Ruth Heller Ph.D.
Department of Statistics and Operations ResearchTel Aviv University
Tel Aviv, Israel
+972-3-6408806 (work)
ruheller at post dot tau dot ac dot il
I am interested in developing statistical methodology in the areas
of multiple comparisons, replicability analysis, observational
studies and nonparametric statistics, with applications to
bioinformatics and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
Multiple comparisons and replicability analysis -
Analysis of high dimensional data, common in genomics applications and in fMRI
research, has to take into consideration the severe multiple
comparisons problem. In my research I develop testing strategies
that first examine families of hypotheses, e.g. gene set hypotheses,
and then individual hypotheses within these families, e.g. gene
hypotheses. I develop analysis strategies for establishing
replicability of findings when more than one study with high
dimensional data is available that examines the same or a similar
problem.
Observational studies -
For observational high dimensional studies, I
address the problem of hidden bias by examining sensitivity analysis
methods for different testing strategies.
Nonparametric statistics -
I am developing a new innovative method
for tackling one of the most basic problems of statistics - are two
random vectors dependent? Moreover, I plan to generalize and modify
this method for many other basic problems such as the two sample
problem, conditional independence and more.