ENAR

The ENAR 2023 Spring Meeting is in Nashville, from March 19 through March 22 at the JW Marriott. Here are some of the sessions department members and alumni are involved with:

Invited Sessions

Vanderbilt Biostatistics After 20 Years: Lessons Learned and Opportunities Ahead for a Biostatistics Department in a Medical Center - Monday, March 20, 1:45 p.m.
Chair & Organizer: Bryan Shepherd, professor of biostatistics and vice chair of faculty affairs
Speakers:
Frank Harrell, professor of biostatistics and founding chair - "My Big Jump: Founding a Department of Biostatistics"
Qingxia "Cindy" Chen, professor of biostatistics and vice chair of education - "Growing Biostatistics and Data Science Education Programs: The Vanderbilt Experience"
Yu Shyr, professor of biostatistics and department chair - "What Keeps Me Awake at Night Leading a Department of Biostatistics"
Discussant: David L. DeMets, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Recent Advances in Methods of Analysis for Mismeasured or Predicted Outcomes in Biomedical Research - Monday, March 20, 8:30 a.m.
Speakers include Bryan Shepherd: "Multi-Wave Validation Sampling to Improve Estimates Derived from Electronic Health Record Data" - 9:45 a.m.

Randomization in Clinical Trial Design and Inference: Reducing Chance Imbalance and Addressing Trial Disruptions - Monday, March 20, 10:30 a.m.
Organizer and speaker: Jonathan Chipman, University of Utah (a graduate of our PhD program). His talk is titled "Experimenting with Finite to Infinite Population Sizes" and scheduled to begin at 10:55 a.m.

Recent Advances in Optimal Sampling Design and Estimate Using Validated and Error-Prone Data - Monday, March 20, 3:45 p.m.
Speakers include:
Gustavo Amorim, research assistant professor of biostatistics: "Optimal Multi-Wave Validation Study in a Multi-National HIV Research Cohort" - 3:45 p.m.
Ran Tao, assistant professor of biostatistics: "Design and Analysis Strategies with 'Secondary' Use Data" - 4:10 p.m.

Kickstart Your Career: How to Maximize Those Early Years - Monday, March 20, 3:45 p.m.
Chair: Tianyi Sun, current PhD student
Panelists include Andrew Spieker, assistant professor of biostatistics

Not All Censoring is a Survival Problem: Statistical Methods for Censored Covariates - Tuesday, March 21, 1:45 p.m.
Organizer & Speaker: Sarah Lotspeich, Wake Forest University (a graduate of our PhD program). Her talk is titled "It's Integral: Replacing the Trapezoidal Rule to Remove Bias and Correctly Impute Censored Covariates with Their Conditional Means" and scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. 

Recent Advances in Statistical Methods for Neurodegenerative Disease Research - Tuesday, March 21, 3:45 p.m.
Chair & Organizer: Panpan Zhang, assistant professor of biostatistics

Improving Estimation of Difficult to Measure Health Outcomes  - Tuesday, March 21, 3:45 p.m.
Chair: Lucy D'Agostino McGowan, Wake Forest University (a graduate of our PhD program)

Awards and Special Events

PhD candidate Chiara Di Gravio's “Efficient Study Designs and Analysis Methods for Longitudinal Binary Data: an Application to the Lung Health Study” has been selected for a Distinguished Student Paper Award. She presents it at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, March 22.

Frank Harrell will be a discussion leader at the Roundtable luncheon on Monday, March 20 (12:15–1:30 p.m.). Join him to discuss Statistical Concepts to Teach to Non-Statisticians.

Contributed Sessions and Papers

Monday, March 20

Jamie Joseph, PhD candidate, "A Mediation-Based Analysis Approach for Assessing the Role of Engagement with Text Message-Delivered Interventions" - 10:45 a.m.

Kaidi Kang, PhD candidate, chair: "Methods for Spatiotemporal-Varying Covariates and Estimates" - 1:45 p.m.

