Toni Marie Rudisill, PhD, MS

Dr. Toni Marie Rudisill is an injury epidemiologist. Her areas of specialty are in transportation safety, substance use, and health policy. She enjoys studying injuries in rural and medically underserved populations.

Associate Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Public Health

Department:

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Classification:

Faculty

• PhD, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 2015
• MS, West Chester University, 2007
• BS, Pennsylvania State University, 2002

Greenfield J, Allen J, Rudisill TM. Determining How Individuals Cope with Driving Anxiety. PLOS Mental Health. 2025, 2(4): e0000163

Haggerty T, Rudisill TM, Dekeseredy P, Cowher A, Sedney CL. Exploring cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain in a rural Appalachian population. Am J Addict. 2025 Sep;34(5):562-566. doi: 10.1111/ajad.70033. Epub 2025 Apr 19. PubMed PMID: 40251950.

Rudisill TM, Beyon J, Bonasso PC, Bardes JM. An Analysis of ATV and UTV-Related Injuries Pre- and Post-Enactment of West Virginia Senate Bill 690. AJPM Focus. 2025 Jun;4(3):100335. doi:10.1016/j.focus.2025.100335. eCollection 2025 Jun. PubMed PMID: 40290864.

Tang Y, Elder M, Rudisill TM. Video Gaming and its Impact on Driving Simulation Performance: A Secondary Analysis of A Randomized Control Trial. J Clinical Translational Science. 2024;8:e213.doi:10.1017/cts.2024.655

Rudisill TM, Mohamed R. Police officers’ opinions of harm reduction programs in West Virginia. Contemporary Drug Problems. 2024. 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509241292480.

Tang Y, Kirk B, Olanrewaju F, Abildso CG, Winstanley EL, Lilly CL, Rudisill TM. Cannabis use among adolescents and young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review. Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports. 2024 Apr 16:100232.

Tang Y, Abildso CG, Lilly CL, Winstanley EL, Rudisill TM. Risk factors associated with driving after marijuana use among West Virginia college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Traffic Inj Prev. 2024;25(4):579-588. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2024.2333906. Epub 2024 Apr 4. PMID: 38572915.

Rudisill TM, Barbee LO, Hendricks B. Characteristics of Fatal, Pedestrian-Involved, Motor Vehicle Crashes in West Virginia: A Cross-Sectional and Spatial Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(7):5251. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20075251.

Rudisill TM, Innes KK, Wen S, Haggerty T, Smith GS. The effects of cannabidiol on subjective states, cognition, and psychomotor function in healthy adults: A randomized clinical trial. Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 2023 Jun;37(3):663-672. doi: 10.1111/fcp.12868. Epub 2023 Jan 17. PMID: 36625844; PMCID: PMC10175152.

Rudisill TM, Steinmetz L, Bardes, JM. Substance use in rural trauma patients admitted for motor vehicle injuries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2023. Inj. Epidemiol. 10 (5). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-023-00415-y.

For a full publication list, see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1fYQCu3XUhDkt/bibliography/42580366/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Courses Taught

• EPID 711: Design and Anaysis of Cohort Studies (graduate level)
• EPID 611: Concepts and Methods of Epidemiology (graduate level)
• PUBH 796: Graduate Seminar (graduate level)
• PUBH 211: Biostatistics for Public Health (undergraduate level)

Academic Service

• PhD Program Director for Epidemiology
• Associate Editor of Safety Science Reports (SAFER), interational peer-reviewed journal
• Member, Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research

Dr. Toni Marie Rudisill is an epidemiologist who is immensely passionate about injury research. Her research is focused primarily on transportation-related injuries and emergency care, substance use, and health policy often in rural and medically underserved populations. Her research focuses on the intersection between medical conditions, substance use (prescription, non-prescription, nutraceuticals, supplements), driving performance, and motor vehicle collision risk. She is also particularly interested in how public policies influence injuries and deaths in populations (e.g. passage of marijuana use laws, distracted driving laws, etc.). Her research program is diverse as she conducts both experimental and observational studies along with qualitative research. She collaborates often with healthcare providers at WVU Medicine. She is the Principal Investigator of the Injury Prevention and Driving Simulation Laboratory located at the WVU Health Sciences Center. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute, American Thoracic Society, and the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Her work has been presented nationally and published in numerous, peer-reviewed journals.

In addition to her research, Dr. Rudisill is a passionate educator. She teaches several graduate-level courses and one undergraduate course in the School of Public Health. She currently mentors numerous graduate and undergraduate students and is excited to see them gain new methodological and statistical skills and develop as researchers.

Outside of work, Dr. Rudisill spends her time recreating in the great outdoors and can often be found hiking/backpacking trails, boating, biking, fly fishing, golfing, horseback riding, and enjoying winter sports in the beautiful Appalachian mountains.

WVU School of Public Health

Dr. Rudisill’s research program is dedicated to understanding and preventing injuries and death in the population that often result from two common causes: transportation and substance use.

Please see her lab website for more details.

Dr. Rudisill’s lab is not recruiting doctoral students for the 2027-2028 academic year.

Current grants

The Effects of Cannabidiol on the Driving Performance of Healthy Adults (R01)
Role: Principal Investigator
Funder: National Institute of Drug Abuse
Project Description: This grant is a 300-person clinical trial that will investigate how Cannabidiol impacts driving performance, cognition, and sedation among healthy adults by dose and by sex

Improving Adult Immunization Rates for COVID-19, Influenza, and Routine Adult Vaccinations through Partnerships with Medical Subspecialty Professionals
Role: Co-investigator
Principal Investigator: Robert Stansbury, MD
Funder: American Thoracic Society
Project description: This is a program to increase vaccination rates among high-risk patients treated by the pulmonary division at WVU Medicine.

Optimizing Sleep Apnea Diagnosis in Primary Care
Role: Co-investigator
Principal Investigator: Robert Stansbury, MD
Funder: American Thoracic Society
Project description: This is a quality improvement project to increase patients’ access and care for obstructive sleep apnea.