Author
Editorial by Benjamin French in JAMA Pediatrics
Apr. 21, 2025—Professor of biostatistics and director of graduate studies Benjamin French is senior author of “Type 1 Error Control—Avoiding an Upset,” published online on April 21, 2025, in JAMA Pediatrics. Co-authored by University of Utah statistician John VanBuren, the editorial discusses how “using a common type I error rate across studies allows for ‘consistency, fairness and transparency’ when...
A rankings explainer
Apr. 11, 2025—Q: The Biostatistics Graduate Program at Vanderbilt University appears in some US News and World Report (USNWR) surveys and not others. What’s up with that? A: USNWR employs a variety of criteria and timelines for its “Best Schools” lists. Our program was last included in a survey of best doctoral programs in 2022, which has historically been...
Vanderbilt Biostatistics at ENAR 2025
Mar. 21, 2025—The ENAR 2025 Spring Meeting is taking place in New Orleans from March 23 through March 26. Here are some of the sessions our students, staff, faculty, and alumni are involved with: Sunday, March 23 8:00 pm – Posters: Clinical Trials Max Rohde (PhD 2025): Increasing Statistical Efficiency Using Ordinal Transition Models: A Simulation Study...
Kaidi Kang wins 2025 Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award
Mar. 20, 2025—Kaidi Kang has been named a recipient of Vanderbilt University’s Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award, which “recognizes doctoral students who exhibit exceptional academic excellence in publications, awards, patents, and other forms of national or international distinction.” Kang, who successfully defended his dissertation earlier this month, has delivered ten invited talks to date, first-authored papers in Nature...
Max Rohde dissertation defense – March 20
Mar. 18, 2025—PhD candidate Maximilian Rohde will present his dissertation on Thursday, March 20, at 9 a.m. Central Time. His advisor is Frank Harrell. All are invited and encouraged to attend. The defense will be conducted on Zoom; for access, contact the department at biostatistics[at]vumc[dot]org. Maximizing statistical efficiency in clinical trials: ordinal longitudinal models and two-stage designs...
Kaidi Kang dissertation defense – March 10
Feb. 24, 2025—PhD candidate Kaidi Kang will present his dissertation on Monday, March 10, at 1 p.m. Central Time. His advisor is Simon Vandekar. All are invited and encouraged to attend. The defense will be conducted in Suite 1020, Room 10105 (10th floor conference room) at 2525 West End Avenue. It will also be streamed on Zoom;...
Huiding Eric Chen wins ASA Student Paper Award
Jan. 21, 2025—Congratulations to PhD candidate Huiding “Eric” Chen on the selection of “Synthetic Sampling Weights for Volunteer-Based National Biobanks: A Case Study with the All of Us Research Program” as one of five winning papers in the 2025 Student Paper Competition sponsored by American Statistical Association’s Consortium of Sections. The consortium consists of the ASA’s Government...
Jamie Joseph is first author of Child Abuse & Neglect paper
Jan. 2, 2025—Congratulations to 2024 graduate Jamie Joseph, PhD, on the publication of “Analysis of longitudinal patterns of child maltreatment reports in the United States,” which was published online ahead of print on December 24; it is scheduled to appear in the February 2025 issue of Child Abuse & Neglect. Associate professor Rameela Raman is senior and corresponding author...
Congratulations to our December 2024 graduate
Dec. 12, 2024—We are thrilled to celebrate the graduation of Tianyi Sun, whose distinguished career as a doctoral student at Vanderbilt officially comes to a close this Saturday, December 14. Her dissertation, Addressing Statistical Challenges in Implementing Real-World Evidence-Based Risk Prediction Models into EHR Systems, was supervised by adviser Dandan Liu and will be available to read...
Kaidi Kang is first author of Nature paper
Nov. 27, 2024—Congratulations to PhD candidate Kaidi Kang on the publication of “Study design features increase replicability in brain-wide association studies” in Nature. Associate professor Simon Vandekar is senior corresponding author. Co-authors include PhD candidates Jiangmei Ruby Xiong and Megan Taylor Jones, associate professor Ran Tao, and professor Jonathan Schildcrout, plus colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the...