Tianyi Sun, PhD candidate, "Submodel Approximation for Risk Prediction of a New Patient with Missing Risk Factors" - 2:30 p.m.

Yaomin Xu, assistant professor of biostatistics, "Interactive Network Clustering and Investigation of Complex Multivariate Association Matrices with Association Subgraphs" - 5:15 p.m.

Tuesday, March 21

Kaidi Kang, "Accurate Confidence and Bayesian Interval Estimation for Non-Centrality Parameters and Effect Size Indices" - 10:00 a.m.

Yaomin Xu, chair: "Multivariate/Nonlinear Models and Methods" - 1:45 p.m.

Cathy Shyr (DBMI postdoc, advised by Paul Harris), "Multi-Study R-Learner for Heterogeneous Treatment Effect Estimation" - 1:45 p.m.

Jinyuan Liu, assistant professor of biostatistics, "Semiparametric Models of Inter- and Intra-Individual Variability Through Generalized Distances of Wearable Data" - 2:00 p.m. 

Megan Jones, MS student, "Robust Effect Size Index Analysis Using RESI R Package" - 2:45 p.m.

Wednesday, March 22

Sarah Lotspeich, chair: "Statistical Methods for High-Throughput Sequencing Data" - 8:30 a.m.

Posters

Sunday, March 19, 8:00–11:00 p.m.

Yeji Ko, MS student: "Accounting for Time-Dependent Confounding in the Million Person Study of Low-Dose Radiation Effects"

Shengxin Tu, PhD candidate: "Rank Intraclass Correlation for Clustered Data"

Jiangmei Xiong, PhD student: "Application of Closed-Form Gamma Mixture Model in mxIF Cell Gating"

 

Via the conference website: Spring Meeting Agenda ♦ Full scientific program (with abstracts)


Our department members also contribute to ENAR in service capacities, including the following:

CENS (Council for New and Emerging Statisticians)

  • Regional Advisory Board Liaison: Lucy D'Agostino McGowan
  • Steering Committee Member, 2022–2023: Tianyi Sun

ENAR Regional Committee (RECOM)

ENAR Regional Advisory Board (RAB)

  • Member, 2021–2023: Lucy D'Agostino McGowan
  • Member, 2022–2024: Sarah Lotspeich
  • Member, 2022–2024: Ben Saville, adjunct professor of biostatistics
  • Member, 2022–2024: Andrew Spieker

2023 Spring Meeting

  • Local Arrangements Chair: Andrew Spieker

Looking for a place to eat? See our list of some restaurants within walking distance of the Marriott (PDF).

Traveling between our department and the conference? Here's a guide to taking the bus (PDF). (If you have a Vanderbilt University ID, it's free. See the VU WeGo webpage for details.)

Another public transit option is to park at 100 Oaks and take the #8 bus (8th Avenue), which goes to the front entrance of the Marriott. The bus picks up at the back right corner of the mall.

Some parking options near the JW Marriott:

  • Valet parking is available at the JW Marriott for $48/night (excluding tax and gratuity).  
    • Hourly parking rates: $26 for 0–2 hours; $36 for 2–4 hours; $46 for 4–6 hours; $56 for 6+ hours.
  • The Music City Center Parking garage is open to the public and located at 701 Demonbreun Street, a 4-minute walk from the JW Marriott. Parking is $10 for 0–5 hours and $15 for 5–9 hours. Additional information and prices can be found on the website
  • The Library Garage is open to the public and located at 151 6th Ave N, a 9-minute walk from the JW Marriott. Parking is $6/hour or $20/day. Additional information and prices can be found on the website.  
  • The Gulch Crossing Garage is open to the public and located at 1033 Demonbreun Street, a 7-minute walk from the JW Marriott. Parking is free for the first hour when you register on the Metropolis app.  

Sarah Lotspeich has an excellent Guide to ENAR for first-time attendees.

Do you have photos of your session or gathering you'd be willing to share in department materials (including social media)? Please send them to Peg Duthie.

Details subject to change without notice. Walking/transportation times are estimates.