Maricela Cruz, PhD, strives to create useful and widely applicable methodology to tackle real-world problems in public health. Her research primarily focuses on developing novel statistical methods to assess and evaluate the impact of complex health care interventions. In her research, she uses statistical techniques for interrupted time series, time series, correlated data, change point detection, longitudinal data and interventions research.
Dr. Cruz received her PhD in statistics from the University of California Irvine. During her time there, she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship awardee and Eugene Cota-Robles fellow. She worked with care delivery experts and practitioners to design and conduct statistical analyses that assessed health care interventions across multiple hospitals and hospital units. She developed two novel interrupted time series models that allow for complex correlation structures that can change post intervention and are adequate for single- and multi-unit continuous data. To communicate and encourage access to her methods by non-statisticians in the broader public health community, Dr. Cruz produced an application in R Shiny that analyzes interrupted time series data. As a graduate student, she was a summer associate at the RAND Corporation. While at RAND, she led a collaborative study examining the relationship between group cohesion and climate with alcohol use outcomes in a group therapy intervention for individuals with a first-time offense for driving under the influence.
At KPWHRI, Dr. Cruz works alongside researchers in behavioral health, mental health, and insurance design. She explores the relationship between weight change and diabetes measures and the built environment, aids in the development of suicide risk prediction algorithms, and evaluates interventions that encourage high-value use of health care services.
Cruz M, Ombao H, Gillen DL A generalized interrupted time series model for assessing complex health care interventions 2022 Dec;14(3):582-610. doi: 10.1007/s12561-022-09346-6. Epub 2022-05-25. PubMed
Cruz M, Drewnowski A, Bobb JF, Hurvitz PM, Vernez Moudon A, Cook A, Mooney SJ, Buszkiewicz JH, Lozano P, Rosenberg DE, Kapos F, Theis MK, Anau J, Arterburn D Differences in weight gain following residential relocation in the Moving to Health (M2H) Study 2022 Sep;33(5):747-755. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001505. Epub 2022-05-20. PubMed
Cruz M, Shortreed SM, Richards JE, Coley RY, Yarborough BJ, Walker RL, Johnson E, Ahmedani BK, Rossom R, Coleman KJ, Boggs JM, Beck AL, Simon GE Machine Learning Prediction of Suicide Risk Does Not Identify Patients Without Traditional Risk Factors 2022 Aug 31;83(5). doi: 10.4088/JCP.21m14178. Epub 2022-08-31. PubMed
