Biostatistics and Data Science

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Dissertation Defenses

Dissertation Defenses

Dissertation Defense: Yunxi Zhang

Thursday, July 19th, 2018

Variable Selection and Imputation for High-Dimensional Incomplete Data: Missing data are an inevitable problem in data with a large number of variables. The presence of missing data obstructs the implementation of the existing variable selection methods. This is especially an issue for data with limited number of observations or no complete case. Applicable and efficient selection with imputation methods is needed for such data to obtain valid results. The goal of this study is to propose approaches to select important variables from incomplete high-dimensional data. This study involves using the joint model for imputation in high dimensional settings, and the clustering strategy is employed for the final subset selection. In addition, we take mixed data with both continuous and binary variables into account by their normal approximations. The approaches are applied on clinical trial data from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease Long-term Study 1 (NET-PD LS-1). Simulation study and analysis results are presented and compared with other possible approaches. The proposed approaches can be applied on data from diverse types of clinical trials or biomedical datasets.

Keywords: missing data; variable selection; data augmentation; high-dimensional data; mixed data.

Biostatistics Degree Programs

The Biostatistics Department of the UTHealth School of Public Health (SPH) offers graduate studies leading to the Master of Science (MS) and Master of Public Health (MPH) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees.

Biostatistics is a discipline encompassing the study and development of statistical, mathematical, and computer methods applied to the biological and health sciences. Biostatisticians play a key role in the design, conduct and analysis of research studies of health and disease. There is ample opportunity for experience in consulting and collaborative research. Alumni of the Biostatistics program are prominent in academia, industry and government.

Minors for all degree programs can be selected from the Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Epidemiology and Disease Control and/or Management, Policy and Community Health Departments. In addition to courses at UTHealth SPH, a wide variety of courses are available through cross registration with other schools and institutions in the Texas Medical Center as well as Rice University and the University of Houston.

Master of Science (MS)

The MS program is 36 hours, including 6 hours max of thesis (and practicum), which generally takes two years to complete. The MS program includes a sequence of courses in basic statistical theory and methods, research design and data analysis. All MS students take a minor in a field of application other than biostatistics.

Admission Requirements

  • Undergraduate degree in statistics, mathematics, computer science, or one of the physical, biological, or social sciences
  • At least a B average (on a 4.0 system) in prior academic work
  • Requires calculus and linear algebra
  • Satisfactory score on Graduate Records Exam (GRE)

Master of Public Health (MPH)

The MPH in biostatistics is a basic professional degree in public health with concentration in biostatistics. The majority of full-time students take

approximately 18 to 24 months to complete the degree, with 45 hours including 6 hours of thesis and practicum combined. Requirements of the MPH degree are: completion of coursework; a planned, supervised and evaluated practice experience; and a culminating experience demonstrating a substantial knowledge of public health.

Admission Requirements

  • Should have strong interest in public health applications and in quantitative methods
  • Undergraduate degree in statistics, mathematics, computer science, or one of the physical, biological, or social sciences
  • Satisfactory score on GRE
  • Have minimum of a BS degree
  • Requires calculus

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The PhD program requires at least two additional years beyond the master level program. All UTHealth SPH PhD students must complete a minimum of 48 credits, including 9 hours of dissertation and practicum . The PhD program emphasizes advanced statistical theory and application, statistical consulting, and independent research. All PhD students are required to choose one minor and one area of breadth in fields of application other than biostatistics.

Admission Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in mathematics or statistics or MS degree in the theory and applications of biostatistics, mathematics, statistics or equivalent is required
  • Requires calculus and linear algebra
  • Satisfactory score on GRE

Minor in Biostatistics

The division also offers a minor course of study for MS, DrPH and PhD students majoring in other public health disciplines. Courses for the minor of a MS student, include at least PH 1700 (Intermediate Biostatistics) and two biostatistics courses above PH1700. Courses for the minor of a PhD or DrPH student, include at least PH 1700 (Intermediate Biostatistics) and three biostatistics courses above PH1700. PH 1820 (Applied Statistical Analysis I) is strongly recommended for the minor for all degree program.


