Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Seminar Series
Thursday, December 5, 2024
3:30 PM-4:30 PM
Gary Hettinger, MS, University of Pennsylvania, will present Semi-Parametric Causal Methods for Health Policy Evaluations Under Interference."
Evaluating health policies requires understanding how they may spill over
into nearby regions and differentially impact areas implementing the policy,
which demands rigorous confounding adjustment and robust modeling to uncover
these causal mechanisms. In this talk, I introduce novel
difference-in-difference methods to assess spillover effects and continuous
exposures, developing semi-parametric approaches that relax model specification
requirements and incorporate flexible modeling techniques. I demonstrate these
methods by studying the effects of Philadelphia’s excise tax on sweetened
beverages.
Gary Hettinger is a doctoral candidate in Biostatistics at the University
of Pennsylvania, where he is advised by Dr. Nandita Mitra. His research focuses
on health policy evaluations, comparative effectiveness analyses, and oncologic
outcomes. Methodologically, Gary specializes in developing causal inference
techniques to address statistical challenges inherent in observational data
while integrating flexible modeling techniques such as machine learning tools.
He is particularly passionate about applying causal inference methodologies to
health research to foster robust and actionable insights for healthcare
decision-making.
Before beginning his doctoral studies at Penn, Gary earned his Bachelor’s
degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Brown University. He
also has experience as a data scientist, developing products and algorithms to
optimize online advertiser spend and predict user behavior.
During his time at Penn, Gary has been an active participant in various
leadership and outreach roles, including serving on the Penn Graduate and
Professional Student Assembly, the ENAR Council for Emerging and New
Statisticians, and outreach committees for the International Conference on
Health Policy Statistics and the Society for Causal Inference.
Contact Information
Nancy Colon-Anderson
nanderson@drexel.edu