Biostatistics Alumni - MS

Thesis: Cumulative Probability Models for Semiparametric G-Computation

Advisor: Andrew Spieker

BA, Mathematics, Washington and Lee University

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2021. Currently Senior Biostatistician.

Thesis: Using Statistical Learning Methods for Better Spectrum Classification

Advisor: Ming Li

BS, Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University

At Meta since 2022. Currently Senior Machine Learning Engineer.

Thesis: Medication Adherence: Definitions, Calculations, and Statistical Modeling Strategies

Advisor: Leena Choi

BS, Genetics, University of California, Davis

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2018. Currently Principal Biostatistician.

Thesis: Strategies and Considerations for Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Regression Modeling

Advisor: Andrew Spieker

BS, Biology (minor in Statistics), Colby College

At Frist Center for Autism and Innovation since 2024. Currently Research Statistician.

Thesis: Likelihood Approaches for Evaluating Bioequivalence for Highly Variable Drugs

Advisor: Leena Choi

PhD, Chemical Engineering, Vanderbilt University; MS, Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University; BS, Chemical Engineering, Dalian University

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2005. Currently Research Assistant Professor of Biostatistics.

Thesis: Development of prognostic model for breast cancer in Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study (SBCSS)

Advisor: Fei Ye

PhD, Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2015. Currently Principal Biostatistician.

Thesis: Conditional Associations with Big Data: Estimating Adjusted Rank Correlations in the Electronic Health Record

Advisor: Bryan Shepherd

PhD, Theoretical Physics, Vanderbilt University; BS, Physics, Harbin Institute

At Amazon since 2017. Currently Senior Research Scientist.

Thesis: A Data Adaptive Estimator for the Average Treatment Effect Based on Inverse Probability Weighting

Advisor: Robert E. Johnson

MEd, Quantitative Methods, Vanderbilt University; BA, Mathematics and Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Thesis: Sampling Considerations in Intensive Longitudinal Data

Advisor: Matt Shotwell

BS, Biochemistry (minors in Mathematics and Applied Statistics), Western Kentucky University 

At University of Kentucky since 2024. Currently Biomedical Data Science Assistant.

Thesis: A Statistical Critique of Normalization Methods in Basic Science Research

Advisor: Dan Ayers

BA, Applied Math & Statistics (minor in Biology; concentration in Community and Global Health), Macalester College

At AstraZeneca since 2022. Currently Senior Statistician.

Thesis: Likelihood Paradigm on Multiple Subjects with Task-Induced fMRI Data

Advisor: Matt Shotwell

BS, Financial Mathematics (minor in Neuroscience), University of Mount Union 

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2020. Currently Senior Biostatistician.

Thesis: Impact of Delayed Event Time on Cox and Logistic Regression Models and Its Application to GWAS

Advisor: Cindy Chen

BS, Biological Engineering, University of Missouri

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2020. Currently Senior Biostatistician.

Thesis: A Simulated Exploration of Alternatives to Standard Expansion Cohorts in Phase 1 Trials

Advisor: Tatsuki Koyama

BS, Chemistry, Union University

Thesis: Evaluating uses of machine learning in propensity score estimation on time-to-event data: A simulation study

Advisor: Amber Hackstadt

BS, Public Health, California State University, Los Angeles

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2022. Currently Senior Biostatistician.

Thesis: A Bayesian framework to integrate genomic annotations for identification of Autism risk genes

Advisor: Ran Tao

PhD, Human Genetics, Vanderbilt University; BS, Biology/Biological Sciences, Tsinghua University

At Meta since 2021. Currently Data Scientist.

Thesis: A Comparison of Approaches for Unplanned Sample Size Changes in Phase II Clinical Trials

Advisor: Tatsuki Koyama

BS, Statistics, University of Minnesota, Morris

At Sportradar since 2022. Currently Data Scientist.

Thesis: Evaluating Hypoglycemic Risk of Two Basal Insulin Delivery Methods for Type 1 Diabetes: A Comparison of Tresiba Insulin against Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion using Data from Continuous Glucose Monitors

Advisor: Jeffrey Blume

BA, Classics, Davidson College

At the time of his death in 2020, Ben Lane was a data scientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Thesis: Evaluation of Methods for Survival Analysis in the Presence of Extremely Few Events Per Variable

Advisor: Cindy Chen

BS, Mathematics, Northern Arizona University

At Sarah Cannon since 2018. Currently Statistical Programmer.

Thesis: The Impact of Inherent Measurement Error in the Hemagglutination Inhibition Assay for the Evaluation of Vaccine Immunogenicity

Advisor: Andrew Spieker

BS, Mathematics (minors in Sociology and Philosophy), Drake University

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2021. Currently Senior Biostatistician.

Thesis: Evaluation of supervised learning approaches for assessing heterogeneity of treatment effect in clinical trials

Advisor: Bryan Blette

BA, Biology (minors in Community and Global Health and Geography), Macalester College

Biostatistics Graduate Student Association: first-year liaison / outreach chair, 2023–2024; vice president, 2024–2025

Thesis: Deriving Confidence Sets for Effect Sizes Using Simultaneous Confidence Intervals

Advisor: Simon Vandekar

BS, Statistics (minor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), University of Tennessee–Knoxville

At University of Minnesota since 2024. Currently Biostatistician.