Admissions

Dejian Lai, PhD

Professor of Biostatistics
Faculty Admissions Representative
(713) 500-9270
Dejian.Lai@uth.tmc.edu

Stacie Willis

Coordinator of Admissions and Alumni Affairs
(713) 500-9521
Stacie.Willis@uth.tmc.edu

Master of Science (MS)

MS Degree Planner (MS Word)

Tutorials for Math and Statistics Resource

MS Competencies

Master of Public Health (MPH)

MPH Degree Planner (MS Word)

MPH Competencies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Guidelines for Doctoral Qualifying Exam

Guidelines for the new doctoral exam, as approved by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

  1. All doctoral students entering in August 2010 or after will follow this new policy and take the new preliminary exam, oral defense and dissertation defense.  The Department of Biostatistics preliminary exam will include both take-home and in-class portions. The take-home portion will typically focus on material covered in PH 1820, PH1821, PH1830 and PH1831 and is a two-day exam. The in-class exam will focus on material covered in PH1910, PH1911, PH 1915 and PH1951, is a four-hour exam and students are allowed to bring text books and lecture notes pertinent to the recommended courses listed above. All doctoral students entering before August 2010 can choose either the new system or the old system. If you choose the new system, all rules on the new system should be followed. If you choose the old system, you will take the qualifying exam after completing 30 credit hours and demonstrating that you fulfill the requirements of the minor and the breadth. However, if your qualifying exam takes place after January 2011, your biostatistics portion will be the same format as the preliminary exam according to the new system. January 2011 will be the last time the department will give the old format of qualifying exam for biostatistics students.
  2. Those under the old exam system are expected to take biostatistics courses suggested by your advisory committee to meet the requirements of the degree program, regardless of which biostatistics exam you will take. Those under the new exam system are still expected to take additional biostatistics courses (beyond those recommended above) as well as the minor and breadth courses after the preliminary exam as you develop your proposal under the supervision of your dissertation committee.
  3. The biostatistics preliminary exam will be given once a year in August.
  4. It is the School’s policy that a student who failed twice on preliminary exam (new system) or qualifying exam (old system) can not stay in the doctoral program.

Addendum to PhD Students-Teaching Requirements

Doctoral students are required to obtain some teaching experience on biostatistics courses for majors for at least one semester. A typical example is to serve as a teaching assistant for a high level course in biostatistics after they complete the preliminary exam.

Requirements for Thesis/Dissertation

The dissertation should be in a paper format and is supposed to include two submitted papers. A dissertation proposal defense is required before the student advances to doctoral candidacy. For submitted papers, only the dissertation chair needs to verify. For further information about  Dissertation and Thesis Proposal.

PhD Degree Planner (MS Word)

Tutorials for Math and Statistics Resource

PhD Competencies

Career

Opportunities Abound

Career opportunities abound in the field of biostatistics throughout academia, industry and government. Examples include the pharmaceutical industry, the chemical industry, medical research centers, schools of public health, medical schools and government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, state and local health departments, and the World Health Organization

Applying Biostatistics In…

Biomedical Research

Improved medical treatments and devices rely on careful experiments that compare promising new methods with current techniques. Biostatisticians work on clinical trials and other experiments to formulate scientific questions, determine appropriate sampling techniques, coordinate data collection procedures, and carry out statistical analyses.

Genetics

Statistics has been used in human genetics to create automated methods of labeling possible indicators of genetic abnormalities, such as birth defects and early aging. Genetics also has been used in breeding to produce desirable characteristics in offspring. Using complex statistical models, statisticians aid in formulating sound decisions by sorting out the environmental effects from the genetic.

Epidemiology

Epidemiological statisticians work on projects such as calculating cancer incidence rates or the rates of chronic and infectious diseases; monitoring and reporting on disease outbreaks; and monitoring changes in health-related behaviors, such as smoking and physical activity. Fields of practice include pharmacoepidemiology and nutritional, environmental, genetic, and social epidemiology.

Source: American Statistical Association

lab staff viewing test tubes

Faculty members in the Department of Biostatistics have led and contributed to the development of statistical methods for many areas including clinical trial design and analysis, Bayesian statistics, statistical genomics and genetics, statistical learning methodology and applications, stochastic processes, longitudinal and correlated data analysis, and bioinformatics. These methods are applied to a wide range of problems including hypertension, stem cells, cancer, cervical cancer detection using optical spectroscopy, US-Mexico border health issues, environmental health, prevention of HIV, molecular evolution and phylogenetics, vision research, and Parkinson’s disease. In addition, Biostatistics faculty have led and contributed to important public health projects that have made a difference in people s lives.

