Overview
My research career into neurobiology and mental health spans two distinct phases. The first includes doctoral training at the University of New Mexico in psychology and neurobiology with a major area of emphasis in behavioral neurobiology and two minor areas of emphasis in learning and memory and statistics and experimental design. Doctoral training was subsequently supplemented with postdoctoral study in neuropharmacology at Duke University focusing on brain monoamine systems. For the five years subsequent, I continued exploring the mechanisms underlying receptor regulation of brain catecholamine systems within my laboratory at Columbia University. Following a hiatus, I refocused my research interests away from the laboratory and into statistics and experimental design. This included supplementing a minor area of emphasis in statistics acquired during my doctoral training with extensive course work in biometry through the Division of Biometry within the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Duke University. Using this background, I have continued to consult for the last two decades in the statistical design and analysis of a wide variety of research projects within the Division of Translational Neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as part of the Duke University School of Medicine; the numerous projects undertaken during this interval have included - but are not limited to - randomized clinical trials, epidemologic surveys, and a seemingly endless variety of quasi-experimental designs. More recently, I have expanded my duties to include a position as Statistician for the Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center with the Durham VA Medical Center.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Combat exposure, social support, and posttraumatic stress: a longitudinal test of the stress-buffering hypothesis among veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Journal Article Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol · October 2025 PURPOSE: While social support is widely viewed as a protective factor against posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), few studies have directly tested whether social support buffers the long-term effects of pre-existing PTSD symptoms or baseline combat expos ... Full text Link to item CiteSocioeconomic Correlates of Suicidal Ideation in Military Veterans: Examining the Interaction Between Homelessness and Financial Debt.
Journal Article Community Ment Health J · November 2024 Studies in veterans have yet to examine interconnections between homelessness, financial debt, and suicidal ideation. We analyzed data from a nationally-representative study conducted in 2021 of low-income U.S. veterans (N = 1,004). Analyses revealed veter ... Full text Link to item CiteBlack Americans With Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Demonstrate Accelerated Epigenetic Pace of Aging Compared to Black Americans Without SCD.
Journal Article J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci · November 1, 2024 BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic medical condition characterized by red blood cell sickling, vaso-occlusion, hemolytic anemia, and subsequently, end-organ damage and reduced survival. Because of this significant pathophysiology and early ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
IPA - Ryan Wagner
ResearchAssociate Research Professor · Awarded by Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center · 2021 - 2022IPA - Ryan Wagner
ResearchAssociate Research Professor · Awarded by Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center · 2021 - 2022IPA - Ryan Wagner
ResearchAssociate Research Professor · Awarded by Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center · 2019 - 2021View All Grants