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Every December, Vanderbilt Biostatistics is represented at the International Joint Conference on Computational and Financial Econometrics (CFE) and Computational and Methodological Statistics (CMStatistics). The 18th edition of the conference will take place December 14–16, 2024, at King's College London and online. Here is this year's cohort, comprising department faculty and alumni:

• Bryan Blette, invited speaker - Exploring the nature of individualized treatment effects using a large crossover trial
• Jonathan Chipman (PhD 2019), invited speaker: Experimenting with finite to infinite populations
• Chiara Di Gravio (PhD 2023), invited speaker: Studying mortality in critically ill patients: An analysis of ordinal longitudinal data under case-control sampling (presentation co-authored by Ran Tao and Jonathan Schildcrout)
• Amber Hackstadt, invited speaker: A Bayesian approach to studying major adverse cardiovascular events: Leveraging information from clinical trials (co-authors include Cara Lwin and Robert Greevy)
• Hakmook Kang, invited speaker: Whole brain connectivity estimation by GPU-enhanced Gaussian process (co-authors include Chris Fonnesbeck)
• Dandan Liu, invited speaker: Predictive partly conditional model for longitudinal outcomes in the presence of informative dropout and death
• Bryan Shepherd, invited speaker: Design and analysis of a multi-wave two-phase study to addresses data errors in a multinational HIV research network
• Andrew Spieker
  • organizer/chair, Methodology and practice for data originating from randomized trials
  • invited speaker, Causal mediation analysis of engagement for randomized trials involving mobile health interventions
• Simon Vandekar, organizer/chair: Statistical methods for brain imaging data
• Panpan Zhang, organizer/chair: Statistical and computational methods for longitudinal and survival data

The Department of Biostatistics' Statistical Computing Series focuses on the implementation of statistical models and methods, statistical computation and graphics. These informal meetings allow experienced statisticians and developers to share their expertise on computing topics with practitioners across Vanderbilt. On Thursday, October 31, at 1:00 pm, application developer Savannah Obregon will present "Introduction to GitHub," on Microsoft Teams:

Use GitHub for seamless collaboration and robust version control in your projects. This presentation will guide you through the essential features and best practices for using GitHub in a team setting. Learn how to manage repositories, branches, pull requests, and issues to streamline your workflow.

For an example of what's possible on GitHub, see Obregon's own website: https://smobregon.github.io. She was recently named winner of the department's IT Innovation Award and has delivered presentations at conferences such as R/Medicine. 

To obtain a link to this webinar, contact series organizer Ryan Moore.

The 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings, which convene in Portland, Oregon, from August 3 through August 8, are expected to bring together more than five thousand attendees from fifty-two countries, with the theme of "Statistics and data science: Informing policy and countering misinformation." We are proud of the department members, trainees, and alumni who will be sharing their work and ideas with colleagues from around the world, as well as participating in assorted research and professional service activities. This year's program includes the following:

Sunday, August 4 

DEPICT: A framework for ethical reasoning for statistics and data science - half-day course taught by associate professor Mario Davidson. 8:30 am – noon.

Modern statistical methods for image analysis - contributed papers session chaired by associate professor Simon Vandekar. 2:00–3:50 pm.

The talks in this session include Semiparametric confidence sets for arbitrary effect sizes in longitudinal neuroimaging, with PhD student Xinyu Zhang as first and presenting author. Co-authors include recent graduate Kenneth Liao (MS 2024), with Vandekar plus colleagues at VUMC and the University of Colorado.

Life before and after COVID-19: Changes in relationships, technology use, and well-being - presentation during the contributed speed session SPEED 1: Data challenge 1, statistical applications & statistics in policy, part 1. 2:00–3:50 pm. 

• Presenting author: biostatistician and alumna Caroline Birdrow (MS 2021)
• First author: PhD candidate Jiangmei Xiong
• Co-author: PhD candidate Maximilian Rohde

This speed session also features a paper co-authored by PhD student Yunbi Nam as a MS student at University of Washington.

Advances in functional and spatial data analysis and their applications in biomedical sciences, a contributed papers session, includes a paper co-authored by Vandekar.

Statistical innovations in electronic health records data analysis, a topic-contributed paper session, includes a talk by associate professor Dandan Liu. 4:00–5:00 pm. 

Invited E-Poster Session I (8:30–9:25 pm) includes these presentations by alumni: 

• Choosing an indifference zone for second-generation p-values to maximize the statistical properties - Megan Murray (PhD 2022)
• Combining straight-line and map-based distances to quantify neighborhood-level food access and its impact on health - Sarah Lotspeich (PhD 2021)

Monday, August 5
Recent advances in design and analysis of two-phase studies - invited paper session. 8:30–10:20 am.