Biostatistics faculty members conduct research in:

  • Statistical genetics applications of statistical methods to bioinformatics
  • Occupational and environmental exposures in the etiology of adult leukemia
  • Inter-uterine growth through ultrasound measurement
  • Analysis of infant mortality in developing countries
  • Queuing models for emergency medical services
  • Stochastic modeling of movement through the health care system
  • Health effects of air pollution
  • Analysis of health services utilization and health care technology assessment

Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials

ALLHAT mapThe mission of the Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials (CCCT) is to improve public health by providing leadership in designing, conducting, coordinating and reporting large multicenter clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of disease and other medical conditions. Using a collaborative approach involving clinical trials, biostatistics, epidemiology, medicine, health services and health promotion, the CCCT makes important contributions to medical, statistical and clinical trials knowledge.

Current CCCT research areas are:

  • Cardiovascular cell therapy research
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Early treatment of retinopathy of prematurity
  • Antihypertensive and lipid lowering treatment to prevent heart attack
  • Early treatment of acute spinal cord injury

Computing Power

UTHealth School of Public Health operates its own computer facility dedicated to research and education. Networks of servers support UNIX-based systems and Windows-based systems for simulation. A wide variety of state-of-the-art statistical software is available to students and WiFi is also available on campus. Computer Services staff are available to aid students in using the equipment, the various analytical and data management software packages, and the large library of health information research databases.

FACULTY

Folefac AtemFolefac Atem

Assistant Professor
Dallas Regional Campus
PostDoc, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 2014
Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA, 2010

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

    • Modeling Longitudinal Studies
    • Single And Multiple Imputation
    • Clinical Trial Designs
    • Diagnostics Testing
    • Regression Diagnostic

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Folefac D. Atem, Julius S. Ngwa , Abidemi Adeniji: Regression models for mixed over-dispersed Poisson and continuous clustered data: Modeling BMI and number of cigarette smokes per day. JMASM MS 1300 issue 11 2012.

Greenspan, Robin L, Suprenant, Valmore, Atem, Folefac D. Visualization of Distal Spinal Cord on F-18 FDG PET/CT. Clinical Nuclear Medicine. Feb 2012. Vol 37- Issue 2 p 137-141.

Roy Cho, Venkatram Srinivasan, Nosheen Javed, Darren Traub, Sobhan Kodali and Folefac D. Atem. A review of the Hydrate Trial. Cardiology Treatment Strategies Cardiology Vol 3 Issue 1 2011 (64-65).

Wenyaw ChanWenyaw Chan

Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1984

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

    • Stochastic Modeling
    • Longitudinal Studies

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Barry R. DavisBarry R. Davis

Barry R. Davis, M.D., Ph.D.
Guy S. Parcel Chair in Public Health
Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Biostatistics
Director, Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials

M.D. University of California, San Diego School of Medicine La Jolla, California, 1977
Ph.D., Applied Mathematics Brown University Providence, Rhode Island, 1982

RESEARCH INTEREST: Development And Applications Of Statistical Methods To Clinical Trials And Epidemiology

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Stacia DeSantisStacia DeSantis

Associate Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. Harvard University, 2007

RESEARCH INTEREST:

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Weng Y, Palesch Y, DeSantis SM, Zhao W. Assessing the impact of safety monitoring on the efficacy analysis in large phase III group sequential trials with non-trivial safety event rate, Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics, in press.

DeSantis, SM, #Zhu, H. (2014). Bayesian mixed treatment comparisons meta-analysis of treatments for alcohol dependence and implications for planning future trials, Medical Decision Making, Epub.

Luo S, #Xiao S, DeSantis SM, Huang X, Yi M, Hunt K. (2014). Joint model for a misclassified outcome in the presence of a dependent terminal event, Statistics in Medicine, Epub.

DeSantis, SM, Lazaridis, C, Ji, S, Spinale, FG. (2014). Modeling propensity matched zero-inflated count outcomes in observational studies, Journal of Applied Statistics, Epub.

