Barbra Dickerman

Barbra Dickerman serves as Assistant Professor of Global Cancer Prevention in the Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention and Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is a key member of the Harvard CAUSALab and co-director of the VA-CAUSAL Methods Core, an initiative of the U.S. Veterans Health Administration focused on integrating causal methodologies into a nationwide learning health system. Her expertise in causal inference methods applied to large health databases has significantly informed health decision-making at national and global levels.

Dr. Dickerman earned her BSc from the University of Pennsylvania, MSc from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and PhD from Harvard University. Her educational background has positioned her as a leading methodologist in epidemiological research.

Her research centers on causal inference methodology, particularly target trial emulation in observational studies. She has made substantial contributions to prostate cancer research, examining screening strategies across demographic groups, investigating adiposity-cancer relationships, and evaluating prevention approaches. Her work extends to vaccine effectiveness studies, especially related to COVID-19, where she has developed innovative methods for analyzing large health databases. She has created several CAUSALab courses on confounding adjustment and target trial emulation that reached participants from 35+ countries and 180+ organizations in Summer 2024.

Dr. Dickerman's scholarly work demonstrates exceptional methodological rigor in observational research, with emphasis on addressing confounding and improving causal inference. Her research spans cancer epidemiology, vaccine effectiveness, and causal methods applied to real-world health data, with numerous high-impact publications.

• Co-director of VA-CAUSAL Methods Core
• Member of Harvard CAUSALab
• Developed multiple causal inference courses
• Extensive publications on target trial emulation

As an educator, Dr. Dickerman mentors junior investigators and students while teaching causal inference methodology at Harvard. Her CAUSALab courses have made sophisticated epidemiological methods accessible to a global audience across academia and industry.

Her laboratory work through the Harvard CAUSALab focuses on developing and implementing methodologies for comparative effectiveness and safety studies at scale, with applications spanning cancer prevention, cardiovascular outcomes, and vaccine effectiveness research.