Publications
40+ publications in major scientific journals
25+ as first or senior author
First-author publications in leading journals such as:
• JAMA
• Alzheimer's and Dementia
• Stroke
• Neurology
• Critical Care
• Diabetes Care
In this review article led by Neeharika Krothapalli, we argue that mobile stroke units may bring additional benefits to acute stroke care beyond speeding time to receipt of intravenous thrombolysis, such as improved detection of large vessel occlusions and intracerebral hemorrhage, streamlined transport and triage systems, and improved opportunities for pre-hospital research.
In this analysis of the nationwide HERO healthcare worker registry, we explore associations between the characteristics of employing healthcare facilities (e.g. for-profit status, academic status, and geographic location) and healthcare worker infection rates and psychosocial outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that for-profit ownership status was associated with higher COVID-19 infection rates, but lower rates of burnout, suggesting that hospital ownership characteristics may have more complex relationships with outcomes than previously thought.
In this editorial, Emily O’Brien and I argue that days alive and out of the hospital (DAOH) is a promising patient-centered outcome for acute stroke research, based on new research published by Donnelly et al. in the same edition. We discuss the potential benefits of DAOH for observational and interventional stroke research and highlight key challenges and opportunities for implementing patient centered outcomes in routinely collected healthcare data.
In my first senior author paper, we show that there are substantial racial disparities in the receipt of low-value care in the last year of life for Medicare beneficiaries with dementia. We uncover a disturbing pattern wherein Black Medicare beneficiaries are more likely to receive low-value interventions (such as the placement of feeding tubes or contraindicated cancer screenings) but are less likely to receive high-value interventions (such as medications to treat Parkinson’s disease or Dementia or occupational/physical therapy services) than White Medicare beneficiaries.
Ailin Song, Jay B Lusk, Kyung-Min Roh, S Tammy Hsu, Nita G Valikodath, Eleonora M Lad, Kelly W Muir, Matthew M Engelhard, Alexander T Limkakeng, Joseph A Izatt, Ryan P McNabb, Anthony N Kuo. Translational Vision Science and Technology.
In this clinical study for which I led clinical recruitment of patients, we demonstrate that the combination of robotics and deep learning can be used to detect referable posterior segment eye pathology in the emergency department, showing proof of concept for approaches to promote diagnostic accuracy and effective triage of patients with acute eye problems.
Sven Poli et al., International Journal of Stroke 19(1) 120-126
In this design paper, our international team lays out the rationale and design of a randomized trial of normobaric oxygen administration in patients with ischemic stroke and target mismatch profile.
Jay B Lusk, Lauren Wilson, Vinit Nalwade, Ailin Song, Matthew Schrag, Valerie Biousse, Fan Li, Sven Poli, Jonathan Piccini, Ying Xian, Emily O’Brien, Brian Mac Grory. PLOS One, 18(12) e0296251
In this paper, we describe the protocol for a population-based retrospective cohort study interrogating whether atrial fibrillation could be a novel risk factor for Central Retinal Artery Occlusion (CRAO, or retinal stroke).
Jay B Lusk, Molly N Hoffman, Amy G Clark, Hannah Mahoney, Beau Blass, Jonathan Bae, Deepshikha C Ashana, Christopher E Cox, Bradley G Hammill. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 20(10) 1416-1424.
We evaluate the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, healthcare access, characteristics of treating healthcare facilities, and outcomes (30-day mortality and unplanned readmission) for Medicare beneficiaries with pulmonary conditions. We find a strong, independent relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and both mortality and readmission.
Jay B Lusk, Sujung Choi, Amy G Clark, Kim Johnson, Cassie B Ford, Melissa A Greiner, Margarethe Goetz, Brystana G Kaufman, Richard O’Brien, Emily C O’Brien. BMC Neurology 23(1) 325.
In this methods paper, we evaluate the performance of dementia and Parkinson’s disease recorded in electronic health records (EHR) versus Medicare administrative claims data. We find that dementia and Parkinson’s disease diagnoses in structured EHR data are very specific but less sensitive compared to administrative claims.