Joseph J, Thomas K, Zhu X, DeSantis SM, Lee DC, Jiang Y, Lynam D. Influence of neurobehavioral incentive valence and magnitude on alcohol drinking behavior, NeuroImage, Epub.

Ralph F. FrankowskiRalph F. Frankowski

Professor Emeritus
Houston Campus
Ph.D. The University of Michigan, Rackham Graduate School, Ann Arbor, MI, 1967

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Grossman RG, Frankowski RF, Burau KD, Toups EG, Crommett JW, Johnson MM, Fehlings MG, Tator CH, Shaffrey CI, Harkema SJ, Hodes JE, Aarabi B, Rosner MK, Guest JD, and Harrop JS. Incidence and Severity of Acute Complications after Spinal Cord Injury. J. Neurosurg Spine (Suppl) 17:119-128, 2012. DOI: 10.3171/2012.5.AOSPINE12127

Chow DSL, Teng Y, Toups EG, Aarabi B, Harrop JS, Shaffrey CI, Johnson MM, Boakye M, Frankowski RF, Fehlings MG, and Grossman RG. Pharmacology of Riluzole in Acute Spinal Cord Injury. J. Neurosurg Spine (Suppl) 17:129-140, 2012. DOI: 10.3171/2012.5.AOSPINE12112

Fehlings MG, Wilson JR, Frankowski RF, Toups EG, Aarabi B, Harrop JS, Shaffrey CI, Harkema SJ, Guest JD, Tator CH, Burau KD, Johnson MW, and Grossman RG. Riluzole for the Treatment of Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: rationale for and design of the NACTN Phase I Clinical Trial. J. Neurosurg Spine (Suppl) 17:151-156, 2012 DOI: 10.3171/2012.4.AOSPINE1259

Grossman RG, Fehlings MG, Frankowski RF, Burau KD, Chow Diana, Tator C, Teng A, Toups EG, Harrop JS, Aarabi B, Shaffrey CI, Johnson MM, Harkema SJ, Boakye M, Guest JD, Wilson JR. A Prospective Multicenter Phase 1 Comparison Group Trial of Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Preliminary Efficacy of Riluzole in Patients with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Journal of Neurotrauma 31:239-255 (February 1, 2014) DOI: 10.1089/neu.2013.2969

Yun-Xin FuYun-Xin Fu

Betty Wheless Trotter Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. University of Reading, England 1988

RESEARCH INTEREST: Human population history and human genome diversity Population and quantitative genetics, conservation biology Coalescent theory and its applications Statistics/Mathematics Evolution of infectious disease Phylogenetic reconstruction and molecular evolution Computational biology, comparative genomics and functional genomics

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Robert J. HardyRobert J. Hardy

Professor Emeritus
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley 1969

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

    • Biometrical Methods
    • Statistical Epidemiology
    • Clinical Trials

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Lai D and Hardy RJ:  Measuring the Impact of HIV/AIDS Diseases of Heart and Malignant Neoplasms on Life Expectancy in the United States from 1987 to 1999.  Joint Meetings of the American Statistical Association and the Biometric Society, San Francisco, CA 2003.

Hardy RJ:  ETROP Multicenter Study Group.  Risk Analysis Model for Eyes with Prethreshold ROP.  The Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting In Ft. Lauderdale, FL 2004.

Hardy RJ:  ETROP Multicenter Study Group.  Design Features:  ETROP Study.  The Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting In Ft. Lauderdale, FL 2004.

Hardy RJ and Good WV:  Six Year Final Outcome Results for the Early Treatment of Retinopathy of Prematurity Study.  American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS), Spring meeting in Orlando, FL (April) 2010.

Byun J, Lai D, Luo S and Hardy RJ:  A Hybrid Method in Combining Treatment Effects from Matched and Unmatched Studies.  Joint Meetings of the  American Statistical Association and the Biometric Society, August 2010.