Graham SE, Clarke SL, Wu KH, Kanoni S, Zajac GJM, Ramdas S, Surakka I, Ntalla I, Vedantam S, Winkler TW, Locke AE, Marouli E, Hwang MY, Han S, Narita A, Choudhury A, Bentley AR, Ekoru K, Verma A, Trivedi B, Martin HC, Hunt KA, Hui Q, Klarin D, Zhu X, Thorleifsson G, Helgadottir A, Gudbjartsson DF, Holm H, Olafsson I, Akiyama M, Sakaue S, Terao C, Kanai M, Zhou W, Brumpton BM, Rasheed H, Ruotsalainen SE, Havulinna AS, Veturi Y, Feng Q, Rosenthal EA, Lingren T, Pacheco JA, Pendergrass SA, Haessler J, Giulianini F, Bradford Y, Miller JE, Campbell A, Lin K, Millwood IY, Hindy G, Rasheed A, Faul JD, Zhao W, Weir DR, Turman C, Huang H, Graff M, Mahajan A, Brown MR, Zhang W, Yu K, Schmidt EM, Pandit A, Gustafsson S, Yin X, Luan J, Zhao JH, Matsuda F, Jang HM, Yoon K, Medina-Gomez C, Pitsillides A, Hottenga JJ, Willemsen G, Wood AR, Ji Y, Gao Z, Haworth S, Mitchell RE, Chai JF, Aadahl M, Yao J, Manichaikul A, Warren HR, Ramirez J, Bork-Jensen J, Kårhus LL, Goel A, Sabater-Lleal M, Noordam R, Sidore C, Fiorillo E, McDaid AF, Marques-Vidal P, Wielscher M, Trompet S, Sattar N, Møllehave LT, Thuesen BH, Munz M, Zeng L, Huang J, Yang B, Poveda A, Kurbasic A, Lamina C, Forer L, Scholz M, Galesloot TE, Bradfield JP, Daw EW, Zmuda JM, Mitchell JS, Fuchsberger C, Christensen H, Brody JA, Feitosa MF, Wojczynski MK, Preuss M, Mangino M, Christofidou P, Verweij N, Benjamins JW, Engmann J, Kember RL, Slieker RC, Lo KS, Zilhao NR, Le P, Kleber ME, Delgado GE, Huo S, Ikeda DD, Iha H, Yang J, Liu J, Leonard HL, Marten J, Schmidt B, Arendt M, Smyth LJ, Cañadas-Garre M, Wang C, Nakatochi M, Wong A, Hutri-Kähönen N, Sim X, Xia R, Huerta-Chagoya A, Fernandez-Lopez JC, Lyssenko V, Ahmed M, Jackson AU, Irvin MR, Oldmeadow C, Kim HN, Ryu S, Timmers PRHJ, Arbeeva L, Dorajoo R, Lange LA, Chai X, Prasad G, Lorés-Motta L, Pauper M, Long J, Li X, Theusch E, Takeuchi F, Spracklen CN, Loukola A, Bollepalli S, Warner SC, Wang YX, Wei WB, Nutile T, Ruggiero D, Sung YJ, Hung YJ, Chen S, Liu F, Yang J, Kentistou KA, Gorski M, Brumat M, Meidtner K, Bielak LF, Smith JA, Hebbar P, Farmaki AE, Hofer E, Lin M, Xue C, Zhang J, Concas MP, Vaccargiu S, van der Most PJ, Pitkänen N, Cade BE, Lee J, van der Laan SW, Chitrala KN, Weiss S, Zimmermann ME, Lee JY, Choi HS, Nethander M, Freitag-Wolf S, Southam L, Rayner NW, Wang CA, Lin SY, Wang JS, Couture C, Lyytikäinen LP, Nikus K, Cuellar-Partida G, Vestergaard H, Hildalgo B, Giannakopoulou O, Cai Q, Obura MO, van Setten J, Li X, Schwander K, Terzikhan N, Shin JH, Jackson RD, Reiner AP, Martin LW, Chen Z, Li L, Highland HM, Young KL, Kawaguchi T, Thiery J, Bis JC, Nadkarni GN, Launer LJ, Li H, Nalls MA, Raitakari OT, Ichihara S, Wild SH, Nelson CP, Campbell H, Jäger S, Nabika T, Al-Mulla F, Niinikoski H, Braund PS, Kolcic I, Kovacs P, Giardoglou T, Katsuya T, Bhatti KF, de Kleijn D, de Borst GJ, Kim EK, Adams HHH, Ikram MA, Zhu X, Asselbergs FW, Kraaijeveld AO, Beulens JWJ, Shu XO, Rallidis LS, Pedersen O, Hansen T, Mitchell P, Hewitt AW, Kähönen M, Pérusse L, Bouchard C, Tönjes A, Chen YI, Pennell CE, Mori TA, Lieb W, Franke A, Ohlsson C, Mellström D, Cho YS, Lee H, Yuan JM, Koh WP, Rhee SY, Woo JT, Heid IM, Stark KJ, Völzke H, Homuth G, Evans MK, Zonderman AB, Polasek O, Pasterkamp G, Hoefer IE, Redline S, Pahkala K, Oldehinkel AJ, Snieder H, Biino G, Schmidt R, Schmidt H, Chen YE, Bandinelli S, Dedoussis G, Thanaraj TA, Kardia SLR, Kato N, Schulze MB, Girotto G, Jung B, Böger CA, Joshi PK, Bennett DA, De Jager PL, Lu X, Mamakou