Paul Rathouz, Ph.D.

Paul Rathouz, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Biomedical Data Science Hub and a professor in the Department of Population Health.

Rathouz recently completed nearly eight years as chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Previously, he was assistant and then associate professor in the Department of Health Studies at the University of Chicago for 13 years. He completed his doctorate in biostatistics (in the area of estimating functions) at Johns Hopkins University in 1997, his Master of Science in biostatistics at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1993 and his Bachelor of Arts in math at Rice University in 1986.

The Biomedical Data Science Hub is intended as a collaborative resource for data science activity, including both clinical and population health biostatistics and bioinformatics, among other quantitative areas.

Past areas of methodological research include estimating functions, errors in regression covariates, missing data in highly stratified studies, applied health econometrics and behavior genetics (especially twin studies). Rathouz has active research in the areas of generalized linear models; the analysis of longitudinal, multivariate or clustered data; outcome dependent sampling and other sampling problems related to missing data; and cluster randomized trials.

In terms of applications, he has worked and continues to work extensively in the field of developmental psychopathology, as well as on a variety of epidemiological studies and, increasingly, in the area of health services research. Two current foci are: health services and outcomes research in surgery (in particular trials of interventions to improve provider-patient communications) and population-based studies in developmental disabilities, including a longitudinal study of speech and language impairments in children with cerebral palsy. Rathouz is a fellow of the American Statistical Association.

To build out the hub, Rathouz aims to develop and tap strong connections to the rich University of Texas at Austin scholarly community to advance basic and translational science for Dell Med. Within Dell Med, the hub is involved in a range of translational research activities, prefers a philosophy of being involved with projects from inception until “the final manuscript is submitted” and is involved in Dell Med workforce development in the area of research methods.