Asha S. KapadiaAsha S. Kapadia

Professor Emeritus
Ph.D, Harvard University, 1969

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Manoop S. Bhutani,MD,FASGE,FACG,FACP, Vitor N. Arantes,MD, Jazbieh Moezzi,MD, Dharmendra Verma MD, Asha Kapadia PhD,et.al Histopathologic Correlation of Endoscopic Ultrasound Findings of Chronic Pancreatitis in Human Autopsies. Pancreas,2009

Indreshpal Kaur, Elizabeth R. Simons, Asha S. Kapadia, C. Mark Ott and Duane L. Pierson Effect of Spaceflight on the ability of monocytes to respond to Gram negative endotoxin. Clinical and vaccine Immunology, 2008

P Gotovtseva ; Asha S Kapadia; Michael H Smolensky; David R Lairson Optimal Frequency of Imiquimod (Aldara) 5% cream for the treatment of external genital warts in immunocompetent adults: a meta analysis by : Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2007

Dejian Lai, Jin Huang,Jan M Risser, Asha S Kapadia , Statistical Properties of Generalized Gini Coefficient with Application to Health Inequality Measurement, Social Indicators Research, 2007

Soeun KimSoeun Kim

Assistant Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 2011

RESEARCH INTEREST:

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Kim S, Sugar CA, Belin TR. Evaluating model-based imputation methods for missing covariates in regression models with interactions. Statistics in Medicine, 2015; doi: 10.1002/sim.6435

Kim SE, Lee W. Does McNemar's test compare the sensitivities and specificities of two diagnostic tests? Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 2014; pii: 0962280214541852

Layne, C.M., Greeson, J.K.P., Kim, Soeun, Ostrowski, S.A., Reading, S., Vivrette, R.L., Briggs, E.C., Fairbank, J.A., & Pynoos, R.S. (2014). Links between trauma exposure and adolescent high-risk health behaviors: Findings from the NCTSN Core Data Set. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 6(Suppl 1), 2014, S40-S49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037799.

Greeson J, Briggs E, Layne C, Belcher H, Ostrowski S, Kim S, Lee R, Amaya-Jackson L, Pynoos R, Fairbank J. Traumatic Childhood Experiences in the 21st Century: Broadening & Building on the ACE Studies with Data from the NCTSN, J Interpersonal Violence, 2014.

Kiser LJ, Stover CS, Navalta CP, Dorado J, Vogel JM, Abdul-Adil JK, Kim S, Lee RC, Vivrette R, Briggs EC. Effects of the child-perpetrator relationship on mental health outcomes of child abuse: it's (not) all relative. Child Abuse Negl. 2014 Jun; 38(6):1083-93. doi: 10.1016/

Dejian LaiDejian Lai

Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX, 1994

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • Biostatistics
  • Chaos
  • Demography
  • Global Health
  • Life Table
  • Time Series Analysis
  • Nonparametric Methods
  • Spatial Statistics
  • Statistical Methods

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Luis Leon NoveloLuis Leon Novelo

Assistant Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. Rice University/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,  2009

RESEARCH INTEREST: Applications of statistical methods in biomedical studies, clinical trials and genomics. Bayesian Statistics: Model Selection, Nonparametric, Bayes Factors, Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods and Objective Bayes. Big data.

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Ruosha LiRuosha Li

Assistant Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. Emory University. 2011

RESEARCH INTEREST:

  • Survival Analysis
  • Quantile Regression
  • (Semi) Competing Risks
  • Association

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Sheng LuoSheng Luo

Associate Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University, 2008

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Zhu H*, DeSantis SM, Luo S. (2016). Joint modeling of longitudinal zero-inflated count and survival data: A Bayesian perspective, minor revision, Statistical Methods in Medical Research.

Su X*, Luo S† . (2016). Analysis of censored longitudinal data with skewness and dependent censoring, accepted by Communications in Statistics-Simulation and Computation.

Benoit J*, Chan W, Luo S, Yeh HW, Doody R. (2016). A hidden Markov model approach to analyze longitudinal ternary outcomes when some observed states are possibly misclassified, Statistics in Medicine, published online on January 18, 2016, DOI: 10.1002/sim.6861.

