Christa L Lilly

Christa L Lilly, PhD, is Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the West Virginia University School of Public Health. A psychometrician and applied biostatistician, she also holds prior affiliation with the WVU School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, where she served as Research Assistant Professor and lead biostatistician for the landmark CARDIAC Project.

Education:

• PhD, Psychology (Developmental & Quantitative), Vanderbilt University, 2008
• MS, Vanderbilt University, 2005
• BS, Vanderbilt University, 2003

Research Interests:
Dr. Lilly’s methodological work advances psychometrics, structural equation modeling, and applied linear modeling. Substantively, she focuses on maternal and child health, pediatric obesity, cardiovascular risk surveillance in rural Appalachia, and substance-use epidemiology during pregnancy. Her scholarship integrates advanced statistical techniques with large-scale population data to inform evidence-based interventions in underserved, rural populations.

Publication Impact:
Across 155 peer-reviewed publications, her recent work (2020-2025) reveals concentrated themes in perinatal substance-use outcomes, global cardiometabolic risk trends, and methodological innovations for handling complex survey and cohort data. These contributions have appeared in leading journals such as The Lancet, Nature, Journal of Pediatrics, and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Scientific Awards:

• Chancellor’s Academic Scholar Award, WVU Health Sciences Center (2022)
• WVU School of Public Health Faculty Council Teaching & Mentoring Award (2018)
• WVU Office of Research & Graduate Education Outstanding Mentor Award, Honorable Mention (2016)

Teaching & Mentorship:
Dr. Lilly teaches introductory and multivariate biostatistics to graduate students and serves as primary mentor for doctoral trainees in public health and quantitative psychology. Her record of mentorship has been formally recognized with university-wide honors, reflecting her commitment to developing the next generation of quantitative health scientists.

Research Programs & Collaboration:
She continues to co-lead data analytics for the CARDIAC Project, a school-based cardiovascular risk surveillance program spanning two decades across rural West Virginia. She also collaborates on the Project WATCH and Drug-Free Moms and Babies initiatives, leveraging state-wide perinatal data to evaluate interventions targeting neonatal abstinence syndrome and maternal substance-use disorders.