Trainee Profiles
The Training in Environmental Health Biostatistics training grant has supported more than 25 predoctoral students and 15 postdoctoral fellows since it was awarded in 1992. Predoctoral trainees typically join the training grant during their third or fourth year in the Statistics PhD program and continue on the grant until graduation. Postdoctoral trainees are typically funded by the grant for one to three years.
Current Trainees
Sima Sharghi, Ph.D.
Email Sima
Appointment: October 2021 - Present
Primary T32 Mentor: Dr. Thurston
Research Focus: Air Pollution at Critical Periods of Gestation in Relation to Anogenital Distance: Observational and Causal Associations
Jonathan Klus, M.A., M.S.
Email Jonathan
Appointment: June 2022 - Present
Research Committee: Dr. Thurston, others to be determined
Research Focus: Bayesian Infinite Mixture Models for Latent Exposures
Ricardo Lopez Candelaria, M.A., M.S.
Email Ricardo
Appointment: July 2023 - Present
Research Committee: Dr. Qiu*, others to be determined
Research Focus: Functional Data Analysis and Parameter Estimation Methods for Systems of Linear Ordinary Differential Equations
David Skrill, M.A., M.M., M.S.
Email David
Appointment: September 2021 - Present
Research Committee: Drs. Norman-Haignere*, Qiu, Lalor, and Duan
Research Focus: Component-Encoding Models
Past Postdoctoral Trainees
Daniel Weller, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2019 - August 2020
Primary T32 Mentors: Drs. Love and Thurston
Primary Research Project: Ecology and Clinical Impacts of Clinical and Microbial Contaminants in Food and Water
Initial Position Post-Training: Associate Service Fellow, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Omar Mbowe, Ph.D.
Appointment: January 2016 - June 2018
Primary T32 Mentor: Dr. Thurston
Primary Research Project: Impacts of BPA and Stress on Reproductive Outcomes, and Exposure Effects on Multiple Longitudinal Outcomes
Initial Position Post-Training: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester
Jelani Wiltshire, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2011 - June 2014
Primary T32 Mentor: Dr. Oakes
Primary Research Project: Impact of Exposure to Ultrafine Particles on Cardiac Responses
Initial Position Post-Training: Quantitative Associate, Wells Fargo
Tanzy Love, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2008 - May 2010
Primary T32 Mentors: Drs. Thurston and Oakes
Primary Research Project: Effect Modification Using Latent Mixture Analysis with Application to the Seychelles Child Development Study
Initial Position Post-Training: Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester
James Cavenaugh, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2006 - May 2008
Primary T32 Mentor: Dr. Oakes
Primary Research Project: Analysis of Flow Cytometry Data
Initial Position Post-Training: Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology, University of Rochester
Past Predoctoral Trainees
Luke Duttweiler, Ph.D.
Appointment: July 2022 - June 2023
Research Committee: Drs. Almudevar*, Thurston*, Ertefaie, Sharma, and Mueller
Research Focus: Spectral Bayesian Network Theory: Graph Theoretic Solutions to Problems in Bayesian Networks
Initial Position Post-Training: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Samuel Weisenthal, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2020 - April 2023
Research Committee: Drs. Thurston*, Ertefaie*, Johnson, McDermott, Loh, and Park
Research Focus: Relative Sparsity and Optimality-based Reward Learning with Applications to Medical Decision Making and Toxicology
Initial Position Post-Training: Medical Student (MD/PhD program), University of Rochester
David Burton, M.A.
Appointment: April 2019 - March 2021
Research Committee: Drs. McCall*, Thurston, Love, and McMurray
Research Focus: Modeling Genetic Regulatory Networks from Gene Expression Data
Initial Position Post-Training: Data Science Leadership Development Program, The Travelers Companies
Matthew Corsetti, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2018 - May 2020 & August 2020 - August 2021
Research Committee: Drs. Love*, Thurston, McDavid, Luo, and van Wijngaarden
Research Focus: A Series of Novel Ensemble Procedures with Tree Learners
Initial Position Post-Training: Senior Associate Data Scientist, The Travelers Companies
Alexis Zavez, Ph.D.
Appointment: July 2017 - May 2019 & September 2019 - January 2021
Research Committee: Drs. Thurston*, Love, Johnson, Lawrence, and Susiarjo
Research Focus: Bayesian Latent Variable Models for Multiple Exposures with Unknown Group Memberships
Initial Position Post-Training: Research Program Manager, Orphan Disease Center, University of Pennsylvania
Yun Zhang, Ph.D.