Wang J*, Luo S† . (2016). Augmented Beta rectangular regression models: A Bayesian perspective, Biometrical Journal, 58(1), PMID: 26289406, [** An earlier version won Jue Wang a Student Travel Award from Parkinson’s Disease Foundation in year 2014. **]

Lin L*, Luo S† , Chen BE, Davis B. (2015). Bayesian analysis of multi-type recurrent events and dependent termination with nonparametric covariate function, Statistical Methods in Medical Research, published online on November

Hongyu MiaoHongyu Miao

Associate Professor
Houston Campus
M.S., Medical Statistics, University of Rochester, Rochester, 2011
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 2007
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 2004
M.S., Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • structured dynamic system, probabilistic graphical model, differential equation model, multiscale network model, parameter estimation
  • time series, statistical learning, Monte Carlo inference, systems biology, bioinformatics
  • infectious disease, neuroimaging, drug-target interaction

Collaborations within UTSPH

  • Dr. David Lairson
  • Dr. Wenyaw Chen
  • Dr. Hulin Wu

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Lemuel A. Moye IIILemuel A. Moye III

Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. Community Health Sciences-Biometry The University of Texas School of Public Health Houston, 1987
M.S. Statistics Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana, 1980
M.D. Medicine Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, Indiana, Cornell University Medical College New York, 1978

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • Probability
  • Clinical trial research methodology

Collaborations:

Texas Heart Institute

Stanford University

Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis

University of Louisville

University of Florida-Gainsville

Minnesota Heart Institute Foundation

University of Kansas Medical Center

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Adriana PerezAdriana Perez

Associate Professor
Austin Campus
Ph.D. Tulane University, New Orleans 1996

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • Statistical Methods For Handling Missing Data
  • Statistical Methods For Epidemiological Research (Including Modeling)
  • Sampling And Sample Size Issues In Health Studies And Statistical Methods To Account For The Uncertainty Due To Measurement Error.

Email

Michael SwartzMichael Swartz

Assistant Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. Statistics Rice University, Houston, TX 2004

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • Bayesian Statistical Methods With Applications In Genetics
  • Epidemiology
  • And Behavioral Science
  • Model Averaging And Variable Selection Methods
  • Disease Risk Modeling
  • Simulation Studies To Evaluate Epidemiologic Methods

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Patrick M. TarwaterPatrick M. Tarwater

Associate Professor
El Paso Campus
Ph.D. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1999

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Drewes JL, Meulendyke KA, Lia Z, Witwer KW, Gama L, Ubaida-Mohien C, Li M, Notarangelo FM, Tarwater PM, Schwarcz R, Graham DR, Zink MC. Quinolinic acid/tryptophan ratios predict neurological disease in SIV-infected macaques and remain elevated in the brain under cART. Journal of NeuroVirology 2015; 21(4):449-463.

Walker-Sperling VEK, Cohen VJ, Tarwater PM, Blankson JN. Reactivation kinetics of HIV-1 and susceptibility of reactivated latently infected CD4+ T cells to HIV-1- specific CD8+ T cells. J. Virol 2015;89(18):9631-9638.

Dwivedi A, Mallawaarchchi I, Figueroa-Casas JB, Morales AM, Tarwater PM. Multinomial logistic regression approach to the evaluation of binary diagnostic tests in medical research. Statistics in Transition 2015; 16(2):1-20. Patrick M. Tarwater, Ph.D. Page 12

Beck SE, Queen SE, Viscidi R, Johnson D, Kent SJ, Adams RJ, Tarwater PM, Mankowski JL. Central nervous system-specific consequences of simian immunodeficiency Gag escape from major histocompatibility complex class Imediated control. Journal of NeuroVirology 2016; (in press).

Svoboda SJ, Harvey TM, Owens BD, Brechue WF, Tarwater PM, Cameron KL. The association between serum biomarkers of collagen turnover and subsequent anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Am J Sports Med 2016; (accepted).

