Skip to main content
New Framework for Health Policy Evaluation: Target Trial Emulation Enhances Accuracy in Nonexperimental Studies Image
Publication

New Framework for Health Policy Evaluation: Target Trial Emulation Enhances Accuracy in Nonexperimental Studies

October 9, 2024

In Annals of Internal Medicine, Nicholas Seewald, PhD, introduces a framework for target trial emulation, enabling researchers to evaluate health policies with the rigor of clinical trials in nonexperimental studies.

Community Spotlight: Alisa Stephens Shields, PhD Image
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight: Alisa Stephens Shields, PhD

October 2, 2024

Alisa Stephens Shields, PhD serves as an Associate Professor in the Biostatistics division of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, and is recognized for her collaboration and impactful leadership in the realms of health, statistical education, and inclusion in the field.

Dr. Stephens Shields Honored with 2024 Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lectureship  Image
Award

Dr. Stephens Shields Honored with 2024 Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lectureship 

October 1, 2024

Alisa Stephens Shields, PhD, Associate Professor of Biostatistics, was selected by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to receive the 2024 Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lectureship.

Alumni Spotlight: Rui Duan, PhD Image
Alumni Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: Rui Duan, PhD

September 24, 2024

Before joining Harvard University as an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Rui Duan, PhD, completed her PhD in Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Alumni Spotlight: Edward Kennedy, PhD Image
Alumni Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight: Edward Kennedy, PhD

September 23, 2024

Edward Kennedy, PhD is a Penn alum through and through—prior to completing his PhD in Biostatistics in 2016, he earned his BA in Mathematics (2007) and MA in Statistics (2014) from the University.

Wei (Peter) Yang, PhD Image

Wei (Peter) Yang, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Yang’s methodological research includes causal inference, functional data analysis and dynamic risk prediction. He is also interested in collaborative research in chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and pharmacoepidemiology.

Jarcy Zee, PhD Image

Jarcy Zee, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Zee’s research focuses on developing and applying methods for observational and survival data analysis and identifying novel biomarkers of kidney disease progression. She collaborates on clinical research projects in […]

Alisa J. Stephens Shields, PhD Image

Alisa J. Stephens Shields, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Stephens Shields is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics. Her research is focused on extensions and innovative applications of causal inference approaches to enhance the design and analysis of clinical […]

Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen, PhD Image

Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen, PhD

September 9, 2024

As University Professor, Dr. Tchetgen Tchetgen holds joint primary appointments in the Department of Statistics and Data Science at The Wharton School and in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and […]

Sunni Mumford, PhD Image

Sunni Mumford, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Mumford is renowned for her research on modifiable dietary and lifestyle factors affecting reproductive health, which has informed guidelines for women, men, and couples. Her work uses couples-based approaches […]

Douglas E. Schaubel, PhD Image

Douglas E. Schaubel, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Schaubel’s methodologic research interests mostly involve survival analysis and the analysis of recurrent event data. His more recent methodology has been at the intersection of causal inference and survival […]

Enrique Schisterman, PhD Image

Enrique Schisterman, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Schisterman is a national leader in reproductive epidemiology and epidemiological methods. His complementary training in epidemiology and statistics has enabled him to improve study designs; to fuel new methods; […]

Nicholas J. Seewald, PhD Image

Nicholas J. Seewald, PhD

September 9, 2024

Nicholas J. Seewald, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Dr. Seewald […]

Nandita Mitra, PhD Image

Nandita Mitra, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Mitra’s primary research interests include the design and analysis of observational studies, causal inference, and statistical approaches for cost-effectiveness analysis. She has developed doubly robust approaches to estimation of […]

Yun Li, PhD Image

Yun Li, PhD

September 9, 2024

Yun Li, PhD is Associate Professor of Biostatistics in the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (DBEI), and a faculty member at […]

Kristin A. Linn, PhD Image

Kristin A. Linn, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Linn’s methodological research addresses barriers to incorporating complex, high-dimensional data into models for personalized medicine and biomarker development using neuroimaging data. As a co-investigator, she provides biostatistical leadership on […]

Qi Long, PhD Image

Qi Long, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Long’s research purposefully includes novel statistical and machine learning research and impactful biomedical research, each of which reinforces the other. Its thrust is to develop statistical and machine learning […]

Todd A. Miano, PharmD, PhD Image

Todd A. Miano, PharmD, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Miano is a critical care pharmacist and epidemiologist whose work aims to reduce harm from adverse drug events in acutely ill patients. His research focuses on understanding the determinants […]

Jesse Yenchih Hsu, PhD Image

Jesse Yenchih Hsu, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Hsu’s statistical research focuses on methods for observational studies and causal inference. He has specific interests in survival analysis, longitudinal data analysis, inverse probability treatment weighting, and the potential […]

Jing Huang, PhD Image

Jing Huang, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Huang’s research focuses on methodology development to understand the dynamics of disease activities and inform health management using multivariate longitudinal health data. She is currently the PI of a […]