V, Brown M, Caulfield MJ, Munroe PB, Guo X, Ciullo M, Jonas JB, Samani NJ, Kaprio J, Pajukanta P, Adair LS, Bechayda SA, de Silva HJ, Wickremasinghe AR, Krauss RM, Wu JY, Zheng W, den Hollander AI, Bharadwaj D, Correa A, Wilson JG, Lind L, Heng CK, Nelson AE, Golightly YM, Wilson JF, Penninx B, Kim HL, Attia J, Scott RJ, Rao DC, Arnett DK, Walker M, Koistinen HA, Chandak GR, Yajnik CS, Mercader JM, Tusié-Luna T, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Villalpando CG, Orozco L, Fornage M, Tai ES, van Dam RM, Lehtimäki T, Chaturvedi N, Yokota M, Liu J, Reilly DF, McKnight AJ, Kee F, Jöckel KH, McCarthy MI, Palmer CNA, Vitart V, Hayward C, Simonsick E, van Duijn CM, Lu F, Qu J, Hishigaki H, Lin X, März W, Parra EJ, Cruz M, Gudnason V, Tardif JC, Lettre G, 't Hart LM, Elders PJM, Damrauer SM, Kumari M, Kivimaki M, van der Harst P, Spector TD, Loos RJF, Province MA, Psaty BM, Brandslund I, Pramstaller PP, Christensen K, Ripatti S, Widén E, Hakonarson H, Grant SFA, Kiemeney LALM, de Graaf J, Loeffler M, Kronenberg F, Gu D, Erdmann J, Schunkert H, Franks PW, Linneberg A, Jukema JW, Khera AV, Männikkö M, Jarvelin MR, Kutalik Z, Cucca F, Mook-Kanamori DO, van Dijk KW, Watkins H, Strachan DP, Grarup N, Sever P, Poulter N, Rotter JI, Dantoft TM, Karpe F, Neville MJ, Timpson NJ, Cheng CY, Wong TY, Khor CC, Sabanayagam C, Peters A, Gieger C, Hattersley AT, Pedersen NL, Magnusson PKE, Boomsma DI, de Geus EJC, Cupples LA, van Meurs JBJ, Ghanbari M, Gordon-Larsen P, Huang W, Kim YJ, Tabara Y, Wareham NJ, Langenberg C, Zeggini E, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Ingelsson E, Abecasis G, Chambers JC, Kooner JS, de Vries PS, Morrison AC, North KE, Daviglus M, Kraft P, Martin NG, Whitfield JB, Abbas S, Saleheen D, Walters RG, Holmes MV, Black C, Smith BH, Justice AE, Baras A, Buring JE, Ridker PM, Chasman DI, Kooperberg C, Wei WQ, Jarvik GP, Namjou B, Hayes MG, Ritchie MD, Jousilahti P, Salomaa V, Hveem K, Åsvold BO, Kubo M, Kamatani Y, Okada Y, Murakami Y, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, Ho YL, Lynch JA, Rader DJ, Tsao PS, Chang KM, Cho K, O'Donnell CJ, Gaziano JM, Wilson P, Rotimi CN, Hazelhurst S, Ramsay M, Trembath RC, van Heel DA, Tamiya G, Yamamoto M, Kim BJ, Mohlke KL, Frayling TM, Hirschhorn JN, Kathiresan S, VA Million Veteran Program, Global Lipids Genetics Consortium*, Boehnke M, Natarajan P, Peloso GM, Brown CD, Morris AP, Assimes TL, Deloukas P, Sun YV, Willer CJ The power of genetic diversity in genome-wide association studies of lipids 2021 Dec;600(7890):675-679. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04064-3. Epub 2021-12-09. PubMed
Buszkiewicz JH, Bobb JF, Kapos F, Hurvitz PM, Arterburn D, Moudon AV, Cook A, Mooney SJ, Cruz M, Gupta S, Lozano P, Rosenberg DE, Theis MK, Anau J, Drewnowski A Differential associations of the built environment on weight gain by sex and race/ethnicity but not age 2021 Dec;45(12):2648-2656. doi: 10.1038/s41366-021-00937-9. Epub 2021-08-27. PubMed
Safety planning and risk screening improved outcomes for adult patients.
Study uses geographic data to track change over time.
JSM TV, Aug. 6, 2024