Barbara TilleyBarbara Tilley

Lorne Bain Distinguished Professor in Public Health & Medicine
Houston Campus
Ph.D. The University of Texas School of Public Health Houston, Texas, 1981

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • Clinical Trials
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Health Disparities Research
  • Minority Health
  • And Movement Disorders

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Ningtao WangNingtao Wang

Assistant Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

RESEARCH INTEREST: Statistical Genetics and Genomics ? Computational Biology ? Latent Variable Analysis ? Network Analysis ? Data Mining and Machine Learning

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Hulin WuHulin Wu

Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. 1994

RESEARCH INTEREST: Biomedical Big Data Analytics: Complex high-dimensional data from high-throughput technologies. ? Statistical Methods and Theories for Differential Equation Models. ? High-dimensional data analysis and inference ? Computational Systems Biology and Bioinformatics: Genetic and protein network and multi-scale modeling. ? Immunological Data Analysis and Modeling: Modeling immune response to influenza and HIV infection. ? Biomathematical Modeling: Clinical trial modeling and simulations, modeling HIV RNA/cellular dynamics, dynamic prediction of antiviral responses, and modeling AIDS epidemics. ? Clinical Trials: Clinical trial design, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) study and Phase I trial design and modeling. 3 ? Longitudinal Data: Nonparametric regression methods and mixed-effects models. ? Other Statistical Methodologies: High-dimensional variable selection, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), Bayesian methods, state-space models, measurement error models, missing data, and spatial statistics. 

Email

Website

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Momiao XiongMomiao Xiong

Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. University of Georgia, 1993

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • Computational Systems Biology
  • Functional Genomics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Genetic Epidemiology
  • Statistical Genetics
  • Pharmacogenetics
  • Population Genetics

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Jose-Miguel YamalJose-Miguel Yamal

Associate Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D Rice University, Houston, TX, 2007

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • - clinical trials including running data coordinating centers and diagnostic trials

    - Statistical learning methodology and applications

    - High-dimensional data mining

    - cervical cancer

    - stroke

    - traumatic brain injury

    - hypertension

    - Early detection of disease

    - Optical technologies

Email

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

Hongjian ZhuHongjian Zhu

Assistant Professor
Houston Campus
Ph.D. University of Virginia, 2010

RESEARCH INTEREST: 

  • Clinical Trials
  • Adaptive Designs And Sequential Monitoring

Email

Website

Selected Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles

ADJUNCT FACULTY

Veera Baladandayuthapani, PhD
Primary Affiliation: MD Anderson Cancer Center
CV
Email:

Julia S. Benoit, PhD
Primary Affiliation: University of Houston
CV
Email:Julia.S.Benoit@uth.tmc.edu

Scott B Cantor, PhD
Primary Affiliation: MD Anderson Cancer Center
CV
Email:

John E. Cornell, PhD
CV
Email:John.E.Cornell@uth.tmc.edu

Judith K Dunn, PhD, MS
CV
Email:Judith.K.Dunn@uth.tmc.edu

Susan G Hilsenbeck, PhD
Primary Affiliation: Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine
CV
Email:

Xuelin Huang, PhD
Primary Affiliation: MD Anderson Cancer Center
CV
Email:

Kresimir Josic, PhD
Primary Affiliation: University of Houston
CV
Email:

J. Jack Lee, PhD
Primary Affiliation: MD Anderson Cancer Center
CV
Email:

Yuanyuan Liang, PhD
CV
Email:Yuanyuan.Liang@uth.tmc.edu

Clyde Martin, PhD
Primary Affiliation: Texas Tech University
CV
Email:

Charles Minard, PhD, MS
CV
Email:

Jing Ning, PhD
Primary Affiliation: MD Anderson Cancer Center
CV
Email:

Leif Peterson, PhD, MPH
Primary Affiliation: The Methodist Hospital Research Institute
CV
Email:Leif.Peterson@uth.tmc.edu

Joan Reisch, PhD
Primary Affiliation: UT Southwestern Medical Center
CV
Email:

Bruce Rodda, PhD, MBA
CV
Email:Bruce.E.Rodda@uth.tmc.edu

Paul Scheet, PhD
Primary Affiliation: MD Anderson Cancer Center
CV
Email:

E. O'Brian Smith, PhD
Primary Affiliation: Baylor College of Medicine
CV
Email:

CROSS APPOINTMENTS

Alice Z. Chuang, PhD
UTHealth Health Science Center
CV
Email:Alice.Z.Chuang@uth.tmc.edu

W. Jim Zheng, PhD
UTHealth Health Science Center
School of Biomedical Informatics
CV
Email:Wenjin.J.Zheng@uth.tmc.edu

Claudia Pedroza, PhD
UTHealth Health Science Center
Medical School
CV
Email:Claudia.Pedroza@uth.tmc.edu