Research Interests
As a biostatistician, part of my work is developing and evaluating statistical methods for public health research. My research focuses on nested study designs, where study participants are either members of intact groups (e.g., communities, workplaces, schools), followed longitudinally, or placed into groups for the purpose of the study (e.g., therapy groups, training sessions, yoga classes). Traditional statistical methods break down in these settings, so we have to modify our approach to account for the relationships between measurements within each group. I consider methods for handling missing data as well as modeling approaches for some more complex nested designs.
Collaboration is also an essential part of my work as a biostatistician. I have been able to work on projects in education, epidemiology, and biology, but my major collaborations to date have been with experts in psychology. I spent several years as a collaborating biostatistician in the Stress and Health Lab of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research where I got to work on projects involving nutrition, marital conflict, aging, and mental health. More recently, I have been working with Dr. Sarah Bunnell to explore meaning-making after trauma through a lexical and thematic analysis of public testimonies of survivors of childhood sexual assault.