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Dr. Edland’s primary research interest is the epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of chronic disease. Prior to joining UCSD, Dr. Edland provided statistical support to a number of nationally recognized epidemiologic investigations of Alzheimer’s disease, including the Consortium the Establish a Registry of Alzheimer’s Disease, the first nationwide longitudinal cohort study of Alzheimer’s disease, the Mayo Clinic medical records-based Olmsted County Rochester Epidemiology Project, the “Kame study” of the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in the Japanese-American residents of King County, WA, and other NIA program project Alzheimer’s disease model patient registries. Dr. Edland’s expertise in longitudinal analysis is now brought to bear in support of cohort studies and clinical trials administered by the UCSD Department of Neurosciences, where he has a joint appointment.

Dr. Edland enjoys the collaborative research process and bridging the gap between mathematical statistics and research application, with substantial experience supporting both clinical and bench research, including 25 years of continuous involvement in Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs), as founding director of the Mayo Clinic ADRC Biostatistics Core, and currently as director of the UCSD ADRC Biostatistics Core. Dr. Edland’s collaborations often evolve into ancillary publication of context-specific statistical methods.

Dr. Edland’s current active independent research is on the improved design, implementation, and analysis of clinical trials of chronic progressive disease. For example, Dr. Edland is Principal Investigator of an NIA grant titled Optimizing Outcome Measures for Clinical Trials in Pre-Clinical Alzheimer's Disease, which will explore statistical methods of constructing outcome measures more sensitive to Alzheimer’s disease progression and drug treatment effects at the earliest stages of this disease. Dr. Edland serves on Data Safety Monitoring Boards for several multinational clinical trials, is an ad hoc member of the NIH Special Emphasis Panel Alzheimer’s Disease Pilot Clinical Trials (PAR 11-100), and is a standing member of the NIH Neurological, Aging and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology (NAME) Study Section.