Jin Jin, PhD Image

Jin Jin, PhD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Jin’s research focuses on developing statistical methods and computational tools to address cutting-edge problems in public health and medicine by integrating large-scale, multi-source datasets. Her research areas include health […]

Tiffanie Jones, MD, MPH, MSCE Image

Tiffanie Jones, MD, MPH, MSCE

September 9, 2024

Dr. Jones is a critical care physician and genetic epidemiologist who investigates the genetic determinants of acute respiratory failure. Her primary research interest is the elucidation of the molecular and […]

Charles E. Leonard, PharmD, MSCE, FISPE Image

Charles E. Leonard, PharmD, MSCE, FISPE

September 9, 2024

Dr. Leonard is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics at the Perelman School of Medicine. He serves as a faculty and Executive Committee […]

Hongzhe Li (Lee), PhD Image

Hongzhe Li (Lee), PhD

September 9, 2024

Working with Penn collaborators, we are currently developing methods for analysis of high-throughout genomic data. Our application areas include genome-wide association studies of neuroblastoma, eQTL analysis of human heart failure […]

Kelly D. Getz, PhD, MPH Image

Kelly D. Getz, PhD, MPH

September 9, 2024

Dr. Getz is a pediatric cancer epidemiologist whose research aims to improve outcomes for children and young adults with cancer. Her research has focused on understanding the occurrence and subsequent […]

Michael Harhay, PhD, MPH Image

Michael Harhay, PhD, MPH

September 9, 2024

Dr. Michael Harhay specializes in the statistical design, analysis, and interpretation of large randomized trials and cohort studies. At Penn, he oversees a broad research portfolio, including serving as the […]

Jordana Cohen, MD, MSCE Image

Jordana Cohen, MD, MSCE

September 9, 2024

Dr. Cohen’s primary research interest is in the area of hypertension. Her research program focuses on better understanding physiology-driven pharmacologic effects of antihypertensive medications in complex and high-risk disease states […]

Brielin Brown, PhD Image

Brielin Brown, PhD

September 9, 2024

Brielin C. Brown is an Assistant Professor of Informatics and Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine who is broadly interested in the development and application of statistical and computational […]

Ellen Caniglia, ScD Image

Ellen Caniglia, ScD

September 9, 2024

Dr. Caniglia is a perinatal and HIV epidemiologist who works to improve health outcomes among pregnant people and their children, and among people with HIV. Her work utilizes methods for […]

Dr. Nandita Mitra Wins 2024 Cupples Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Leadership Image
Award

Dr. Nandita Mitra Wins 2024 Cupples Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Leadership

May 9, 2024

Nandita Mitra, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics, has been awarded the 2024 L. Adrienne Cupples Award for her outstanding contributions to research, teaching, and leadership in biostatistics and public health.

The Delicate Balance of Pregnancy Research Image
Publication

The Delicate Balance of Pregnancy Research

December 1, 2021

“Pregnant women CAN drink coffee – it could even slash risk of disease for mum and baby,” proclaimed a headline in the English paper The Sun about a recent study […]

New Working Paper on Nonparametric Instrumental Variable Estimators Image
Publication

New Working Paper on Nonparametric Instrumental Variable Estimators

October 17, 2021

Doubly robust nonparametric instrumental variable estimators for survival outcomes Youjin Lee, Edward H Kennedy, Nandita Mitra Instrumental variable (IV) methods allow us the opportunity to address unmeasured confounding in causal […]

Turning the Tables on Diseases that Spread Spatially Image
Publication

Turning the Tables on Diseases that Spread Spatially

October 1, 2021

Many human diseases start out with single cells, which establish the problem by spreading out. Spatial transcriptomics, a groundbreaking method, allows scientists to take advantage of that activity, measuring all […]

Unpacking a Vaccine Paradox Image
In the Media

Unpacking a Vaccine Paradox

August 1, 2021

Covid-19 vaccines work, but a statistical illusion makes some people think they don’t. This perspective piece prominently cites work by Jeffrey Morris, PhD.   Read the perspective in the Washington Post

New Working Paper on Job Vacancies and Immigration Image
Publication

New Working Paper on Job Vacancies and Immigration

December 10, 2020

Job Vacancies and Immigration: Evidence from the Mariel Supply Shock L. Jason Anastasopoulos, George J. Borjas, Gavin G. Cook, and Michael Lachanski We use the Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Index (HWI) […]

New Working Paper on Unmeasured Confounding and Time Image
Publication

New Working Paper on Unmeasured Confounding and Time

November 10, 2020

Controlling for Unmeasured Confounding in the Presence of Time: Instrumental Variable for Trend Ting Ye, Ashkan Ertefaie, James Flory, Sean Hennessy, Dylan S. Small Unmeasured confounding is a key threat […]

New Working Paper on Bayesian Nonparametric Cost-Effectiveness Analyses Image
Publication

New Working Paper on Bayesian Nonparametric Cost-Effectiveness Analyses

September 8, 2020

Bayesian Nonparametric Cost-Effectiveness Analyses: Causal Estimation and Adaptive Subgroup Discovery Arman Oganisian, Nandita Mitra, Jason Roy Cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) are at the center of health economic decision making. While these […]

