Matthew Gurka, Ph.D.
Professor And Director, Pediatrics Research Hub (PoRCH)
About Matthew Gurka
Dr. Gurka is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the department’s Vice Chair of Health Outcomes and Translational Research. He also directs the Pediatrics Research Hub (PoRCH). Prior to his tenure at UF, Dr. Gurka was the Founding Chair of the Department of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at West Virginia University, where he also led the Clinical Research Design, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics Program of the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI). Before his stay at WVU, Dr. Gurka was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia.
Dr. Gurka received a Ph.D. in biostatistics with an emphasis in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has experience in a wide range of applications of biostatistics to medical research, from the design and analysis of observational studies to the coordination and analysis of multi center longitudinal studies. His research areas in statistics include longitudinal data analyses, mixed models, model selection, power analysis, and cluster randomized trials. He has published articles in renowned statistical journals regarding complexities associated with the use of linear mixed models, and he served on the Editorial Panel of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A. Collaboratively, he focuses primarily on child health research and currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Pediatrics.
Accomplishments
Teaching Profile
Research Profile
Dr. Gurka has extensive collaborative and independent research experience in pediatrics. He has obtained funding from the NICHD to study the impact of chronic illnesses such as asthma on development and behavior in children and adolescents. Recently he has focused on childhood and adult obesity, specifically studying the metabolic syndrome. He has obtained NIH funding (NIDDK R21, NHLBI R01) to develop and validate tools to measure metabolic syndrome severity. Currently he is leading numerous maternal and child health studies at UF, including co-leading the Florida site of the recently funded HBCD study, a ten-year national cohort of pregnant women and their children to study brain development in early childhood.
0000-0002-3371-4582
- Biostatistics
- Longitudinal research design and data analysis
- Metabolic syndrome
- Pediatric research
Publications
Grants
Education
Contact Details
- Business:
- (352) 627-9323
- Business:
- matthewgurka@ufl.edu
- Business Mailing:
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PO Box 100177
GAINESVILLE FL 32610 - Business Street:
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2004 MOWRY RD RM 3211
GAINESVILLE FL 32610