Ralph B. D’Agostino Jr., Ph.D.
Professor
Section on Biostatistics
Department of Public Health Sciences
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Medical Center Blvd.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157
Tel: (336) 716-9410
Fax: (336) 716-5425
Email: rdagosti@wfubmc.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Education:
Bowdoin College, A.B., Mathematics
Harvard University, A.M., Statistics
Harvard University, Ph.D., Statistics
Background:
Dr. D'Agostino holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics from Harvard University where he worked on the Framingham Heart Study and The Normative Aging Study. Currently Dr. D’Agostino is a Professor of Public Health Sciences in the Biostatistics Section at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSOM). He is also the Director of the Biostatistics Core of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at WFUSOM. He currently serves on the Editorial Board for the Current Controlled Trials in Cardiovascular Medicine Journal and is a past Associate Editor for the American Journal of Epidemiology and the Journal of Cardiac Failure. He has been the Program Chair for the Health Policy Statistics Section (2000) and the Statistics in Epidemiology Section (1998) of the American Statistical Association (ASA). He also served as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Biometrics Sections of the ASA from 2003-2005. He is a member of the NIH, NIDCR Skeletal Biology Development and Disease Study Section (SBDD) Study Section and serves on several Data Safety and Monitoring boards (DSMBs) for NIH and industry funded clinical trials.
Research Topics:
Observational Study Methodology
Propensity Score methods
Missing Data Methods
Measurement Error models
Colon Cancer Prevention
Cancer Control
Insulin Resistance
Metabolic Syndrome
Research:
Dr. D’Agostino is the Principal Investigator on four RO1-grants/subcontracts funded by the NIH. The first is a statistical methodology grant developing techniques for handling missing data in epidemiological studies. This grant has been funded by the NCI and has been developing methods for using propensity scores in medical research when there are missing data. The second is a coordinating center for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded Insulin Resistance and Adenomas of the Colorectum. This project is a continuation of a longitudinal cohort study that has examined individuals at three time points, (1992-94, 1997-99, 2001-03). The first two exams consisted of assessing metabolic characteristics including a direct measure of insulin sensitivity. The third visit involved having colonoscopies performed on participants with the goal being to determine whether there were associations between the presence of adenomas and insulin sensitivity measures taken on the participants. The third and fourth grants are subcontracts to handle statistical analyses and data management for the DDY (Defining Diabetes in Youth) study and the EDDY (Exploring Diabetes and Depression in Youth). In addition, Dr. D’Agostino serves as the Deputy Director for the CDC funded SEARCH (Search for Diabetes in Youth) Data Coordinating Center and is a Co-PI on the Robert Wood Foundation funded project Free to Grow. He has published over 90 manuscripts and book chapters in areas of statistical methodology, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and genetics. He has extensive experience in the design and analysis of clinical trials, observational studies and large scale epidemiologic studies including the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS), Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease Study (MESA) and the Search for Diabetes in Youth Study (SEARCH).
Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications:
Pencina MJ, D’Agostino RB Sr, D’Agostino RB Jr, Vasan RS. Comments on ‘Integrated discrimination and net reclassification improvements-practical advice.’ Stat Med 2008, 27(2):207-12.
Blish KR, Wang W, Willingham MC, Du W, Birse CE, Krishnan SR, Brown JC, Hawkins GA, Garvin AJ, D’Agostino RB Jr, Torti FM, Torti SV. A human bone morphogenetic protein antagonist is down-regulated in renal cancer. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 2008 19(2):457-464.
Greven KM, Williams DW 3rd, Browne JD, McGuirt WF Sr, White DR, D’Agostino RB Jr. Radiographic complete response on post treatment CT imaging eliminates the need for adjuvant neck dissection after treatment for node positive head and neck cancer, Am J Clin Oncol. 2008 31(2):169-72.
Coffman LG, Brown JC, Johnson DA, Parthasarathy N, D’Agostino RB Jr., Lively MO, HUA X, Tillry SL, Muller-Esterl W, Willingham MC, Torti FM, Torti SV. Cleavage of high-molecular-weight kininogen by elastase and tryptase is inhibited by ferritin. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2008 294(3):L505-15.
Schwer AL, Ballonoff MD, McCammon MD, Rusthoven MD, D’Agostino RB Jr., Schefter TE. Survival effect of neoadjuvant radiotherapy before espohagectomy for patients with esophageal cancer: a surveillance, epidemiology, and end-results study. Int J Radiation Oncology Biol Phys.
Greven KM, White DR, Browne JD, Williams DW 3rd, McGuirt WF Sr, D’Agostino RB Jr. Swallowing dysfunction is a common sequelae after chemoradiation for oropharynx carcinoma. Am J Clin Oncol. 2008 31(3):209-212.
