🌎 Resumen en español · traducción automática
Mary Kay Rayens, bioestadiística y profesora en la Facultad de Enfermería de la Universidad de Kentucky, fue honrada como Profesora de Investigación Universitaria 2026-27 por su excelencia en investigación que aborda desafíos científicos, sociales, culturales y económicos. Rayens dirige 10 proyectos de investigación financiados, incluyendo el Equipo de Ciencia Regulatoria del Tabaco de Apalaches, que examina el comportamiento del consumo de tabaco en Kentucky para informar la política federal de tabaco y ha documentado resultados significativos como reducciones en la exposición al humo de segunda mano y disminuciones en el uso de tabaco entre jóvenes. Como parte del programa que reconoce a investigadores destacados desde 1976, Rayens recibe un premio de 10,000 dólares por un año y se suma a 17 miembros de la facultad del cohort 2026-27 reconocidos por sus contribuciones a desafíos regionales y globales.
Traducción y resumen generados por IA a partir del artículo en inglés. Puede contener errores; consulte el texto original.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mary Kay Rayens, a biostatistician and professor in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, has been honored as a 2026-27 University Research Professor, a distinction that recognizes excellence in work addressing scientific, social, cultural and economic challenges.
Rayens currently manages 10 funded research projects, including the Appalachian Tobacco Regulatory Science Team, which examines tobacco use behaviors among Appalachian Kentuckians to help inform federal tobacco policy. The research aims to provide insights into a population that is both understudied and disproportionately affected by tobacco-related diseases.
Her collaborative research on smoke-free public policy has prompted Kentucky municipalities to adopt and strengthen smoke-free ordinances. Studies resulting from her work have documented dramatic health outcomes, including reductions in secondhand smoke exposure among restaurant and bar workers, decreases in youth tobacco use rates, and lower rates of asthma-related emergency visits and emphysema hospitalizations in counties with comprehensive smoke-free laws.
Rayens earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Kentucky, where she joined the College of Nursing as an assistant professor in 1998. She has maintained continuous research funding throughout her career, participating in more than 100 externally funded grants and authoring over 300 papers. She has been named a top 2% scientist by standardized citation metrics annually since 2021.
The University Research Professors program, established by the UK Board of Trustees in 1976, recognizes excellence across all research disciplines at the university. Each professor receives a one-year award of $10,000. The 2026-27 cohort includes 17 faculty members recognized for their contributions to addressing regional and global challenges.
Rayens said the recognition provides greater visibility for external funding applications and enables her to travel to conferences to network with other tobacco regulatory scientists. Her research particularly addresses the public health burden of tobacco use in Kentucky, a state with a historic connection to tobacco production that continues to experience significant health and economic consequences from tobacco-related diseases.
Sources
- University of Kentucky News
- University Research Professors program information
- 2026-27 University Research Professors announcement
This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from University of Kentucky News, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://uknow.uky.edu/research/mary-kay-rayens-2026-27-university-research-professor-qa.