New Working Paper on a non‐parametric projection‐based estimator for the probability of causation Image
Publication

New Working Paper on a non‐parametric projection‐based estimator for the probability of causation

January 23, 2020

A non‐parametric projection‐based estimator for the probability of causation, with application to water sanitation in Kenya Maria Cuellar and Edward H. Kennedy Current estimation methods for the probability of causation […]

New working paper on causal inference with zero-inflated outcomes Image
Publication

New working paper on causal inference with zero-inflated outcomes

March 2, 2019

A Bayesian Nonparametric Model for Zero-Inflated Outcomes: Prediction, Clustering, and Causal Estimation Arman Oganisian, Nandita Mitra, and Jason Roy Researchers are often interested in predicting outcomes, conducting clustering analysis to […]

New working paper on longitudinal mediation Image
Publication

New working paper on longitudinal mediation

March 1, 2019

Bayesian Longitudinal Causal Inference in the Analysis of the Public Health Impact of Pollutant Emissions Chanmin Kim, Corwin M Zigler, Michael J Daniels, Christine Choirat, and Jason A Roy Pollutant […]

New working paper on differences-in-differences Image
Publication

New working paper on differences-in-differences

February 28, 2019

Patterns of Effects and Sensitivity Analysis for Differences-in-Differences Luke J. Keele, Dylan S. Small, Jesse Y. Hsu, and Colin B. Fogarty Applied analysts often use the differences-in-differences (DID) method to […]

New paper on continuous instrumental variables Image
Publication

New paper on continuous instrumental variables

February 27, 2019

Robust causal inference with continuous instruments using the local instrumental variable curve Edward H. Kennedy, Scott Lorch, and Dylan S. Small Instrumental variables are commonly used to estimate effects of […]

New paper on instrumental variables estimation Image
Publication

New paper on instrumental variables estimation

August 15, 2018

Bounded, efficient and multiply robust estimation of average treatment effects using instrumental variables Wang L, Tchetgen Tchetgen E. Instrumental variables (IVs) are widely used for estimating causal effects in the […]

New paper on cost and cost effectiveness with measured and unmeasured confounders Image
Publication

New paper on cost and cost effectiveness with measured and unmeasured confounders

June 1, 2018

Estimating cost-effectiveness from claims and registry data with measured and unmeasured confounders Elizabeth Handorf, Daniel Heitjan, Justin Bekelman, Nandita Mitra Link The analysis of observational data to determine the cost-effectiveness […]

New paper on treatment effects with multiple outcomes Image
Publication

New paper on treatment effects with multiple outcomes

June 1, 2018

Estimating scaled treatment effects with multiple outcomes Edward H Kennedy, Shreya Kangovi, Nandita Mitra Link In classical study designs, the aim is often to learn about the effects of a […]

New paper on causal inference with missing covariates Image
Publication

New paper on causal inference with missing covariates

March 26, 2018

Bayesian nonparametric generative models for causal inference with missing at random covariates Jason Roy, Kirsten J. Lum, Bret Zeldow , Jordan D. Dworkin, Vincent Lo Re III, and Michael J. […]

New Working Paper on Effect Modification Image
Publication

New Working Paper on Effect Modification

February 7, 2017

A new, powerful approach to the study of effect modification in observational studies Kwonsang Lee, Dylan S. Small, Paul R. Rosenbaum Effect modification occurs when the magnitude or stability of […]

New Publication on Trend-in-Trend Design Image
Publication

New Publication on Trend-in-Trend Design

October 20, 2016

The Trend-in-Trend Research Design for Causal Inference. Ji X, Small DS, Leonard CE, Hennessy S. Cohort studies can be biased by unmeasured confounding. We propose a hybrid ecologic-epidemiologic design called […]

New Publication on Second Control Groups Image
Publication

New Publication on Second Control Groups

October 18, 2016

Constructed Second Control Groups and Attenuation of Unmeasured Biases Samuel D. Pimentel, Dylan S. Small & Paul R. Rosenbaum The informal folklore of observational studies claims that if an irrelevant […]

New Publication on Sensitivity Analysis Image
Publication

New Publication on Sensitivity Analysis

October 4, 2016

An adaptive Mantel-Haenszel test for sensitivity analysis in observational studies. Rosenbaum PR, Small DS In a sensitivity analysis in an observational study with a binary outcome, is it better to […]

New Publication on Instrumental Variable Methods Image
Publication

New Publication on Instrumental Variable Methods

May 1, 2016

Selection Bias When Using Instrumental Variable Methods to Compare Two Treatments But More Than Two Treatments Are Available. Ertefaie A, Small D, Flory J, Hennessy S. Instrumental variable (IV) methods […]

New Publication on Propensity Scores Image
Publication

New Publication on Propensity Scores

April 19, 2016

An evaluation of bias in propensity score-adjusted non-linear regression models Fei Wan, Nandita Mitra Propensity score methods are commonly used to adjust for observed confounding when estimating the conditional treatment […]