Professor Ruwanthi Kolamunnage-Dona BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD
Professor of Medical Statistics Health Data Science
About
Personal Statement
My research combines two key strategies: (i) developing statistical analysis methods for most efficient use of the data available, and (ii) translating this knowledge into clinical applications. Most of my research is motivated by applications in public, clinical and biomedical disciplines and ultimately helped improving health outcomes for people.
My main interest is in methodology and application of the Joint Modelling of longitudinal biomarker measurements with survival outcomes. Often in health research patients are followed-up over time to monitor the progression of a disease as it develops using some biomarkers. The joint models investigate how the patterns over time in biomarkers relate to prognosis for the patient, and in particular to the timing of clinically significant events. They can be used both to assess the value of different treatments intended to reduce the overall hazard of a clinical event of the population at risk, and to make prognostic forecasts of clinical events so as to identify individuals who are at relatively high risk of experiencing adverse events. Biomarker-Guided Clinical Trials with Design, Analysis & Interpretation is an another research area that I have recently been interested in, and currently involved in projects funded by the MRC North West Hub for Trial Methodology Research.
I am currently accepting PhD applications from students who are keen on research areas involving longitudinal data and clinical trial methodologies.