Jay B Lusk, Beau Blass, Hannah Mahoney, Molly N Hoffman, Amy G Clark, Jonathan Bae, Deepshikha C Ashana, Christopher E Cox, Bradley G Hammill. Critical Care, 27(1) 287.
In this study, we find that neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with increased 30-day mortality after critical illness even after controlling for confounding factors such as baseline medical risk, access to healthcare, and characteristics of treating hospitals.
Jay B Lusk, Anna Covington, Li Liu, Daniel P Weikel, Yi‐Ju Li, Padmini Sekar, Stacie L Demel, Yasmin N Aziz, Chelsea S Kidwell, Daniel Woo, Michael L James. Journal of the American Heart Association 2023; 12:e028632
We apply the elastic net machine learning technique to understand the connection between hyperglycemia, ischemic lesions, and outcomes after intracerebral hemorrhage. We find that no measure of diabetes or hyperglycemia was associated with ischemic lesions after intracerebral hemorrhage, but that both medical history of diabetes mellitus and ischemic lesions were independently associated with worse functional outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage.
Jay B Lusk, Cassie Ford, Amy G Clark, Melissa A Greiner, Kim Johnson, Margarethe Goetz, Brystana G Kaufman, Sneha Mantri, Ying Xian, Richard O'Brien, Emily C O'Brien. Alzheimer's and Dementia. 2023. 19;6 pp 2376-2388.
In this paper, my medical school thesis, in a sample of Medicare beneficiaries from North and South Carolina, we demonstrate that there are substantial disparities in healthcare utilization outcomes for patients with dementia and Parkinson’s disease, with non-Hispanic Black beneficiaries being less likely to be prescribed key medications for Dementia and Parkinson’s disease and less likely to receive physical and occupational therapy services.
Deborah Rose, Annie Cavalier, Wayneho Kam, Sarah Cantrell, Jay Lusk, Matthew Schrag, Shadi Yaghi, Christoph Stretz, Adam De Havenon, Ian J Saldanha, Teddy Y Wu, Anna Ranta, P Alan Barber, Elizabeth Marriott, Wayne Feng, Andrzej S Kosinski, Daniel Laskowitz, Sven Poli, Brian Mac Grory. Stroke, 2023;54:1192–1204
In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we find that at low and medium doses, complications of tenecteplase are similar to those of alteplase when used for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.
Jay B Lusk, Molly N Hoffman, Amy G Clark, Jonathan Bae, Matthew W Luedke, Bradley G Hammill. Neurology, 2023, 100 (17) e1776-e1786.
In this study, we find that across a broad range of neurological disorders, including epilepsy, neurodegenerative disease, stroke, and coma, neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with 30-day mortality, even after adjustment for individual medical risk and individual socioeconomic status.
Jay B Lusk, Ailin Song, Shakthi Unnithan, Hussein R Al-Khalidi, Alen Delic, Adam De Havenon, Valérie Biousse, Matthew Schrag, Sven Poli, Jonathan P Piccini, Ying Xian, Emily C O’Brien, Brian Mac Grory. Stroke. 2023;54:983–991
In this study published simultaneously to an oral presentation at the International Stroke Conference, 2023, we found that there was not an association between hospital-documented atrial fibrillation and central retinal artery conclusion, although our study was limited by its restriction to hospital records.
Ailin Song, Kyung-Min Roh, Jay B Lusk, Nita G Valikodath, Eleonora M Lad, Mark Draelos, Pablo Ortiz, Rebecca G Theophanous, Alexander T Limkakeng, Joseph A Izatt, Ryan P McNabb, Anthony N Kuo. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2023;81(4) 501-508.
In this study, our team shows that a novel robotic optical coherence tomography imaging system could be a helpful tool for emergency department physicians to assess eye emergencies.
Michael D Green, Mahalia R Dalmage, Jay B Lusk, Emilie F Kadhim, Lesley A Skalla, Emily C O'Brien. American Heart Journal 2023;258 (129-139).
In this systematic review, we showed that despite federal mandates, there is still widespread under-reporting of participant race/ethnicity in trials of anti-hypertensive drugs.
