Stacia DeSantis, Ph.D.

Dr. Stacia DeSantis joined the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health as a Professor. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and is a biostatistician with expertise in coordinating and designing frequentist and Bayesian multicenter Phase III clinical trials. She also has substantial experience in observational study design and analysis, including state-of-the-art propensity scoring techniques.

Dr. DeSantis has contributed novel statistical methods in Bayesian network meta-analysis, Bayesian latent variable modeling, and variable selection techniques for large data sets. She also has a strong portfolio in longitudinal latent variable modeling, including hidden Markov modeling for high-resolution behavioral data such as substance use behaviors.

For the last five years, Dr. DeSantis has engaged in SARS-CoV-2 surveillance with the Texas Department of State Health Services, co-leading the data coordinating center for the Texas Coronavirus Antibody Survey Response (TX CARES), a Texas-wide COVID and long COVID surveillance program of approximately 93,000 individuals. This surveillance has generated dozens of publications and assisted Texas DSHS with data-driven decision-making.

Dr. DeSantis has applied her statistical methodology expertise primarily in cardiovascular and cancer disease risk prediction; multicenter clinical trials in trauma resuscitation, massive transfusion, traumatic brain injury, and stroke; and comparative effectiveness analytics for substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health disorders.