Before his appointment to the faculty he was a staff epidemiologist at the Markey Cancer Control Program, College of Medicine from 2003 to 2013, and before that worked for several years at the Kentucky Injury Prevention & Research Center. Dr. Christian’s research experience includes topics such as injury prevention, smoking-related cancers, health disparities in Appalachia, environmental epidemiology, and the built environment and obesity. He primarily contributes to research studies through spatial analysis of health-related data, using geographic information systems (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), and spatial statistics.