Ailin Song, Jay B Lusk, Anthony N Kuo, Kelly W Muir, Sandra S Stinnett, Durga S Borkar. BMC Ophthalmology. 2023;23(132).
In this systematic analysis, we show that American Academy of Ophthalmology preferred practice pattern (PPP) recommendations insufficiently reported the levels of evidence to support guideline statements.
Utibe R Essien*, Jay B Lusk*, Stacie B Dusetzina. JAMA Health Forum. 2022;3(12):e224804. * denotes equal contribution
In this co-first author Viewpoint article, we argue that minimizing cost-sharing for drugs used to treat chronic medical conditions would be an effective strategy to both promote health equity and promote value in healthcare.
Jay B Lusk, Molly N Hoffman, Amy G Clark, Jonathan Bae, Leonor Corsino, Bradley G Hammill. Diabetes Care. 2022;45(11):e169–e170
In this paper, we demonstrate that, for patients admitted for management of diabetes mellitus, there was a strong association between neighborhood socioeconomic status and 30-day mortality and re-admission, even after adjusting for medical comorbidities and individual socioeconomic status.
Beilei Lei, Yong Ho Kim, Wenjing Qi, Temugin Berta, Anna Covington, Jay B Lusk, David S Warner, Ru-rong Ji, Michael L James. Neuroscience Letters, 2022;787:136822.
We demonstrate the feasibility of single microglial cell isolation in a mouse model of intracerebral hemorrhage and show evidence of sex-specific changes in gene expression after intracerebral hemorrhage.
Jay B Lusk, Jesse Troy, Nathaniel Nowacki, Peter G Kranz, Maureen Maughan, Daniel T Laskowitz, Michael L James. Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases, 2022;31(8):106600
In this secondary analysis of a clinical trial of a novel neuroprotective peptide, we demonstrate that several novel neuroinflammatory biomarkers may predict peri-hematoma edema volume, a key driver of unfavorable ICH outcomes.
Shih-Hsiu J Wang, Yuanyuan Guo, John F Ervin, Jay B Lusk, Sheng Luo. Acta Neuropathologica, 2022 144(1) 45-57.
In this neuropathology study, we demonstrate that LATE-NC was associated with both hippocampal sclerosis and arteriolosclerosis for patients of all age groups; however, in the oldest-old, LATE-NC often existed in the absence of substantial burden of Alzheimer’s Disease, suggesting that LATE-NC could be an independent contributor to dementia among the oldest-old.
Ailin Song*, Jay B Lusk*, Kyung-Min Roh, Kevin J Jackson, Karen A Scherr, Ryan P McNabb, Ranee Chatterjee, Anthony N Kuo. JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(6) e2218753-e2218753
In this co-first author paper for which I led the statistical analysis, we demonstrate that fundoscopy, the traditional method used to screen for diabetic retinopathy in primary care settings, was 0% sensitive for detecting diabetic retinopathy when used in routine clinical care, suggesting that alternative screening strategies will be needed.
Jay B Lusk, Ellora Hui Zhen Chua, Prameet Kaur, Isabelle Chiao Han Sung, Wen Kin Lim, Vanessa Yuk Man Lam, Nathan Harmston, Nicholas S Tolwinski. Scientific Reports. 2022. 12, Article number: 7684
In this paper, my undergraduate honors thesis, we solve a decades-old mystery in developmental biology by showing that Raf has a novel MAPK-independent role in embryonic development, mediated through the Toll signaling pathway. Our paper combines data from different lines of experimentation to establish this role, and suggests evolutionarily-ancient pathways may connect cellular proliferation and immune signaling, a finding with major relevance to the development of therapies in humans.
Megan Shepherd-Banigan, Connor Drake, Jessica R Dietch, Abigail Shapiro, Amir Alishahi Tabriz, Elizabeth E Van Voorhees, Diya M Uthappa, Tsai-Wei Wang, Jay B Lusk, Stephanie Salcedo Rossitch, Jessica Fulton, Adelaide Gordon, Belinda Ear, Sarah Cantrell, Jennifer M Gierisch, John W Williams, Karen M Goldstein. Journal of General Internal Medicine 37(6) 1513-1523.
