Corey Hayes, Pharm.D., Ph.D., MPH, serves as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy, with secondary appointments in the departments of Biomedical Informatics and Psychiatry in the UAMS College of Medicine. He also serves as a research health scientist with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System’s Center for Mental Healthcare & Outcomes Research and as director of the Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Rural Telehealth Evaluation Center.
An Arkansas native, Hayes received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia in 2009. In 2013, he received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the UAMS College of Pharmacy and a Master in Public Health degree with an emphasis in epidemiology from the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health. From 2013-2016, he practiced as a clinical pharmacist at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock. In 2016, he returned to UAMS for additional training, completing a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded T32 Post-Doctoral Fellowship in translational addiction research and a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences with an emphasis in pharmacoepidemiology. He began his career as an assistant professor in the Center for Health Services Research in the Department of Psychiatry of the UAMS College of Medicine and as an investigator with the Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research (CeMHoR), which is a national Center of Innovation housed at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS).
Hayes’ research goal is to leverage data to improve the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders by generating clinically actionable knowledge that informs clinical practice and improves care and policy. His work focuses on improving policies related to opioid prescribing and developing technology-based interventions for improving treatment of patients with opioid use disorder. He has received research funding through the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Veterans Health Administration, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Justice, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, and other foundation sources.
Hayes has co-authored more than 70 scientific articles in leading health care journals, such as Addiction, the American Journal of Public Health, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and JAMA Network Open. His research has been highlighted in more than 250 articles from top news outlets, such as The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, NPR and ABC News. His findings have also been used in the development of over six clinical guidelines related to opioid use, including the CDC’s Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain, and guidelines on opioid and benzodiazepine use from the National Academy of Medicine. His findings have also been used in more than seven national and international policy-related materials issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the CDC, Urban Institute, the U.S. Joint Economic Committee and the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health among others.
Outside of academia, Hayes is an avid fly fisherman and member of Fellowship Bible Church in Conway. Hayes is happily married to Emily Hayes, PT, DPT, who serves as a neurorehabilitation physical therapist at Baptist Health Medical Center in Conway. They have two children, Adeline and Isla. They currently reside in Morrilton.