Yan Wang, MD, DrPH, is an associate professor at the Department of Prevention and Community Health at the George Washington University (GWU) Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Her research centers on two primary areas. The first focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of risky health behaviors and associated health outcomes, including substance use—particularly tobacco smoking—obesity, risky sexual behaviors, unintentional injuries, mental health disorders, and medical conditions such as HIV infection. The second area emphasizes the application of advanced statistical methodologies and causal inference techniques in public health research. She has extensive experience with multilevel modeling (MLM), Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE), survival analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM), including mediation analysis, cross-lagged panel models, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, latent class analysis, latent growth modeling, and dyadic analysis. She also specializes in causal inference methods for evaluating intervention effects in both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental designs. Her expertise includes cluster RCTs, propensity score analysis (PSA), complier average causal effect (CACE), interrupted time series (ITS) designs, and difference-in-differences (DID) analyses. Additionally, her research has addressed various aspects of health disparities.
She is a Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI) on an NIH-funded R21 project examining tobacco use trajectories in nationally representative samples of adults and youth, separately. Additionally, she served as the Principal Investigator (PI) on two NIH-funded R03 projects. She has also contributed as a Site PI or Co-Investigator (Co-I) on numerous federally funded R01 or equivalent grants focused on substance use, obesity, firearm violence, and HIV-related research. Her scholarly work includes over 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Behavioral Health
Biostatistics
Children's Health
Chronic Disease
Community Health
Epidemiology
Health Disparities
Mental Health
Obesity
Prevention
Program Evaluation
Underserved Populations
Women's Health
Doctor of Public Health, Morgan State University, 2007
Instructor: The Application of Structural Equational Modeling (SEM) to Public Health Research
Co-instructor: Study Design and Evaluation Methods (PUBH 8416)
Instructor: Research Leadership (PUBH 8413)
Instructor: Independent Study (PUBH 8010)
Dr. Wang's research work has been concentrated on epidemiology and prevention intervention of risky health behaviors/problems, including tobacco smoking, risky health behaviors, overweight/obesity, HIV infection, unintentional injuries, and the prevention intervention. She has assessed the factors and consequences of these risky health behaviors/problems. She has also participated in the design and implementation of over 15 prevention intervention trials to prevent the risk behaviors. Her other focus is on the applied statistical methodology and causal inference. She is familiar with multi-level modeling, survival analysis, dyadic analysis, structural equation modeling including mediation analyses, factor analyses, latent class analyses, and other longitudinal structural equation modeling methods. She is also familiar with propensity score analysis (PSA), Complier Average Causal Effect (CACE) model, Difference in Difference (DID) analysis, and interrupted time series (ITS) analyses.
Selected out of over 130 peer-reviewed articles:
- Wang, Y., Cavazos-Rehg, P.A., Cui, Y., Speer, M., LoParco, C.R., McCready, D.M., Yang, Y.T., & Berg, C.J. (in press). The gateway effect of cigarette, e-cigarette, cigar, and alcohol use vs. cannabis use. Addictive Behaviors.
- Wang, Y., *Speer, M., Rossheim, M.E., Chen-Sankey, J., *LoParco, C.R., *Cui, Y., Romm, K.F., *Schubel, L., *Chakraborty, R., Cavazos-Rehg, P.A., & Berg, C.J. (In press). Exposure to cannabis in social networks and advertising in relation to cannabis-related perceptions, motives, and use behaviors among young adults in the US. Substance Use and Misuse.
- Wang, Y., Berg, C., Donastorg, Y., Perez, M., Gomez, H., Tahilin, S.K., Galai, N., Sibinga, E., Barrington, C., Kerrigan, D. (2024). Longitudinal analysis of the role of mindfulness on HIV stigma, depression, substance use and HIV outcomes among female sex workers living with HIV in the Dominican Republic. AIDS Care. 9:1-9. doi: 10.1080/09540121.2024.2437695.
- Wang, Y., Romm, K.F., Edberg, M., *LoParco, C.R., *Cui, Y., Bingenheimer, J., & Berg C.J. (2024). Two-part models identifying predictors of cigarette, e-cigarette, and cannabis use and change in use over time among young adults in the US. American Journal on Addictions. 33(5):559-568. doi: 10.1111/ajad.13569.
- Wang, Y., *LoParco, C.R., *Cui, Y., *Duan, Z., Levine, H., Bar-Zeev, Y., Abroms, L.C., *Khayat, A., & Berg, C.J. (2023a). Profiles of tobacco product use and related consumer characteristics in the US and Israel: A multiple-group latent class analysis. Global Public Health. 18(1):2267652. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2023.2267652
- Wang, Y., Karver, T., Berg, C., Barrington, C., Donastorg, Y., Perez, M., Gomez, H., Davis, W, Galai , N, Kerrigan, D. (2023b) Substance use and depression impede ART adherence among female sex workers living with HIV in the Dominican Republic. AIDS and Behavior. 27(7):2079-2088. DOI: 10.1007/s10461-022-03940-x. PMID: 36477652.
- Wang, Y., Duan, Z., Romm, K.F., Ma, Y., Evans, W.D., Bennett, B., Klinkhammer, K.E., Wysota, C.N., & Berg, C.J. (2022). Bidirectional associations between depressive symptoms and cigarette, e-cigarette, cannabis, and alcohol use: Cross-lagged panel analyses among young adults before and during COVID-19. Addictive Behaviors.134: 107422.
- Wang Y, Zhu E, Hager ER, Black MM (2022). Maternal depressive symptoms, attendance of sessions and reduction of home safety problems in a randomized toddler safety promotion intervention trial: A latent class analysis. PLoS ONE 17(1): e0261934. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261934. PMID: 35045101; PMCID: PMC8769292.
- Wang, Y., Karver S., T., Barrington, C., Donastorg, Y., Perez, M., Gomez, H., Davis, W., Galai, N., Kerrigan, D. (2022). Structural and psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV care and treatment outcomes among female sex workers in the Dominican Republic. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 89(5):481-488.
Wang, Y., Gielen, A., Magder, L.S., Hager, E., Black, M.M. (2018). A Randomized Safety Promotion Intervention Trial among Low-income Families with Toddlers. Injury Prevention. 24(1): 41-47.
For a complete list of publications, click here.