In this evidence map, we examine intervention strategies to promote primary care engagement among individuals with experiences of homelessness and serious mental illness, focusing on elements such as integration of primary care services with other services, to highlight opportunities for future research and implementation.
Jay B Lusk, Quintin J Quinones, Janet S Staats, Kent J Weinhold, Peter M Grossi, Shahid M Nimjee, Daniel T Laskowitz, Michael L James. World Neurosurgery, 2022, 161 p 162-168.
In this pilot study, we demonstrate the feasibility of using immune profiling to analyze patterns of neuroinflammation after intracerebral hemorrhage, opening future directions for research into potentially modifiable neuroinflammatory pathways associated with ICH outcomes.
Andy J Liu, Jay B Lusk, John Ervin, James Burke, Richard O’Brien, Shih-Hsiu J Wang. Acta Neuropathologica Communications, 2022. 10(27).
In this neuropathology study, we show for the first time that tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), an autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental disorder, is an amyloid-independent tauopathy, providing novel insights into potentially targetable mechanisms.
Jay B Lusk, Haolin Xu, Laine E Thomas, Lauren W Cohen, Adrian F Hernandez, Christopher B Forrest, Henry J Michtalik, Kisha Batey Turner, Emily C O'Brien, Nadine J Barrett. EClinicalMedicine. 2022. 45.
In this analysis of the HERO registry, a prospective cohort study of 24,769 healthcare workers from 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, we show that racial disparities in COVID-19 diagnosis, access to testing, and COVID-19 vaccine interest were widespread, highlighting the need for strategies to promote occupational health equity in the healthcare workforce.
Jay B Lusk, Haolin Xu, Eric D Peterson, Deepak L Bhatt, Gregg C Fonarow, Eric E Smith, Roland Matsouaka, Lee H Schwamm, Ying Xian. Stroke 2021. 52(12) e777-781.
Aspirin treatment failure (wherein patients have a stroke when they are already taking aspirin) is a common phenomenon with minimal guiding evidence for clinicians. We show in this study that there is substantial practice variation in antithrombotic therapy for stroke prevention in this population, suggesting a need for future comparative effectiveness studies on this topic.
William T Harrison, Jay B Lusk, Beiyu Liu, John F Ervin, Kim G Johnson, Cynthia L Green, Shih-Hsiu J Wang. Acta Neuropathologica. 2021. 142 p 917-919.
In this co-first author neuropathology study, we show that LATE-NC is independently associated with dementia and arteriolosclerosis in the oldest-old, demonstrating that non-amyloid patterns of neurodegeneration may be a contributor to dementia in this population.
Jay B Lusk, Ryan C McDevitt. JAMA. 2021;326(3):276-277.
In this letter, we argue that backstop price caps may be a blunt instrument for restraining the growth of healthcare expenditures, and we instead argue that integrating price controls with value-based reimbursement models may be more effective.
Nawat Bunnag, Qian Hui Tan, Prameet Kaur, Anupriya Ramamoorthy, Isabelle Chiao Han Sung, Jay Lusk, Nicholas S Tolwinski. Journal of Molecular Biology. 2020. 432(10) 3159-3176
In this methods paper, we describe a novel approach to study signal transduction in Drosophila intestinal stem cell homeostasis using optogenetics.
In this co-first author review, we describe approaches to model Wnt signaling in human and Drosophila Stem Cells.
Jahnavi Suresh, Nathan Harmston, Ka Keat Lim, Prameet Kaur, Helen Jingshu Jin, Jay B. Lusk, Enrico Petretto, Nicholas S. Tolwinski. Scientific Reports. 2017. 7;11092
In this paper, we correlate transcriptional changes with phenotypic outcomes of cell differentiation and embryo size, showing our model can be used to characterize developmental signaling compartmentalization in vivo.
Jay B Lusk, Vanessa YM Lam, Nicholas S Tolwinski. Cancers. 2017 (9)2.
In my first published paper, a review, we describe the power of Drosophila Melanogaster as a tool for understanding the epidermal growth factor (EGF) pathway to understand cellular and molecular mechanisms of cancer.