Appointment: August 2017 - June 2018
Research Committee: Drs. Qiu*, Thakar*, McCall, Love, Mariani, and Gill
Research Focus: Novel Statistical Methods for Gene Set Enrichment Analysis with Empirical Memberships for Overlapping Genes
Initial Position Post-Training: Staff Scientist, J. Craig Venter Institute
Amy LaLonde, Ph.D.
Appointment: September 2016 - June 2017
Research Committee: Drs. Love*, Thurston, Wu, Vates, Salzman, and Groth
Research Focus: Bayesian Model-Based Clustering Methods: Procedures for Data with Unknown Numbers of Clusters
Initial Position Post-Training: Research Scientist, Eli Lilly and Company
Chongshu Chen, Ph.D.
Appointment: October 2015 - September 2017
Research Committee: Drs. Thurston*, Hyrien*, Love, Barrett, Miller, and Mueller
Research Focus: Finite Mixtures of Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Models for Longitudinal Data
Initial Position Post-Training: Senior Biostatistician, Biogen, Inc.
Katherine Grzesik, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2013 - May 2014 & January 2016 - July 2017
Research Committee: Drs. Peterson*, Thurston, Hyrien, Couderc, and Kautz
Research Focus: Local Cross-Validated Smoothing Parameter Estimation for Linear Smoothers
Initial Position Post-Training: Postdoctoral Research Affiliate, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Kyra Singh, Ph.D.
Appointment: October 2015 - September 2016
Research Committee: Drs. Love*, Thurston, Qiu, Williams, and Finkelstein
Research Focus: Variable Selection Methods for Model-Based Clustering: Procedures for Functional Data and Bayesian Inference
Initial Position Post-Training: Quantitative Marketing Manager, Google, Inc.
Amit Chowdhry, Ph.D., M.D.
Appointment: June 2013 - May 2015
Research Committee: Drs. McDermott*, Beck, He, Dworkin, and Gonek
Research Focus: Missing Data in Meta-Analysis
Initial Position Post-Training: Medical Student (MD/PhD Program), University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Thanh Van Tran, Ph.D.
Appointment: May 2012 - April 2013 & October 2013 - June 2015
Research Committee: Drs. Almudevar*, Thurston, Sharma, McMurray, and Proschel
Research Focus: Threshold Boolean Network Inference and Experimental Designs
Initial Position Post-Training: Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Cancer Institute
Katie Evans, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2010 - May 2013
Research Committee: Drs. Love*, Thurston*, Almudevar, van Wijngaarden, and Li
Research Focus: Extensions to Model-Based Clustering for Mixed-Type Data: A New Model Framework, Variable Selection, and Outlier Identification
Initial Position Post-Training: Statistician Consultant, DuPont
Saria Awadalla, Ph.D.
Appointment: September 2009 - August 2011
Research Committee: Drs. McDermott*, Mudholkar*, Liang, Groenevelt, Gonek, and Wang
Research Focus: Some Contributions to the Theory and Applications of R-Symmetry
Initial Position Post-Training: Instructor of Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago
Miranda Lynch, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2007 - May 2010
Research Committee: Drs. Thurston*, van Wijngaarden, Tu, Almudevar, and Mueller
Research Focus: Estimation, Model Checking and Diagnostics, and Identifiability in Finite Mixture Models for Point Mass Data: Methods in a Bayesian Framework
Initial Position Post-Training: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
Abbie Stokes-Riner, Ph.D.
Appointment: October 2006 - September 2009
Research Committee: Drs. Thurston*, Oakes, Tu, Roy, Swan, and Dewan
Research Focus: Residual Diagnostic Methods for Bayesian Structural Equation Models
Initial Position Post-Training: Biostatistician, Vaccine and Infectious Diseases, The Emmes Corporation
Linlin Chen, Ph.D.
Appointment: June 2005 - March 2007
Research Committee: Drs. Almudevar*, Yakovlev*, Oakes, Qiu, Pearce, and Harper
Research Focus: The Correlation Structure of Microarray Data and Its Statistical Implications
Initial Position Post-Training: Assistant Professor, School of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology
Alexander Pearson, Ph.D., M.D.
Appointment: June 2005 - June 2006
Research Committee: Drs. Peterson*, Almudevar, Hall, and Guzick
Research Focus: Subset Selection for Prediction with High-Dimensional Data
Initial Position Post-Training: Medical Student (MD/PhD Program), University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Lesley Wagner, Ph.D.
Appointment: October 2004 - August 2006
Research Committee: Drs. Mudholkar*, Zhao, Huang, Veazie, Oakes, and Groenevelt
Research Focus: Some Skew Models for Quantal Response Analysis
Initial Position Post-Training: Assistant Professor, Math and Natural Sciences, D'Youville College