Donna Coffman

Dr. Donna Coffman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina's McCausland College of Arts and Sciences. She specializes in quantitative methodology applied to behavioral health research, focusing on developing statistical methods for analyzing intensive longitudinal data from wearable devices and mobile health interventions. Her work emphasizes causal mediation analysis in contexts like smoking cessation, substance use disorder treatment, and physical activity promotion.

Dr. Coffman holds a PhD in Quantitative Psychology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Prior to her current role, she held academic positions at Temple University and Pennsylvania State University's Methodology Center. Her research bridges statistical innovation with real-world applications, particularly in designing adaptive health interventions.

Her research interests include:

• Developing mediation analysis techniques for time-varying data
• Improving causal inference methods in health behavior studies
• Optimizing wearable sensor data integration in clinical research
• Analyzing mHealth intervention efficacy

Recent work focuses on applications like sleep interventions for children's weight management, spinal cord injury recovery tracking via wearable sensors, and causal pathways in substance use policy impacts. She collaborates across disciplines to advance evidence-based prevention strategies through rigorous methodological frameworks.

Notable contributions include methodological toolkits for propensity score weighting and mediation analysis, published in journals like BMC Medical Research Methodology and Journal of Medical Internet Research. Her applied research has addressed topics ranging from e-cigarette use trends to environmental health disparities.