantaged and racially/ethnically diverse. The AIMS research team is interdisciplinary, blending theory and methods from epidemiology, obstetrics, psychology, anthropology, environmental health sciences, and molecular biology to improve the health and well-being for mothers and children and reduce health disparities.
Coalition for Applied Modeling and Prevention (CAMP)
CAMP, which has been based at the College of Integrated Health Sciences since 2019, develops epidemiological and economic models to predict the answers to important public health questions in the areas of HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and adolescent health. CAMP received nearly $3 million in supplemental funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to scale up its mathematical modeling work.
Childhood Adversity and Depression
Children who face adversity are at a significantly greater risk for severe depression, research out of the College of Integrated Health Sciences finds. Published in Depression and Anxiety, the official journal of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, assistant professors Melissa Tracy, Allison Appleton and Tomoko Udo explain that more than half of adults report one or more adverse childhood events, such as parental mental health problems or financial hardship. The results of their study showed that the children in groups with higher levels of adversity had a higher risk of depression — and severity of depression — regardless of when the adversity took place.
Predicting and Preventing Violence
An interdisciplinary UAlbany team has received almost a half million dollars from the National Institutes of Health for a comprehensive study on violence, and the project is among the small number nationwide to receive a perfect score from the Institute. Led by principal investigator Melissa Tracy, an associate professor of epidemiology, the team will study the processes that contribute to violence within social networks and test strategies that could potentially prevent it.
UPSIDE Study
The College of Integrated Health Sciences is conducting the UPSIDE study, which is funded by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and aims to better understand Hepatitis C (HCV) and related issues among persons who inject drugs (PWID) in Upstate New York. Because HCV is most commonly transmitted by injection drug, a behavior which has been increasing as part of the drug epidemic in the U.S. and New York, the spread of HCV has been increasing. Although PWID are the priority group to understand ongoing spread of HCV, few research studies have been conducted on this population in upstate New York.
Principal investigators Tomoko Udo and Eli Rosenberg are leading the UPSIDE study, in partnership with syringe exchange programs run by Catholic Charities Care Coordination Services in the Capital Region, the Alliance for Positive Health in Plattsburgh, and the Southern Tier AIDS Program in Norwich.
International Collaborations
The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics has international partners in China, Romania, Pakistan, and Japan. Leveraging partnerships with Sun Yat-sen and the Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute in Guangzhou, China, the Department has also created research placement/internship opportunities for graduate students to work on joint research projects. These placements have resulted in more than two dozen joint publications for our students. The Department has also provided summer training programs for clinical researchers, 10-week programs for visiting scholars, technical support to develop a new graduate-level epidemiology course at Kazakh National Medical University, and epidemiologic training programs for students from China.
