Laura Hatfield, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Health Care Policy, with a specialty in biostatistics, in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hatfield's primary research interest is developing statistical methods for analysis of complex health data in which multiple outcome types, repeated measurements, missing data, and hierarchical clustering may occur. Her applied work focuses on development of Bayesian approaches, particularly hierarchical modeling. Some areas of recent application include nonlinear dose-response curve estimation in laboratory studies for invasive species control and two-stage estimation of spatial ultraviolet radiation exposure and subsequent cancer outcomes. In previous clinical research, Dr. Hatfield studied patterns of sexual behavior, substance use, and HIV serostatus disclosure among men who have sex with men. She has also used neuroimaging, electroencephalographic, and patient-reported symptom data to investigate diagnosis and treatment of Sturge-Weber syndrome, a rare constellation of inborn vascular malformations.
Dr. Hatfield's recent theoretical interest centers on identification in mixed models and quantification of information content. This work is motivated by her recent development of joint models for longitudinal patient-reported outcomes and survival in oncology clinical trials. There are many settings in which multiple outcomes are collected to monitor the progress of a single underlying health process. The question arises whether utilizing multiple outcome types in a joint model is preferable to the simpler approach of considering each outcome separately. Dr. Hatfield's current research in this area investigates the potential for learning about model parameters and the informativeness of various data sources.
Within HCP, Dr. Hatfield is collaborating on several projects, including the development of new statistical methods for analysis of large data sets obtained through the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) project and extending methods for monitoring safety and efficacy of medical devices.
Dr. Hatfield earned her BS in Genetics from Iowa State University and her MS and PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Minnesota.
Learn more about Dr. Hatfield's research by viewing the following featured article: 1/30/12 or news brief: 6/19/12.
