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About CCI

About CCI

The Center for Causal Inference (CCI) is a groundbreaking research center operating through a partnership between the the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the Rutgers School of Public Health, and Penn’s Wharton School. The CCI is dedicated to advancing research and training at the forefront of causal inference theory and methods, driving innovation and application across diverse fields.

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Mission & Scope

Mission 1: Methods Development

The CCI will support the development of novel causal inference methods. Areas of focus include: Instrumental variables; matching; mediation; Bayesian nonparametric models; semiparametric theory and methods; propensity scores; structural nested models; estimating optimal dynamic treatment strategies; and sensitivity analysis. The development of these methods also include software, such as R packages, making it easier for researchers to implement the new methods.

Mission 2: Collaborative Research

The promotion of multidisciplinary collaborative research is a major goal of the CCI. Currently, Penn researchers in causal inference play major roles in many fields within the School of Medicine and beyond, including: chronic kidney disease, behavior and addiction, cancer, criminology, critical care, economics, education, genetics, health policy, infectious disease, imaging, marketing, pediatrics, pharmacoepidemiology, political science, and psychology. The CCI is looking to enhance and expand these collaborations.

Mission 3: Education & Training

With the rapid increase in detailed data sources that can be linked (such as electronic medical records, medical claims, imaging, high-throughput biological data, and geocoded-data), there is a corresponding increase in the need for new causal inference theory and methods. In addition, as new statistical methods are developed, there is a need for practitioners (such as epidemiologists and clinical researchers) to be trained in these methods. Thus, the educational mission of the CCI is twofold. First, the CCI will educate statisticians and biostatisticians in causal inference methods, and offer mentorship as they begin independent research in this area. Second, the CCI will educate researchers on the latest causal inference methods: from implementation, to interpretation, to the checking of assumptions and sensitivity analyses.

History

The Penn Causal Inference Research Group was informally established in 2002. What began as a small gathering of researchers interested in the emerging field of causal inference, eventually evolved into a major research hub at Penn. From 2002 to 2016, the group held weekly meetings, during which members developed innovative statistical methods, trained PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, hosted three conferences, launched a journal, and collaborated with clinical investigators across various fields. Comprising faculty, postdocs, and students from Biostatistics, Statistics, and Epidemiology, the group’s productivity and growth underscored the increasing significance of causal inference methods. In recognition of this, the Center for Causal Inference was established in 2016. By 2018, the CCI expanded to become a Penn-Rutgers collaborative partnership.

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Blockley Hall

Contact

Blockley Hall (6th Floor)
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
423 Guardian Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19104

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