• A two-phase study of longitudinal ordinal outcome data in critically ill patients with sepsis - a talk by professor Jonathan Schildcrout. 8:35–9:00 am.
• Efficient designs and analysis of two-phase studies with longitudinal binary data - a talk by associate professor Ran Tao. 9:25–9:50 am.

Recent advances in the analysis of fMRI data - contributed papers session chaired by assistant professor Panpan Zhang. 8:30–10:20 am.

The Contributed poster presentations: ENAR session includes Artificial intelligence for improved patient outcomes. 10:30–11:15 am.

• First and presenting author: lead biostatistician Henry Domenico
• Co-authors: senior biostatistician and alumnus Ryan Moore (MS 2020) and former senior associate Daniel Byrne

The Contributed poster presentations: Biometrics Section session includes Increasing statistical efficiency using ordinal transition models: A simulation study. 2:00–3:50 pm.

• First and presenting author: PhD candidate Maximilian Rohde
• Co-authors: professors Benjamin French and Frank Harrell

New considerations for the four pillars of survival analysis: Estimands, design, estimation, and inference, a contributed papers session, includes a talk co-authored by professor Qingxia Chen.

The invited panel for Synthetic data in preserving privacy: Connections across federal statistics and health data includes Accenture Professor Bradley Malin. 2:00–3:50 pm.

The Student Paper Award and John M. Chambers Statistical Software Award topic-contributed paper session is chaired by Sarah Lotspeich. 2:00–3:50 pm.

Simon Vandekar is coordinating a get-together for department members, trainees, and alumni at JSM. It will take place at 6 pm. Contact him for details.

Tuesday, August 6
The Contributed poster presentations: Section on Statistics in Genomics and Genetics session includes Facilitating valid statistical inference in biomedical image synthesis. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm.

• First and presenting author: PhD candidate Jiangmei Xiong
• Co-authors: associate professor Simon Vandekar, assistant professor Siyuan Ma, and colleagues at VUMC, Regeneron, and GSK

Opportunities and challenges in data sciences with diverse imaging technology, an invited paper session, includes Effect sizes and replicability in longitudinal studies of brain-phenotype associations. 11:35–11:55 am.

• Speaker: Simon Vandekar
• Co-authors include PhD candidates Kaidi Kang and Jiangmei Xiong, PhD student Megan Jones, professor Jonathan Schildcrout, and associate professor Ran Tao, with colleagues at Vanderbilt, Cambridge, Penn, and Minnesota.

The analytical staff plans to gather for happy hour at Deschutes Brewery Portland (210 NW 11th Avenue) at 5:30 pm. According to organizer Andrew Guide, "It's about a 15-minute train ride from the convention center and pretty close to some of the downtown hotels. Feel free to bring significant others or anyone else you may be traveling with." 

During the ASA President's Address and Awards, professor Fei Ye will be inducted as an ASA Fellow. 8:00–9:00 pm.

Wednesday, August 7

SPEED 8: Survival outcomes, network analyses, and 'omics applications, part 1 includes these presentations by our students:

• Accounting for unobserved confounding to reduce false discoveries in microbiome research. 8:45–8:50 am.
  • First and presenting author: PhD student Chih-Ting Yang

  • Co-authors: principal application developer Zhouwen Liu, senior associate Tebeb Gebretsadik, professor Yu Shyr, and assistant professor Siyuan Ma, plus colleagues at VUMC and the University of Chicago

     

• PheMIME & Phe-OmicsMIME: Interactive visualizations for phenome, multi-omics multimorbidity analysis. 10:05–10:10 am.
  • First and presenting author: PhD candidate Siwei Zhang

  • Co-authors: alumnus Nick Strayer (PhD 2020) and assistant professor Yaomin Xu, plus colleagues in VUMC's Division of Genetic Medicine and Department of Pharmacology

     

Role play for training effective statistical leadership, communication, and collaboration - Mario Davidson, invited panelist. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm

Future of statistics and data science in the era of ChatGPT and LLMs - Siyuan Ma, chair/moderator of invited panel. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm

Thursday, August 8

Crafting relevant research: Informative and translational statistics for public policy - invited panel organized by PhD candidate Tianyi Sun. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm

The Techniques and case studies to address missing data complications in scientific studies contributed papers session includes Predicting risk for a new patient with missing risk factor: A submodel approach for binary outcome. 10:30 am – 12:20 pm

• First and presenting author: Tianyi Sun
• Co-authors include associate professor Dandan Liu, plus colleagues at VUMC

The Advances in modern logitudinal data analysis and applications contributed papers session includes a talk co-authored by Sarah Lotspeich. 

Also...

• Fei Ye represents the Section of Statistics in Epidemiology on the JSM Program Committee.

Congratulations and best wishes to everyone participating in the conference - we look forward to hearing about your experience, and to welcoming JSM attendees to Nashville in 2025!