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Join the monthly virtual forum hosted by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
The event will be held on Microsoft Teams, info on how to join can be found here.
Meeting ID: 259 261 507 686
Passcode: HZ3oc64i
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Keynote Speaker: Constantin T. Yiannoutsos
Title: Cross-sectional estimates in multiple-state models: applications in the HIV cascade of care
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Constantin Yiannoutsos is professor of Biostatistics at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH), in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
He graduated from the University of Connecticut with a doctorate degree in Statistics. Prior to joining CUNY SPH, Dr. Yiannoutsos spent almost a decade at Harvard University running clinical trials dealing with neurological sequelae of HIV infection. He then spent over twenty years at Indiana University where he held a number of positions including Director of the IU Cancer Center Biostatistics Facility and Director of Graduate Education.
Dr. Yiannoutsos’ methodological research is focused on statistical issues in survival analysis and causal methods, particularly addressing biases resulting from missing data in the context of observational studies. He runs a large epidemiological cohort which has been following over 500,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania for decades, as part of the IeDEA (www.iedea.org) Collaboration, a worldwide network of HIV care and treatment programs following over 2,000,000 people worldwide. In this capacity, he has provided data and statistical expertise to aid governments, foundations, and international organizations in evidence-based health policy and decision-making with respect to the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Professor Yiannoutsos has used his expertise with large international HIV/AIDS cohorts to address similar issues domestically, most recently in a study of people living with HIV/AIDS in the state of Indiana. During the COVID epidemic, he was instrumental in using statistical methods to aid in Indiana’s epidemic response. Dr. Yiannoutsos is a passionate teacher who has taught, trained, and mentored hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students around the world and has developed statistics education and training curricula at all levels.
Student Speaker: Jose Mazariego
Title: A System Dynamics Approach to HPV Vaccine Uptake Among Adolescents in New York State
Abstract:
Since the introduction of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, HPV infection rates have significantly declined in populations with high vaccination coverage. Despite evidence demonstrating the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing HPV-related cancers, adolescent vaccination rates in New York State remain suboptimal, particularly among males. This disparity may be attributed to several factors, including lack of knowledge on the vaccine effectiveness for boys, misconception that the vaccine is primarily for females, and lack of providers’ recommendation.
In this work-in-progress, we developed a System Dynamics Model of HPV vaccine uptake among adolescent boys in New York State. The model integrates parental hesitancy of the vaccine, intention to vaccinate their children, and providers’ recommendation. The model will be calibrated using immunization data from the New York Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) and publicly available data on hesitancy and vaccination intent. The objective is to evaluate the potential impact of various strategies to increase HPV vaccine uptake among adolescents.
Speaker Bio:
Jose Mazariego is a first year PhD student in Epidemiology who received his MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the spring of 2024 from CUNY SPH. He is currently the Haviland Fellow and works for the Center for Immigrant, Refugee, and Global Health.
His current work focuses on the use of econometric methods to build policy level datasets and link them to health surveys to understand the impact of inclusive and exclusive policies on the health of immigrants. Jose also worked at the Center for Systems and Community Design where he has worked on various projects including an analysis on the impact of substance use and homelessness on HIV viral load suppression as well as a system dynamics model on HPV vaccinations among adolescent boys in NYS.
Jose is interested in the use of advance methods in public health research such as the use of system dynamics modeling, econometric approaches, and machine learning.