Research

Bush Appointed Kate Spade & Co. Endowed Professor in the Center for Research on Violence Against Women

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 2, 2015) — Last week, the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees appointed Heather Bush as the inaugural Kate Spade & Company Foundation Endowed Professor in the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women (CRVAW). Bush is an associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics in the UK College of Public Health.

"We are very excited to have Dr. Bush as an endowed professor within the Center for Research on Violence Against Women," said Diane Follingstad, director and Women’s Circle Endowed Chair of CRVAW. "Her design and statistical expertise has already been instrumental for our faculty receiving federal funding. But, beyond that, she is a biostatistician with vision, in that she brings new and distinctly different angles to our conceptualization of research questions, which is highly valued by all of us at the center."

Bush teaches courses at the undergraduate, professional, and graduate levels that focus on statistical consulting and introductory applications of biostatistics. Her work on outcomes research has an emphasis on injury and violence, especially as it applies to women's health and student populations.

"As a biostatistician, I have many opportunities to engage with researchers across campus to improve study design, data collection and management, and the application of analytical methods," said Bush. "However, the Kate Spade & Company Endowed Professorship  provides me the special opportunity to focus my expertise in the area of violence control, in particular in the prevention of violence against women in young adults."

Prior to her academic appointment in 2006, Bush worked as a senior biostatistician in industry and was responsible for the design and analysis of Phase IV studies, observational studies, health registries, and large simple safety studies. Building on these experiences, she has helped to transform the statistical support provided to investigators at UK through her leadership roles with the Clinical Translational Science Center BERD, the Applied Statistics Lab (co-founder), and DATAQUeST (co-founder). She has also served as the lead biostatistician of the Kentucky Women's Health Registry since 2007, and currently leads this work with Ann Coker, professor of epidemiology in the UK College of Public Health and Verizon Wireless Endowed Chair at CRVAW. Most recently, Bush and the DATAQUeST team provided the statistical support for C.A.T.S (Campus Attitudes Toward Safety), the annual longitudinal assessment of student perceptions and experiences that impact campus safety at UK.

"Building on what we have learned from our current research, assessing and evaluating violence prevention programs on high school and college campuses, I am excited about the opportunities for improvement in measurement and novel applications of statistical methodology in data capture and analysis that will specifically target the unique experiences of students," said Bush.

Bush is a past recipient of the Provost's Award for Outstanding Teaching, the College of Public Health's Golden Apple Award, and the Dean's Outstanding Teaching Performance Award. She joins CRVAW with Follingstad, Coker and Claire Renzetti, the Judy Conway Patton Endowed Chair, as well as Charles Carlson, the Robert H. and Anna B. Culton Endowed Professor.

As an academic area of study, the crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and their attendant risks present complex challenges. The Center for Research on Violence Against Women brings together cross-disciplinary faculty, staff and students to conduct and disseminate research to improve the quality of life of those affected by such forms of violence, with the ultimate goal of preventing it.

The Kate Spade & Company Foundation aims to empower women to transform their communities.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jenny Wells, 859-257-5343; jenny.wells@uky.edu