Analytical/Research Staff

  • Onika Abrams

    Health Services Research Analyst

    MSPH, Applied Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

     

  • Kun Bai

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics (Health Data Science Concentration), University of Michigan

    Research experience includes: RNA-seq, longitudinal analysis, anti-anxiety treatment

  • Aihua Bian

    Principal Biostatistician

    MPH, University of Texas Southwestern

    Research interests include: time-to-event analysis, clinical trials, competing risk event analysis, categorical data analysis, repeated measurements analysis, observational studies

  • Heather Bickham

    Project Manager

    MPH, Health Behavior and Community Health, New York Medical College

     

  • Caroline Birdrow

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

    Primary collaboration: the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center

    Research interests include: causal inference, semiparametric g-computation, observational longitudinal data analysis

     

     

     

  • Hua-Chang Chen

    Data Scientist Associate I

    PhD, Genetics, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology

    Hua-Chang Chen focuses mainly on inferring the underlying causal genes for severe diseases by utilizing GWAS (Genome-Wide Association Study) and Mendelian randomization. His work also includes predicting risk genes/domains by integrating multi-omics data.

    Publications include "A domain damage index to prioritizing the pathogenicity of missense variants" (Human Mutation 2021).

  • Josh DeClercq

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

    Primary collaborations: Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

    Current projects include: developing a standard measure of medication adherence and a clinical trial for rotator cuff tear treatment

    Winner of the 2020 Linda Stewart Applied Analysis Report Award, presented annually to recognize an exceptional applied analysis report written by a staff biostatistician, for "Healthcare Costs and Utilization Project."

  • Tan Ding

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, University of Georgia

    Research interests include: time-to-event analysis, mixed-effects modeling, categorical data, power analysis, sample size calculation

  • Andrea Elhajj

    Health Services Research Analyst

    MS, Civil and Environmental Engineering (Data Science Concentration), University of Vermont

  • Run Fan

    Principal Biostatistician

    PhD, Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

    Winner of the 2017 Linda Stewart Applied Analysis Report Award, presented annually in recognition of an exceptional statistical analysis report written by a staff biostatistician

    Data analyst for the ARC (Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff) Trial, Shoulder Study Research Group

  • Xiaoke (Sarah) Feng

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, University of Texas at Dallas

    MS, Mathematics, University of New Orleans

    Primary collaboration: Department of Anesthesiology

    Research focus/interests:  longitudinal data analysis, survival data analysis, categorical data, statistical analysis with missing data, mixed effects models

  • Yue Gao

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

    MEd, Quantitative Methods, Vanderbilt University

    Research interests include: statistical genetics, clinical trials, infectious diseases

     

  • Andrew Guide

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, University of Michigan

    Research interests include: heart and kidney disease

     

     

  • Bryan Helm

    Statistical Genetic Analyst II

    PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona

    Research interests include: rare pediatric cancers (germline predisposition, biomarkers, precision medicine), bioinformatics, genomics, transcriptomics, advanced data analysis, data science, R

     

     

  • Brant Imhoff

    Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)

    Research interests include: sports science, time series analysis

  • Rebecca Irlmeier

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

    Research interests include: continuous quality improvement in healthcare; clinical prediction models and real-time implementation to improve patient outcomes; omics research, including high-dimensional genotyping, transcriptomic, and proteomic data; deep phenotyping data; design and analysis of clinical trials; survival analysis; longitudinal analysis; machine learning and artificial intelligence

    For more information: biostat.app.vumc.org/RebeccaIrlmeier

  • Amir Javid

    Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, Oklahoma State University • PhD, Civil Engineering, Oklahoma State University

    Research experience includes: flood detection and monitoring, tree failure detection, drought monitoring with machine learning models

  • Cathy Jenkins

    Lead Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, University of North Carolina

    Winner of the 2014 Linda Stewart Applied Analysis Report Award, presented annually in recognition of an exceptional statistical analysis report written by a staff biostatistician

  • Omair A. Khan

    Senior Biostatistician

    Master of Applied Statistics, Pennsylvania State University 

    Accredited Professional Statistician, American Statistical Association

    Primary collaboration: Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer's Center

    Research interests include: developing solutions to minimize the challenges associated with collaborations between statisticians and other scientists; cognitive linguistics among individuals with autism
     

  • Jess Lai

    Senior Program Manager

    Research programs include: ACTIV-6, IVY-4, IVY-5, and various cross-departmental and multi-site data coordinating center projects

  • Aaron Lee

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

  • Yajing Li

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, University of Michigan

  • Xiao Liu

    Statistical Genetic Analyst II

    PhD, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Ohio University

    Xiao Liu develops and applies bioinformatics tools to process, analyze, and interpret high throughput datasets, including DNA-seq, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and single cell RNA-seq. He collaborates with groups across the institution to support research projects. His research seeks to identify the gene signatures associated with complex diseases, with emphases on colorectal cancer and Crohn’s disease.

