Daniel E. Adkins

Daniel E. Adkins is a Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Chair of the Graduate Program in Statistics at the University of Utah. He holds an adjunct appointment as an Associate Professor in Psychiatry. His interdisciplinary research focuses on quantitative methods applied to behavioral health and psychiatric genetics, integrating structural equation modeling, genomics, and epidemiology. He earned a PhD in Sociology from the University of North Carolina (2009) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in statistical genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University. His work spans 85+ peer-reviewed articles across high-impact journals like Nature Neuroscience and Lancet Psychiatry. Key research areas include genetic risk for anxiety disorders, substance use comorbidity, and social determinants of health equity.

Adkins leads grants on topics such as mhealth interventions for spinal cord injury patients, stress impacts on maternal health, and contraceptive acceptability. Notable awards include the NIH K01 Award and Howard W. Odum Award for Excellence. His teaching includes advanced statistics courses at the PhD level. Recent work highlights genetic loci for anxiety (2024), racial disparities in AC access (2025), and postgraduate mentorship impacts (2025). Collaborations include the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and National Institute of Child Health.