Overview 

The session looks at how long-running research programs in statistical theory and causal inference take shape: how problems get chosen, when to stick with a hard one and when to let it go, and how theory and applied collaboration feed each other. Panelists will describe how their own work in statistical theory and causal inference developed, including what they learned from students and from collaborators outside statistics.

Speakers

Dr. James M. Robins, Mitchell L. and Robin LaFoley Dong Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Dr. Aad van der Vaart, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at TU Delft

Moderator

Dr. Alex Luedtke, Professor of Health Care Policy and Affiliate in Statistics at Harvard University

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About the Speakers

Dr. James M. Robins - The principal focus of Dr. Robins' research has been the development of analytic methods appropriate for drawing causal inferences from complex observational and randomized studies with time-varying exposures. The new methods are based on the estimation of the parameters of a new class of causal models, the structural nested models, using a new class of estimators, called G estimators. In contrast to previously proposed methods, Dr. Robins' methods can be used to estimate the effect of a treatment or exposure on a disease outcome in the presence of time-varying covariates that are simultaneously confounders and intermediate variables on the causal pathway; and allow an analyst to adjust for concurrent non-randomized treatments or non-random non-compliance in a randomized clinical trial. Dr. Robins has applied his methods to analyze the effect of aerosolized pentamidine on the survival of AIDS patients in ACTG Trial 002; arsenic exposure on the mortality of Montana copper smelter workers; formaldehyde on the respiratory disease mortality of U.S. chemical workers; and smoking cessation on myocardial infarction and death within the MRFIT randomized trial. See Profile: https://hsph.harvard.edu/profile/james-m-robins/

Dr. Aad van der Vaart received a PhD in mathematics from Leiden University in 1987. Following a number of years in the US and in France, he was professor of statistics at several universities in the Netherlands, currently at TU Delft. He has collaborated in applied statistics projects (imaging, genetics, genomics, finance, and other), but specialises in mathematical statistics, with as favourite subjects semiparametrics, empirical processes, nonparametric Bayesian statistics and general asymptotics. He is a (co-)author of books on all of these. He also wrote and taught courses on statistical genetics, finance, time series and causal inference. He (co-)supervised 30 PhD students on a wide range of topics. His most intensive administrative tasks have been two four year terms as head of two different mathematics departments, but he also did his share of editorships, conference organisation and committees, and is a former president of ISBA. See Profile: https://diamhomes.ewi.tudelft.nl/~avandervaart/

About the Moderator

Dr. Alex Luedtke is a Professor of Health Care Policy and Affiliate in Statistics at Harvard University. Previously, he held faculty appointments in Statistics and Biostatistics at the University of Washington and Fred Hutch. Alex works at the intersection of semiparametrics, causal inference, and machine learning. Much of his work leverages computational power to automate the construction of efficient statistical procedures. To this end, he has developed methods that let machines "learn to learn" from data, and algorithms that work out derivations once done by hand. He applies these tools as part of multidisciplinary teams to improve decision-making in mental health and infectious disease research. See Profile: https://alexluedtke.com/

About the COPSS-NISS Leadership Webinar Series

COPSS (Committee of the Presidents of Statistical Societies) and NISS have come together to organize and host a new webinar series focusing on leadership in statistics and data science. Plan to attend these webinars every month during the academic year! Visit the COPSS-NISS Leadership Series Page for previous webinars.

The COPSS-NISS Leadership Webinar Series is co-organized by the Committee of the Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Emerging Leaders in Statistics and the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS). The purpose of the webinar series is to promote leadership skills for members of the statistical societies at any stage in their careers. The series features conversations with leaders throughout the discipline, including leaders from major academic and government institutions, and companies. Invited speakers share their leadership stories and answer questions about their experiences. Each webinar is moderated by a member of the COPSS Emerging Leaders in Statistics program.

Access the Full COPSS-NISS Leadership Webinar Series YouTube Playlist | COPSS-NISS Leadership Webinar Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoRtupvDJTjvFukMcO6NfDr0GvxDsIj81

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Save the Dates Spring 2027! 

• Tuesday, January 26, 2027
• Tuesday, February 23, 2027
• Tuesday, March 30, 2027
• Tuesday, April 27, 2027
• Tuesday, May 25, 2027