Rutgers School of Public Health Appoints Biostatistics Chair

Newswise — The Rutgers School of Public Health is pleased to welcome Dr. Jason Roy, Ph.D., as the incoming Chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Director of Rutgers University Biostatistics and Epidemiology Services (RUBIES).

 

Dr. Roy’s appointment will begin on July 1, 2018. Previously, Dr. Roy was an Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, & Informatics and Associate Program Chair of the Biostatistics Graduate Program at the University of Pennsylvania. For nearly twenty years, he has been developing novel statistical methods for problems directly motivated by real clinical and public health studies. He also has engaged in a wide range of biomedical collaborations.

 

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Dr. Roy join the Rutgers School of Public Health,” says Dr. Perry N. Halkitis, Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health. He continues: “Besides being a recognized expert on causal inference, he brings a wealth of experience translating statistics to both practice and pedagogy, as well as effective and excellent leadership skills, which will serve our School well during this period of growth.”

 

Dr. Roy’s main methodological research areas have focused on causal inference and missing data. Most recently, he developed novel Bayesian nonparametric approaches to causal inference, for which he was awarded a 4-year R01 in 2014 as PI for this research.  His methodological research is largely motivated by challenges that come from analyzing data from large healthcare databases, such as electronic medical records and insurance claims. These challenges include nonrandom and irregular measurement times, high-dimensional confounding, and complex treatment strategies. His primary collaborations have been in pharmacoepidemiology and chronic kidney disease.

 

Dr. Roy is founder and co-director of the Center for Causal Inference (CCI). The CCI is a major hub for causal inference research collaboration, teaching, and training in the northeast region of the U.S.  He developed the first free online course in causal inference, which currently has about 3,000 active learners. In addition, Dr. Roy is organizer of the annual Causal Inference & Big Data Summer Institute , a 4-day short course aimed at providing participants with instruction and hands-on experience in modern statistical methods.

 

As a scholar, Dr. Roy has contributed to more than 110 peer-reviewed publications. He won the 2002 David P. Byar Young Investigator Award from the American Statistical Association Biometrics Section. He is currently an Associate Editor of  Biometrics, Journal of the American Statistical Association (Applications and Case Studies), Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Observational Studies,  and Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety .

 

“I look forward to seeing the department utilize modern technology in teaching and research, taking full advantage of the increasing availability of a wide-variety of public health-related data,” comments Dr. Roy. “It is an incredibly exciting time to be part of the Rutgers School of Public Health as it continues to grow and expand various initiatives on the local, national, and global scales.”

 

The Rutgers School of Public Health welcomes Dr. Roy. 

 

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