COVID-19 Related Research

Specific Projects

Dr. Thomas supports UTHSC’s COVID-19 Observational Registry (Principal Investigator Dr. David Schwartz, UTHSC IRB 20-07287-XM) that contains SARS-CoV-2 test results from over 20,000 individuals together with demographics and self-reported symptoms based on the testing activities of the University Clinical Health (UCH). 

In addition, Dr. Thomas is the lead statistician on the Tennessee COVID-19 Community-engaged Research Coalition (TCCRC) funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) with UTHSC-Site Principal Investigators Drs. Altha Stewart and Jim Baily (Principal Investigator: Paul D. Juarez, PhD, Meharry Medical College). This study focuses on community interventions to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic among health disparity and vulnerable Populations across Tennessee and is part of a nationwide NIMHD initiative.

Novel Interactive Mapping

The staff of the Division of Biostatistics, led by Tristan Hayes, helped create novel web-based tools to map the virus’ impact, both at the state and national level. These maps were developed using R Shiny and Javascript and allowed anyone, anywhere to quickly zoom in on a particular area in the US and move forward and backwards in time to track the development of the pandemic. This tool works on any device from a lightweight smartphone to a desktop computer and scales instantly. Since developing these tools, staff and faculty have given a well-attended virtual presentations, both on Covid-19 data options in general and also on R Shiny. See below for a TN example.

Local Forecasting

Professor Fridtjof Thomas, PhD has worked closely with the City of Memphis/Shelby County Joint Task Force Data Subcommittee since April of 2020. While most data sources available on COID-19 are at the national or state level, Dr. Thomas' work focuses on hyper-local estimates of both the current level and future progression of the virus. In particular, his work focuses on interpreting this day and highlighting local disparities. For an up to date look at Dr. Thomas' work, see the Local Data page under UTHSC resources.