About me
I am a senior biostatistician, working in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Zurich's Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute (EBPI). I collaborate on a wide range of epidemiological and clinical studies, support other senior researchers and PhD students, and teach several courses on statistics in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Over the years, I have gained broad experience in a number of different areas of both biostatistics and epidemiology. Specific research interests include handling of missing data, analysis of prevalence studies, use of appropriate statistical methods for observational data, reproducible research and open research data.After moving to Switzerland, I first joined the Division of Biostatistics at the EBPI, as a statistical collaborator at the Clinical Trials Center at the University Hospital Zurich (2008–2011) as well as the Clinical Trials Unit at the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen (KSSG, 2008–2013). After a brief period working directly at KSSG, I have been working at the EBPI's Department of Epidemiology since 2015.
In 2008 I completed a PhD in Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health in 2008. While a graduate student, I held a graduate research position at the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP, now part of NRG Oncology). In 2025, I was awarded Venia Legendi (Habiliation, giving the title Privatdozent:in / PD) in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Zurich's Medical Faculty. I have been a fellow of UZH's Center for Reproducible Science since 2024.
My research projects have come from a wide range of medical areas, including COVID-19, oncology, cardiology, pediatrics, pulmonology, physical activity, and rheumatology. Accordingly, statistical methodology has included a variety of different techniques, such as Bayesian hierarchical models, inverse probability weighting, classification trees, survival analysis, (generalized) mixed models, comparison of diagnostic tests and analysis of cross-over trials. Additionally, I am interested in reproducible research and good research practices, such as open data.
Publications are listed here. For more information, see my CV.
NB: My last name is pronounced "Hi-lee", or like "highly". (Anders gesagt, "Hai" wie "Haifisch" dann "li".)