Eleanor Murray
Profiles

Eleanor J. Murray, ScD

Assistant Professor, Epidemiology - Boston University School of Public Health

Biography

I am currently an assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. I conduct research on how to make evidence-based decisions for public health and medicine, including statistical and epidemiologic methods for understanding causal effects, as well as qualitative work on how best to communicate the results of rigorous research to decision-makers and the public.

I work on research in infectious disease, including COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, HPV, influenza, and tuberculosis, as well as in reproductive health, pediatric health, mental health, occupational health, and chronic and non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disease. As evidenced by the broad range of disease areas, this work applies to all areas of public health and medicine, but also more broadly to all scientific research. I have presented work to groups at the WHO, UN, NIH, NSF, and World Bank, and published in peer-reviewed journals in biology and economics, in addition to my public health research.

I helped lead a high-profile study of school masking mandates in the Greater Boston area with the Boston Public Health Commission published in the New England Journal of Medicine. I have written over 60 peer-reviewed scientific studies, more than a dozen opinion pieces on COVID-19, and appeared on numerous television and radio programs to provide expertise on epidemiology and COVID-19. I co-developed and led the Boston University COVID19 Epidemiology Response Corps, which rapidly organizing 150 students who volunteered or completed practica contributing to several aspects of COVID-19 response. I also developed early posters communicating how to reduce the spread of COVID-19 transmission and crowdsourced translation of the posters into 47 languages. These posters were incorporated into a number of response efforts, including as part of the outpatient discharge notes at Boston University Medical Center.

I have an ScD in Epidemiology and MSc in Biostatistics from Harvard, an MPH in Epidemiology from Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and a BSc in Biology from McGill University. I am an Associate Editor for Social Media at the American Journal of Epidemiology, a co-chair of the Communications Committee for the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and cohost of a weekly data science podcast called Casual Inference. I engage in public health outreach via Twitter, Medium, Youtube, and several other outlets.

Education

  • Harvard School of Public Health, ScD Field of Study: Epidemiology
  • Columbia University School of Public Health, MPH Field of Study: Epidemiology
  • McGill University, BSc Field of Study: Biology
  • Harvard School of Public Health, SM/ScM Field of Study: Biostatistics

Classes Taught

  • SPHBS807
  • SPHEP755
  • SPHEP800
  • SPHEP911
  • SPHEP912
  • SPHPH780

Publications

  • Published on 2/23/2024

    Bayly H, Stoddard M, Van Egeren D, Murray EJ, Raifman J, Chakravarty A, White LF. Looking under the lamp-post: quantifying the performance of contact tracing in the United States during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. BMC Public Health. 2024 Feb 23; 24(1):595. PMID: 38395830.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/27/2023

    Murray EJ, Carr KC. Measuring Racial Sentiment Using Social Media Is Harder Than It Seems. Epidemiology. 2024 Jan 01; 35(1):60-63. PMID: 37756311.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/7/2023

    Cheema H, Brophy R, Collins J, Cox CL, Guermazi A, Kumara M, Levy BA, MacFarlane L, Mandl LA, Marx R, Selzer F, Spindler K, Katz JN, Murray EJ. Causal relationships between pain, medical treatments, and knee osteoarthritis: A graphical causal model to guide analyses. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2024 Mar; 32(3):319-328. PMID: 37939895.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 10/13/2023

    Tilhou AS, Murray E, Wang J, Linas BP, White L, Samet JH, LaRochelle M. Trends in buprenorphine dosage and days supplied for new treatment episodes for opioid use disorder, 2010-2019. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2023 Nov 01; 252:110981. PMID: 37839942.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 9/26/2023

    Birnie K, Tomson C, Caskey FJ, Ben-Shlomo Y, Nitsch D, Casula A, Murray EJ, Sterne JAC. Comparative Effectiveness of Dynamic Treatment Strategies for Medication Use and Dosage: Emulating a Target Trial Using Observational Data. Epidemiology. 2023 Nov 01; 34(6):879-887. PMID: 37757876.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 9/1/2023

    Bond JC, Wise LA, Fox MP, Garcia RI, Murray EJ, White KO, Rothman KJ, Hatch EE, Heaton B. Preconception Periodontitis and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion in a Prospective Cohort Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2023 Sep 01; 192(9):1509-1521. PMID: 37339008.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 8/10/2023

    Murray EJ, Cowger TL, Hall KT. Lifting Universal School Masking - Covid-19 Incidence among Students and Staff. Reply. N Engl J Med. 2023 Aug 10; 389(6):580. PMID: 37590463.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/6/2023

    Bayly H, Stoddard M, Egeren DV, Murray EJ, Raifman J, Chakravarty A, White LF. Looking under the lamp-post: quantifying the performance of contact tracing in the United States during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Res Sq. 2023 Jun 06. PMID: 37333276.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/20/2023

    Caniglia EC, Zash R, Fennell C, Diseko M, Mayondi G, Heintz J, Mmalane M, Makhema J, Lockman S, Mumford SL, Murray EJ, Hernández-Díaz S, Shapiro R. Emulating Target Trials to Avoid Immortal Time Bias - An Application to Antibiotic Initiation and Preterm Delivery. Epidemiology. 2023 May 01; 34(3):430-438. PMID: 36805380.

    Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/10/2023

    Wise LA, Wang TR, Stanford JB, Wesselink AK, Ncube CN, Rothman KJ, Murray EJ. A randomized trial of web-based fertility-tracking software and fecundability. Fertil Steril. 2023 Jun; 119(6):1045-1056. PMID: 36774978.

    Read At: PubMed

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