Faculty and Staff Profile

Kerry Howard

Educational Background

Ph.D. Applied Health Research and Evaluation
Clemson University 2022

M.S. Experimental Psychology - Cognitive Neuroscience
Seton Hall University 2018

M.S. Applied Health Research and Evaluation
Clemson University 2020

B.A. Psychology
Stonehill College 2015

Profile

Dr. Kerry Howard is the Research Manager at the Center for Public Health Modeling and Response. She has performed research in the fields of health and psychology over the course of her career, accumulating extensive experience with research design, data maintenance and analysis, and scientific writing, as well as an understanding of how these areas can be applied to improve real-world outcomes and disseminate findings to the community.

Research Interests

Dr. Howard's research focuses on data-driven examinations of delivery of care through mobile health clinics, as well as methodology that impacts decision-making in the prevention and treatment of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s Disease, opioid use disorder, Hepatitis C, and community child safety. She currently serves as Co-Investigator, project manager, or data analyst on grants focused on improving health outcomes in areas with high disease burden for opioid use disorder, infectious diseases, or poor maternal and child health.

Research Publications

Selected Publications:

Dotherow, J. E., Byrne, K. A., Howard, K. A., Rennert, L., Litwin, A. H. (2025). Development, validity, and acceptability of the Peer Recovery Coach (PRC) Service Checklist for Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) support. Substance Use & Misuse. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2025.2508741.

Howard, K. A., Massimo, L. M., Witrick, B., Zhang, L., Griffin, S. F., Ross, L. A., & Rennert, L. (2025). Investigation of risk of Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis and survival based on variation to life experiences used to operationalize cognitive reserve. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. https://doi.org/10.1177/13872877251326818.

Howard, K. A., Anderson, W., Podichetty, J. T., Gould, R., Boyce, D., Dasher, P., Evans, L., Kao, C., Kumar, V., Hamilton, C., Mathé, E., Guerin, P., Dodd, K., Mehta, A., Ortman, C., Patil, N., Rhodes, J., Robinson, M., Stone, H., & Heavner, S. F. (2025). Wrangling real-world data: Optimizing clinical research through factor selection with LASSO regression. Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22040464.

Howard, K. A., Griffin, S. F., Rolke, L. J., Venable, J., Stuenkel, M., & Sease, K. K. (2025). Exploration of individual and context features of a bicycle skills program for riding injury prevention knowledge and self-efficacy among children. Journal of Transport & Health, 43.

Gezer, F., Howard, K. A., Litwin, A., Martin, N., & Rennert, L. (2024). Identification of factors associated with opioid-related and hepatitis C virus-related hospitalisations at the ZIP code area level in the USA: an ecological and modelling study. The Lancet Public Health.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00076-8.

Rennert, L.*, Howard, K. A.*, Kickham, C. M., Gezer, F., Coleman, A., Roth, P., & Litwin, A. H. (2023). Implementation of a mobile health clinic framework for Hepatitis C Virus screening and treatment. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2023.100648. * Denotes co-first author.

Howard, K. A., Massimo, L. M., Griffin, S. F., Gagnon, R. J., Zhang, L., & Rennert, L. (2023). Systematic examination of methodological inconsistency in operationalizing cognitive reserve and its impact on identifying predictors of late-life cognition. BMC Geriatrics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04263-9.

Howard, K. A., Griffin, S. F., Stuenkel, M., & Sease, K. K. (2023) Community features’ varying insight into emergency department use for different childhood injuries. Journal of Safety Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2023.05.011

Rennert, L., Howard, K. A., Walker, K. B., Furmanek, D. L., Blackhurst, D., Cancellaro, V. A., & Litwin, A. H. (2022). Evaluation of policies limiting opioid exposure on opioid prescribing and patient pain in opioid-naïve patients undergoing elective surgery in a large American health system. Journal of Patient Safety. https://doi.org/10.1097/PTS.0000000000001088.

Gormley, M. A., Akiyama, M. J., Rennert, L., Howard, K. A., Norton, B. L., Pericot-Valverde, I., Muench, S., Heo, M., Litwin, A. H. (2021). Changes in health-related quality of life for HCV-infected people who inject drugs on opioid agonist treatment following sustained virologic response. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab669.

Howard, K. A., Griffin, S. F., Rolke, L. J., & Sease, K. K. (2021). Factors related to youth self-efficacy for injury prevention bicycle skills. Journal of Safety Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2021.08.009.

Howard, K. A., Rennert, L., Pericot-Valverde, I., Heo, M., Norton, B. L., Akiyama, M. J., Agyemang, L., & Litwin, A. H. (2021). Utilizing patient perception of group treatment in exploring medication adherence, social support, and quality of life outcomes in people who inject drugs with Hepatitis C. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2021.108459.

Howard, K. A., & Hunter, A. S. (2019). The immediate and long-lasting cognitive consequences of adolescent chronic sleep restriction. Behavioral Neuroscience, 133. https://doi.org/10.1037/bne0000312.

Honors and Awards

2022 Student Poster of Distinction – American Academy of Health Behavior, Key Largo, FL
2018 Graduate Fellowship Award Recipient – Clemson University, Clemson, SC
2018 Highest Distinction Honors – Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