  • Cara Lwin

    Associate Biostatistician

    BS, Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh

    PhD student, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

    Vice President, Biostatistics Graduate Student Association

     

  • Trey McGonigle

    Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, University of California, Riverside

     

  • Elizabeth McNeer

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

     

  • Ryan Moore

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University

    Primary collaborations: Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy; Advanced Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AVAIL). Co-investigator, "Predicting risk of systemic autoimmune disease in patients with positive antinuclear antibodies" (PI: April Barnardo)

    Winner of the 2021 Linda Stewart Applied Analysis Report Award, presented annually in recognition of an exceptional statistical analysis report written by a staff biostatistician, for "Patient-centered services to improve specialty medication adherence: A randomized clinical trial"

    Organizer of the department's Statistical Computing Series

  • Samuel Nwosu

    Lead Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Middle Tennessee State University

  • Onur Orun

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, Colorado State University

    MS, Mathematics, Bilkent University, Turkey

    Primary collaboration: The Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center

    Winner of the 2019 Linda Stewart Applied Analysis Report Award, presented annually in recognition of an exceptional statistical analysis report written by a staff biostatistician, for "Vitamin D to Improve Outcomes by Leveraging Early Treatment: Long-term Brain Outcomes in Vitamin D Deficient Patients (VIOLET-BUD)"

  • Amy Perkins

    Lead Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh

  • Marisol Ramirez-Solano

    Statistical Genetic Analyst III, Department of Biostatistics
    Core Facility Manager and Senior Bioinformatics Analyst, VANGARD

    MS, Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

    Research interests include: small RNA sequencing and single-cell sequencing data

  • Paridhi Ranadive

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, University of North Carolina

    Skills and certifications include: categorical, longitudinal data, and survival analysis; sample size and power calculation; OLS, GLM and web scraping; machine learning; signal and image processing

    Research interests include: imaging, air pollution, epidemiology

     

     

  • Yaping Shi

    Lead Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, University of Iowa

    Research interests include: prediction modeling, categorical data, mixed effects modeling, time-to-event data, repeated measures, longitudinal data.

     

  • In Hae (Ine) Sohn

    Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, North Carolina State University

    Collaborations include: Respiratory Virus Transmission Network (RVTN), Influenza and Other Viruses in the Acutely Ill (IVY-4)

    Research interests include: clinical trials, longitudinal data analysis, data management

  • Joey Stolze

    Statistical Genetic Analyst II

    PhD, Genetics, University of Arizona

  • Tess Stopczynski

    Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, University of Vermont

    Research interests include: infectious diseases, survival analysis, categorical data analysis, trials design

    Areas of collaboration: pediatric infectious diseases, neonatology, hematology

     

  • Lili Sun

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, Middle Tennessee State University

    PhD, Crop Science, Zhejiang University

    Research interests include: cancer immunotherapy, clinical endpoint, drug development

  • (Sydney) Afan Swan

    Health Services Research Analyst

    MPH, Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

    Primary collaboration: IVY-4 (Influenza and Other Viruses in the Acutely Ill)

    Research interests include: epidemiology, molecular biology, and bacteriology

     

  • Guanchao Wang

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics, University of Minnesota

    Research interests include: Bayesian approaches to meta-analysis

  • Li Wang

    Lead Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics and Biological Engineering, University of Georgia

    Primary collaboration: Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR).

    Research interests include: clinical prediction models, pragmatic clinical trials, statistical computing, mixed-effects models, time-to-event analysis

  • Yu Wang

    Staff Scientist

    PhD, Crop Science (Bioinformatics branch), Zhejiang University

    Research interests include: bioinformatics, population genetics, molecular evolution, non-coding small RNAs, translation informatics, immunotherapy in cancer.

  • Ke Xu

    Biostatistician

    MS, Biostatistics and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida

    Research experience includes: multiomics, EHRs, surveys

  • Meng Xu

    Lead Biostatistician

    MS, Statistics, University of Idaho

     

  • Zhihong Yu

    Senior Biostatistician

    MS, Applied Statistics, Purdue University

    PhD, Chemical Biology, Nankai University (China)

    Research interests include: generalized linear models; mixed effects modeling; longitudinal data analysis; categorical data analysis; time-to-event data analysis; computer-assisted drug discovery