Thesis: Bayesian Survival Analysis Using Data from Electronic Health Records: A Study on Cardiovascular Outcomes Leveraging Information from Randomized Clinical Trials

Advisor: Amber Hackstadt

BS, Microbiology (minors in Chemistry, Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Economics), University of Pittsburgh

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2022. Currently Biostatistician.

Thesis: Evaluating Chart Review Strategies Using Electronic Health Record Data in the Context of Risk Prediction Modeling

Advisor: Dandan Liu

BS, Mathematics and Biology, Mississippi College

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2018. Currently Principal Biostatistician.

Thesis: The Second Generation Acceptability Curve: A Novel Visualization Approach to Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Advisor: Andrew Spieker

BS Mathematics & BA Ancient Studies, Washington University

At NIH Center for Cancer Research since 2024. Currently Biostatistician.

Thesis: Prediction of Accelerometer Activity through Statistical Modeling and Machine Learning

Advisor: Leena Choi

BA, Neurobiology, College of Wooster

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2022. Currently Senior Biostatistician.

Thesis: Assessment of Propensity Score Performance in Small Samples

Advisor: Tatsuki Koyama

PhD, Biostatistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst; MS, Public Health Sciences, Penn State University; BS, Psychology (Cognitive and Neuroscience focus), Davidson College

At Emory University since 2020. Currently Research Assistant Professor of Biostatistics.

Thesis: Prediction of disease severity in Jordanian patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the presence of missingness

Advisor: Andrew Spieker

BS, Biology (Applied Statistics minor), Western Kentucky University

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2022. Currently Biostatistician.

Thesis: Impact of Severity of Illness on Health State Transitions During Intensive Care Unit Admission: Application of Markov Multi-State Transition Modeling

Advisor: Frank Harrell

MS, Evidence-Based Health Care, University of Oxford; MBA and MPH, Rutgers University; MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery), University of Ibadan

At Williamson Health. Currently Hospitalist.

Thesis: Outcome Misclassification in Logistic Regression: Examining Hospitalization Risk and its Association with Health Literacy

Advisor: Jonathan Schildcrout

BS, Mathematics (Biology and Scientific Computing minors), Vanderbilt University

At Chiesi since 2024. Currently Senior Data Scientist, Rare Diseases.

Thesis: Improving Drug Sensitivity Prediction and Inference by Multitask Learning

Advisor: Amir Asiaee

BS, Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

At Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 2024. Currently Biostatistician.

Thesis: Assessing Risk Score Calculation in the Presence of Uncollected Risk Factors

Advisor: Dandan Liu

BA, University of Minnesota

At UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) since 2018. Currently Biostatistician.
 

Thesis: Identifying Patterns of Abridged Life Table Elements

Advisor: Robert Johnson

BS, Mathematics, Belmont University

At University of Tennessee since 2020. Currently PhD student, Data Science & Engineering.

Thesis: A Modified Random Forest Kernel for Highly Nonstationary Gaussian Process Regression with Application to Clinical Data

Advisor: Christopher Fonnesbeck

MPH, Yale University; MD, Vanderbilt University; PhD, Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University; BA, Baylor University

At Bassett Healthcare Network since 2024. Currently Associate Chief Medical Informatics Officer.

Thesis: A Bayesian Model for Brain Network Functional Connectivity using PyMC3

Advisor: Hakmook Kang

PhD, Physics, Vanderbilt University; BS, Physics, Nanjing University

At Uber since 2022. Currently Machine Learning Engineer.

Thesis: Residual-based Test of Conditional Association between Continuous and Ordinal Variables with Application to Genome-wide Association Studies

Advisor: Bryan Shepherd

PhD, Epidemiology, University of Washington; BS, Biochemistry, Mount St. Joseph University

At Elevance Health since 2024. Currently Senior Researcher.

Thesis: Properties of Variance Estimators in Finite Sample Sizes

Advisor: Andrew Spieker

MS, Epidemiology, Imperial College London; BA, English and Spanish, University of St. Andrews

At Meta since 2024. Currently Data Scientist IV.

Thesis: A Pipeline for High-Throughput Drug Screening

Advisor: Amir Asiaee

BA, Chemistry and Psychology (minor in Mathematics), Washington & Jefferson College 

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2023. Currently Biostatistician.

Thesis: Talking About My Care: Detecting Mentions of Hormonal Therapy Adherence Behavior From an Online Breast Cancer Community

Advisor: Qingxia "Cindy" Chen

PhD, Computer Science, Vanderbilt University; ME and BE, Computer Science and Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications 

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2018. Currently Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Computer Science.

Thesis: Sparse Network-regularized Nonnegative Matrix Factorization and Applications to Tumor Subtyping

Advisor: Yu Shyr

PhD, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Idaho; MS, Mathematics, University of Idaho; BS, Computational Mathematics, Nanjing University

At Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2015. Currently Research Assistant Professor of Medicine.