The Longitudinal Networks Core is the research arm of RDAR and serves as a resource to researchers working with hidden or hard-to-reach populations. This core facility houses nationally known experts in statistics, survey methodology, population sampling, and survey technology development. In service to RDAR Center projects, the LNC recruits and retains a large longitudinal cohort of active, out-of-treatment drug users in the Midwest. Referred to as the Regional Health Cohort, this group of research participants provides regular updates and survey question responses to RDAR researchers. Targeted recruitment of sub-populations within the RHC can provide Project Leaders and Pilot Project Directors to tailor their research to specific issues or research questions, while still drawing on the long-term history of those involved. Researchers interested in LNC support for their own research can reach out to LNC Directors Patrick Habecker and Kim Tyler. For questions, contact lnc@unl.edu or visit our website.
The LNC Leadership Team
Kimberly TylerCo-Director
Dr. Kimberly Tyler is the Willa Cather Professor of Sociology at UNL. She serves as co-Director for cohort development at LNC. Dr. Tyler has a Ph.D. in sociology with long term research interest in substance use, rural populations, hard-to-sample populations (e.g., homeless and street youth and young adults), and HIV risk behavior (i.e., sexual and drug use). Over the last decade, Dr. Tyler has successfully carried out three cohort-based NIH projects on hard to reach populations in the Great Plains region. Her primary responsibilities as LNC co-Director are to consult with Project Leaders, mentors, and the RDAR leadership team on the development, tracking, and retention of the RDAR Health Cohort and identifying new collaborative researchers across the Nebraska system and in the Central Plains region (such as Boystown Hospital, Creighton Medical School, the Veterans Administration Hospital of Western Iowa and Nebraska, and universities in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and the Great Plains).
Patrick HabeckerCo-Director
Dr. Habecker is a Research Assistant Professor with the RDAR center and is the Co-Director of the Longitudinal Networks Center. His current work is focused on substance use in Nebraska. Specifically on use, access, stigma, harm reduction, and public policy. He has training in survey research and methodology, experience with training recruiters and interviewers in peer-referral projects, programming and utilizing remote survey software, developing and managing Respondent Driven Sampling techniques, and working with network data.