Kevin (Zhi) He, PhD

Dr. Kevin He is a core faculty member of the Kidney Epidemiology and Cost Center (KECC) at the University of Michigan. His primary research interests include survival analysis, healthcare provider profiling, risk prediction, data integration, machine learning, statistical optimization, causal inference, and statistical genetics with application in organ transplantation, kidney dialysis, psoriasis, cancer, and stroke. These works are motivated by large and complex datasets such as national disease registries, claims data, high-throughput genomics, epigenomics, and transcriptomics.

He currently holds an R01 as the Principal Investigator focusing on improving statistical methods for profiling healthcare providers. In addition, he has served as the Statistical PI for the Data Analysis for the Quality, Safety, and Oversight of End Stage Renal Disease contracted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Dr. Wu’s research is motivated by biomedical and public health problems and is centered on the design and application of statistical methods that inform health decisions made by individuals or precision medicine. Towards this goal, he focuses on two lines of methodological research: a) structured Bayesian latent variable models for clustering and disease subtyping, and b) study design and causal methods for evaluating sequential interventions that tailor to individuals’ changing circumstances, such as in mobile health studies. He is committed to developing robust, scalable, and interpretable statistical methods to harness real-world, high-dimensional, dynamic data for individualized health. The methods and software developed so far have supported studies in diverse scientific fields, including infectious disease epidemiology, autoimmune diseases, mental health, behavioral health, and cancer.

Dr. Michael Elliott is a Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research. He received his PhD in biostatistics in 1999 from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the University of Michigan in 2005, he held an appointment as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Elliott’s statistical research interests focus around the broad topic of “missing data,” including the design and analysis of sample surveys, causal and counterfactual inference, and latent variable models. He has worked closely with collaborators in injury research, pediatrics, women’s health, the social determinants of physical and mental health, and smoking cessation research. Dr. Elliott has served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C and the Journal of the American Statistical Association, and as an Associate Editor and Editor of the Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology. He was Associate Chair of Academic Affairs for the Department from 2018-2021.

Dr. Kidwell is interested in the design and analysis of clinical trials. Her methodological work centers on better matching the way in which we practice medicine and public health (critical decisions over time tailored to individuals) to the way in which we experimentally study it. Dr. Kidwell’s methods work has primarily focused on the design and analysis of sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trials (SMARTs), in standard or large size trials for treating common diseases and disorders, and in small samples or for treating rare diseases. Collaboratively, Dr. Kidwell aims to improve public health science by bridging the gap between researchers, the biostatistical methods needed and applied to studies, and the communication of results. Dr. Kidwell is involved in the design and analysis of many trials with investigators across the university in settings such as mental health, chronic pain, substance use, and oncology. Her methods and collaborative work influences clinical trial statistical theory and practice and hopefully is improving people’s lives through new designs and efficient treatment estimates.

Dr. Eisenberg is a professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health. He studies infectious disease epidemiology with a focus on waterborne and vectorborne diseases. His broad research interests-global and domestic-integrate theoretical work in developing disease transmission models and empirical work in designing and conducting epidemiology studies. He is especially interested in the environmental determinants of infectious diseases.

Abigail Bretzin is a Research Investigator and member in the Department of Emergency Medicine and member of the Michigan Injury Prevention Center. Before joining U-M, Dr. Bretzin completed her postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, gaining advanced training in epidemiology. During her postdoctoral studies, she also completed NIH funded training programs in sleep (T32 HL 007713) and traumatic brain injury (T32 NS 043126). Dr. Bretzin earned her PhD in Kinesiology at Michigan State University.

Dr. Bretzin’s research includes primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of traumatic brain injury (TBI), specifically sport-related concussion. Her research examines the epidemiology of concussion and TBI, related health disparities, and long-term outcomes of the injury and repetitive head impact exposure. Dr. Bretzin is also a member of the Data Coordinating Core of the Ivy League – Big Ten Epidemiology of Concussion Study, leading analyses and study dissemination activities. Her research also engages under-represented communities, with attention to male and female differences in sport-related concussion incidence and outcomes.

Dr. Wiebe studies interactions between people and the environment and the health risks that result, with a focus on injuries and violence — the leading cause of death during the first half of the lifespan. He approaches study design issues by working at a temporal and spatial scale that is relevant to the induction period for a given exposure and outcome. The Space-Time Epi Group that he directs supports trainees whose research topics have a temporal dimension, a spatial dimension, or both. Managing and preventing sport-related concussion and firearm injuries are prominent in his research and training activities.

Dr. Wiebe is on the Executive Committee of the U-M Concussion Center and is affiliated with the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention as a scientist/ scholar.

Dr. Eckner received his M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University and his M.S. degree from the University of Michigan in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis. His research addresses mild traumatic brain injury in athletes, including concussion prevention through neck strengthening exercise, concussion biomechanics, determining the role of reaction time testing in concussion assessment, long term effects of concussion on neurological health, as well as, in the management and rehabilitation of athletes.

Dr. Eckner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Director of Clinical Research, Michigan NeuroSport and PM&R Concussion Programs, and Director of the PM&R Resident Research Program, in addition to the Michigan Concussion Center’s Research Associate Director.

Dr. Mark E. Oppenlander is a board-certified neurosurgeon at the University of Michigan Departments of Neurological Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery. He specializes in complex spinal operations, including spinal deformity, scoliosis, spinal tumors, thoracic disc disease, craniovertebral junction surgery, robotics in neurosurgery, and trauma. Dr. Oppenlander has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and abstracts, and participated in conferences at the state, national, and international level with multiple invited presentations. He serves as faculty for the AANS Coding and Reimbursement Committee and is an Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant for the National Football League (NFL).

Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez’s research focuses on the impact of chronological aging, reproductive aging and obesity and their intersections, on the development and progression of chronic disease and musculoskeletal outcomes through the creation of a metabolically-dysfunctional and pro-inflammatory environment. To address her research agenda, Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez pursues mechanistic and biologic hypotheses using both epidemiologic and clinical research designs, leveraging her leadership in ongoing cohort studies as well as new data collection efforts.

Dr. Karvonen-Gutierrez received her PhD in Epidemiologic Science and MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. She is a National Institute of Aging Butler Williams Scholar and is on the Editorial Board at the Midlife Women’s Health journal. She has a K01 Mentored Research Scientist award from the National Institute of Aging to examine metabolomics and osteoarthritis. She is the Principal Investigator on the Michigan Bone Health and Metabolism Study, the Michigan site of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, and the PROTECT-Moms Study.