David M. Kline

David M. Kline is an Associate Professor and Interim Vice Chair in the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science within the Division of Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He holds secondary faculty appointments in the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention and is an Affiliate Faculty member in the Department of Statistical Sciences. Additionally, he is a Full Member of the Center for Addiction Research and the Maya Angelou Research Center for Healthy Communities, and co-leads the Spatial and Environmental Statistics in Health (SESH) Lab.

Dr. Kline earned his BA in Mathematics from Messiah College in 2010, followed by an MS in Statistics from The Ohio State University in 2012, and completed his PhD in Biostatistics from The Ohio State University in 2015. Prior to joining Wake Forest in 2021, he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and was a member of the Center for Biostatistics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

His research focuses on developing advanced biostatistical methodologies to address challenges in public health surveillance, with particular emphasis on multivariate Bayesian hierarchical models for spatio-temporal disease mapping. Dr. Kline specializes in leveraging multiple data sources to tackle complex public health problems, most notably the opioid epidemic. His methodological expertise includes small area estimation, spatio-temporal methods, multivariate modeling, and Bayesian statistics. He actively collaborates with subject matter experts across various health disciplines to apply these methods to pressing scientific questions.

Dr. Kline's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on opioid misuse estimation, spatio-temporal modeling of disease patterns, and public health surveillance methods. His work spans multiple domains including infectious disease tracking, substance use disorders, and healthcare access analysis. The publications reveal a consistent application of sophisticated statistical techniques to address real-world public health challenges with spatial and temporal dimensions.

• 2024 Emerging Leader Award, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• 2023 & 2022 Top 10 Research Paper, Wake Forest University School of Medicine Division of Public Health Sciences
• 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award, The Ohio State University Department of Biomedical Informatics
• 2015 CSP Best Student Poster Runner-up, American Statistical Association
• 2014 Lester R. Curtin Award, American Statistical Association

Dr. Kline serves as Principal Investigator on multiple NIH-funded research projects, including R21DA045236 and R01DA052214 focused on spatio-temporal methods for surveillance of the opioid syndemic. He mentors several trainees, including F31 and F30 recipients. His collaborative work spans numerous interdisciplinary projects addressing health disparities, infectious disease surveillance, and substance use disorders. Currently, he serves on the Editorial Board for the journal Epidemiology, reflecting his standing in the field.

As co-leader of the Spatial and Environmental Statistics in Health Lab, Dr. Kline directs research that bridges biostatistics, spatial analysis, and public health. His lab focuses on developing innovative methods for analyzing health data with spatial and temporal components, particularly for problems involving small area estimation and multi-source data integration. This work has significant implications for public health policy and practice, especially in addressing the opioid crisis and health disparities.