Kesheng Wang, PhD

Associate Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Nursing

Department:

Family / Community Health Department

Classification:

Faculty

• PhD, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, 2001
• MA, China Agricultural University, 1992
• BS, Henan Normal University, 1989

Wang, K., DiChiacchio, T., Fang, W., Lander, L. R., Feinberg, J., Xie, C., … Piamjariyakul, U. (2022) Longitudinal study of impact of medication for opioid use disorder on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. (Vol. 297, pp. 148–155). Journal of affective disorders.

Wang, K., Xu, C., Smith, A., Xiao, D., Navia, R. O., Lu, Y., … Piamjariyakul, U. (2021) Genome-wide association study identified INSC gene associated with Trail Making Test Part A and Alzheimer’s disease related cognitive phenotypes. (Vol. 111, p. 110393). Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry.

Piamjariyakul, U., Shapiro, A. L., Wang, K., Zulfikar, R., Petitte, T. M., Shafique, S., & Smith, C. E. (2021) Impact of Sleep Apnea, Daytime Sleepiness, Comorbidities, and Depression on Patients’ Heart Failure Health Status. (Vol. 30, pp. 1222–1230). Clinical nursing research.

Antill Keener, T. L., Wang, K., Hall, K. M., Hulsey, T. M., & Piamjariyakul, U. (2021) Mediating Role of Resilience on Nursing Faculty and Student QoL during COVID-19. (1939459211024646). Western journal of nursing research.

Keener, T. A., Hall, K. M., Wang, K., Hulsey, T. M., & Piamjariyakul, U. (2021) Relationship of Quality of Life, Resilience, and Associated Factors Among Nursing Faculty During COVID-19. (Vol. 46, pp. 17–22). Nurse educator.

• WVU Provost's Research Most Valuable Faculty Players Award - (April, 2021)

Dr. Kesheng Wang is an Associate Professor in Biostatistics at the School of Nursing. Before joining WVU, Dr. Wang was an Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, East Tennessee State University. Dr. Wang has developed/applied advanced statistical methods including linear and non-linear mixed effect models, longitudinal data analysis, survival models, multivariate data analysis (such as principal component regression and structural equation modeling), meta-analysis, and Bayesian methods. Dr. Wang has considerable expertise in using R packages, SAS, SAS callable SUDAAN, and SPSS in the analyses of large datasets in clinical trials, national surveys, and genetic studies. Furthermore, Dr. Wang has been involved in funded research grants in epidemiological and genetic studies of alcohol dependence and drug abuse, Alzheimer disease, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, HCV and HIV, and schizophrenia. Since 2005, Dr. Wang has published over 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers; while he has served as an editorial member for several journals in biometrics/biostatistics, epidemiology and public health, medical genetics/genomics, and statistical genetics. Dr. Wang earned his B.S. in Biology. Through graduate studies (a M.A. and a Ph.D.) he obtained advanced training in Biostatistics, Population and Quantitative Genetics. Especially, Dr. Wang received 5 years postdoctoral training in Biostatistics (including Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics) at the Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, Canada.

Teaching interests: Health Research Statistics I and II, Mixed Models in Clinical Trials and Survey Data, Multivariate Analysis, and Survival Models

Research Interests: (1) Biostatistics and Statistical Application: Linear and generalized linear mixed models; longitudinal data analysis; survival models; non-parametric statistical methods; data mining and machine learning (cluster analysis, principal component analysis, latent class analysis, structural equation modeling, feature selection and SVM); multi-level analysis; Bayesian method; Big Data analysis and health Informatics; biostatistics in clinical trials, EHR, large survey, and healthcare data. (2) Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Social-Behavioral Epidemiology: Cancer screening and prevention; diabetes and metabolic syndrome; epidemiology of alcohol and substance use; mental health (Alzheimer disease, anxiety, depression, and psychological distress); health behaviors. (3) Bioinformatics and Genetic Epidemiology/Statistical Genetics: Statistical methods in genetic and epigenetic studies of complex diseases including alcohol and drug use disorders, Alzheimer disease, cancer, diabetes, schizophrenia, HCV and HIV; analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS), and next-generation sequencing (NGS) data; microbiome x environment interaction; meta-analysis; pharmacogenomics; statistical methods in animal models of complex disease.


Current Research Topics: (1)Data mining and multivariate analysis of health behaviors, health care, beliefs about cancer, and mental health on the use of cancer screening. (2) Mixed model and longitudinal study in drug abuse treatment outcomes in NIDA multi-center clinical trial network (CTN) data. (3) Early alcohol and drug use with adult mental health conditions (anxiety, depression, psychological distress, and sleep disorders etc.) and substance use disorders. (4) Health disparities in early smoking, alcohol and drug use with adolescent and adult asthma, COPD, obesity, diabetes, heart conditions, and hypertension. (5) Genetic and epigenetic and pathway analyses of risk and age at onset of Alzheimer disease, diabetes, and schizophrenia. (6) Integrative analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS), DNA methylation, and RNA expression data in complex diseases.

• Reducing Stress and Improving Resilience and Self-Compassion of Nursing Students During a Pandemic - West Virginia University Faculty Research and Scholarship Advancement - 2021 - 2022
• Genome-wide association study of cerebrospinal fluid inflammation biomarkers in Alzheimer disease - V914 Skaggs Family Dean's Special Projects - 2020 - 2021
• Home Care Needs of Caregivers and Patients with Heart Failure and Dementia in Rural Appalachia - NIH R15 - 2020 - 2021
• Mechanisms of Alzheimer Disease from the Connection Point of View - Virginia Pyne Kaneb Faculty Scholars Program Grant - 2020 - 2021
• Coaching End-of-Life Palliative Care (EOLPC) for End-Stage Heart Failure Patients and Their Family Caregivers in Rural Appalachia - NIH/NIGMS/NINR R15 - 2019 - 2022