Pencina MJ, D’Agostino RB Sr, D’Agostino RB Jr, Vasan RS. Evaluating the added predictive ability of a new marker: From area under the ROC curve to reclassification and beyond. Stat Med 2008; 27(2):157-72.
Dabelea D, Bell RA, D’Agostino RB Jr, Imperatore G, Johansen JM, Linder B, Liu LL, Loots B, Marcovina S, Mayer-Davis EJ, Pettitt DJ, Waitzfelder B. Incidence of diabetes in youth in the United States. JAMA 2007;297:2716-2724.
Wang W, Xiumin D, D’Agostino RB Jr, Torti SV, Torti FM. Excess capacity of the iron regulatory protein system. J Biol Chem 2007; 282:24650-24659.
Berquin IM, Min Y, Wu R, Perry D, Cline JM, Thomas MJ, Thornburg T, Kulik G, Smith A, Edwards IJ, D’Agostino R, Zhang H, Wu H, Kang JX, Chen YQ. Modulation of prostate cancer genetic risk by omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. J Clin Invest 2007; 117(7):1866-75.
Mallakin A, Sugiyama T, Taneja P, Matise LA, Frazier DP, Choudhary M, Hawkins GA, D’Agostino RB Jr, Willingham MC, Inoue K. Mutually exclusive inactivation of DMP1 and ARF/p53 in lung cancer. Cancer Cell. 2007 Oct;12(4):381-94.
Barnes, MM, Curran-Everett D, Hamman RF, Maahs D, Mayer-Davis EJ, D’Agostino RB Jr., West N, Dabelea D. Determinants of Adiponectin Levels in Youth with Type 1 Diabetes, Diabetic Medicine, 2007 25:365-369.
Norris AM, Woodruff RD, D’Agostino Jr RB, Clodfelter JE, Drotschmann-Scarpinato K. Elevated levels of the mismatch repair protein PMS2 are associated with prostate cancer. The Prostate 2007 67(2):214-225.
Farmer D, Reddick B, D’Agostino RB Jr, Jackson SA. Psychosocial correlates of mammography screening in older African-American women. Oncology Nursing Forum 2007 34(1):117-123.
D’Agostino RB Jr. Discussion of: Statistical and regulatory issues with the application of propensity score analysis to nonrandomized medical device clinical studies. J. of Biopharm Stat. 2007;17: 29-33.
Sedjo RL, Byers T, Levin TR, Haffner SM, Saad MF, Tooze JA, D’Agostino Jr. RB. Change in body size and the risk of colorectal adenomas. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007 16(3):526-31.
D’Agostino RB Jr. D’Agostino RB Sr. Estimating treatment effects using observational data. JAMA 2007 297(3):314-316.
Hanley AJ, Wagenknecht LE, Festa A, D’Agostino RB Jr, Haffner SM. Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) and Directly Measured Insulin Sensitivity in a Multi-ethnic Cohort The Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study. Diabetes Care 2007 April 11.
D’Agostino RB Jr. Propensity scores in cardiovascular research. Circulation 2007 115(17) 2340-3.
Shi L, Adams MM, Long A, Carter CC, Bennett C, Sonntag WE, Nicolle MM, Robbins M, D’Agostino R, Brunso-Bechtold JK. Spatial learning and memory deficits after whole-brain irradiation are associated with changes in NMDA receptor subunits in the hippocampus. Radiat. Res 2006;166(6):892-9.
D’Agostino Jr. RB, Hamman RF, Karter AJ, Mykkanen L, Wagenknecht LE, Haffner SM for the IRAS Investigators, Cardiovascular disease risk factors predict the development of type 2 diabetes: The Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). Diabetes Care. 2004 Sep;27(9):2234-40.
D’Agostino Jr. RB, Hamman RF., Karter AJ., Mykkanen L., Wagenknecht LE., Haffner SM for the IRAS Investigators, Cardiovascular disease risk factors predict the development of type 2 diabetes: The Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). Diabetes Care. 2004 Sep;27(9):2234-40.
D’Agostino Jr. R., Karter A, Lang W, Walkup M, Morgan T. Examining the impact of missing data on propensity score estimation in determining the effectiveness of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, 2001;2:291-315.
D’Agostino RB Jr, Rubin DB. Estimating and using propensity scores with partially missing data. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 2000; 95(451): 749-759.
D’Agostino RB Jr. The slippery slope of surrogate outcomes. Curr Control Trials Cardiovasc Med 2000;1:76-78.
D’Agostino RB Jr. Propensity score methods for bias reduction for the comparison of a treatment to a non-randomized control group. Statistics in Medicine. 1998;17:2265-2281.