Faculty and Staff

Christy Collins, PhD

President

Dr. Christine (Christy) Collins joined the Datalys Center fulltime in June of 2017. Since 2014, Dr. Collins has served as a Biostatistician at the OhioHealth Research and Innovation Institute (OHRI). While at OHRI, Dr. Collins was actively involved in over 130 research studies in various stages from development to dissemination in a wide variety of clinical settings including: Sports Medicine, Podiatry, Medical Education, Heart and Vascular, Pulmonary/Critical Care, and Pharmacy, among other specialties. Prior to her work at OHRI, Dr. Collins worked as a researcher at the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. While at CIRP, she specifically focused on the epidemiology of sports, recreation, and leisure activity‐related injuries among children and adolescents and the life‐long health benefits associated with an active childhood. Dr. Collins has published extensively on the topic of sport injuries and has a strong connection to the Athletic Training community through her work with High School RIOTM. Dr. Collins earned her doctorate in Epidemiology with a minor in Biostatistics from the College of Public Health at The Ohio State University. Prior to her work at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Dr. Collins received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology at Ohio Northern University and a Master of Arts in Sociology at the University of New Hampshire where she focused on social research in partner and family violence. Dr. Collins describes her interest in sports injury epidemiology as her passion and is excited to reconnect with the sports‐injury community.

Avinash Chandran, PhD

Director, NCAA Injury Surveillance Program

Dr. Chandran joined the Datalys Center in January 2020 as the Director of the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program. Prior to joining the Datalys Center, Dr. Chandran was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he concurrently worked within the Matthew-Gfeller Sport-Related TBI Research Center, the Center for Study of Retired Athletes, and the Injury Prevention Research Center. Dr. Chandran is a quantitative Epidemiologist, and his research interests are, broadly, in athlete health over the lifespan. Dr. Chandran holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health from the University of Maryland, College Park. He completed his Master of Science in Epidemiology, as well as his PhD in Epidemiology at the George Washington University.

Sarah Morris, PhD

Biostatistician

Dr. Morris joined the Datalys Center in September 2017 as a Biostatistician. In addition to design and analysis of targeted studies, Dr. Morris provides SAS programming and data management support across the several injury surveillance programs housed within the Datalys Center. Her research focuses on developing and utilizing methods for assessing time to return to play after sports-related injury with the goal of returning athletes to participation safely and enhancing student-athlete health and wellbeing. Prior to her involvement in sports injury research, Dr. Morris worked as a statistician in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing where she participated in numerous studies conducted by the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, with a focus on evaluating community and individual health outcomes related to smoke-free laws and smoking cessation. She also spent several years working as a SAS programmer for a CRO specializing in Phase III clinical trials and has extensive teaching experience. Dr. Morris holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Mathematics from Eastern Kentucky University, and a Master of Science in Statistics from the University of Kentucky. She completed her PhD in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, working in conjunction with the Department of Athletic Training and the Sports Medicine Research Institute.

Melissa Baker

Project Coordinator, CARE

Melissa has been with the Datalys Center since June 2014 as a student intern. She was then hired in September 2014 as a Data Quality Specialist. To date, she is the Project Coordinator for the NCAA/DOD Grand Alliance: Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium. At the Datalys Center, Melissa’s primary role is as a liaison with QuesGen Systems, Inc. developing the electronic database for the CARE Consortium and provides customer service to those accessing this electronic database. Melissa holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Services Management from the Fairbanks School of Public Health-Indiana University.

Ariel Cheatham, MPH

Research Assistant

Ariel joined Datalys Center in July 2019 as a research assistant. She assists with the NAIA Injury Surveillance Program and NCAA/DOD Grand Alliance: Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium. Prior to joining the Datalys team, Ariel worked as a research assistant for the Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Kinesiology and Religious Studies from DePauw University and a Master’s degree in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Grant Beanblossom, BS

Data Quality Specialist

Grant joined the Datalys Center in June 2019 as a student intern, and was then hired as a Data Quality Specialist working with the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program. Grant graduated from IUPUI in December 2019 with degrees in mathematics with a concentration in applied statistics and political science, as well as a minor in religious studies. Over his academic career, Grant has been extremely active in politics, spending two sessions working at the statehouse, as well as spending time working on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Outside of work, Grant’s hobbies include guitar, hockey, tennis, and politics.