Epidemiologist Dr. Evan Mayo-Wilson is researching the effects of gabapentin and improving research methodology.
Evan Mayo-Wilson, DPhil, MPA, has a lot of questions. “In research, every time you start digging into something, you realize how much isn’t known about it,” says Mayo-Wilson, an associate professor of epidemiology who joined the Gillings faculty last fall. “Every question you answer generates two more questions.”
For almost a decade, Mayo-Wilson’s inquiring mind has been digging into the effects, including negative effects, of gabapentin, a drug used for pain and other health problems. More broadly and longer term, he focuses on improving the methodology of research in a more systematic way: In other words, are researchers asking the right questions and using appropriate methods to answer them?
"Being at Gillings is a great opportunity to collaborate with people who are doing that type of work and who understand where opportunities for methodological advancement might be."
— Evan Mayo-Wilson, DPhil, MPA
Because there are many clinical trials and observational studies about most health interventions, Mayo-Wilson aims to synthesize all available evidence to better inform the research process and guide decision-making. “I’m interested in how we pull all of that information together in a rigorous way and how we can improve that process to make better policy decisions and better recommendations for care,” he says.
Mayo-Wilson, who grew up in Pittsburgh and has earned degrees from Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford, began focusing on gabapentin harms while working at Johns Hopkins and continued while he was an associate professor at Indiana University. This research path eventually led him to the Gillings School.
“Being at Gillings is a great opportunity to collaborate with people who are doing that type of work and who understand where opportunities for methodological advancement might be,” he says.
In addition to his own research, Mayo-Wilson is a co-scientific director for peer review at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), contracted with Origin Editorial. Former director of the UNC Sheps Center for Health Services Research Tim Carey, MD, MPH, a semi-retired UNC research professor in medicine and adjunct professor of epidemiology, has worked closely with Mayo-Wilson for several years. Mayo-Wilson and Carey currently serve as co-scientific directors.
“Evan has a way of communicating with great clarity,” says Carey, adding that having Mayo-Wilson at Carolina not only benefits Gillings but any school or department that does scientific research. “It’s easy sometimes to talk in epi-speak — very technical and specialized — but Evan is very good at expressing concepts in terms that the average clinician, researcher and disease advocate can understand.”
When he’s not working, Mayo-Wilson is spending time with his family. His wife, Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson, is also on faculty at Gillings in both the departments of health behavior and maternal and child health. They enjoy hiking and camping — though like many parents of young children, most of their time and energy is focused on raising their son, who’s 1½ years old.
“I used to have hobbies,” Mayo-Wilson jokes, “but right now, we’re really enjoying a full night’s sleep — we went for about a year without that.”
