David Couper

David Couper, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Deputy Director of the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center (CSCC). He has been with CSCC since 1998, leading multiple NIH-funded studies as Principal Investigator, including the ARIC Study, ACHIEVE clinical trial, and SPIROMICS Genomics and Informatics Center. His research focuses on data quality, epidemiological methods, and longitudinal data analysis in chronic disease studies.

Educated at the University of Cape Town (BS 1975, BSc 1977) and University of Washington (MS 1991, PhD 1994), Dr. Couper holds expertise in biostatistical design for large-scale clinical trials. He serves on the National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council (2018-2021), NC TraCS DSMB, and peer review panels for NHLBI, JAMA Network Open, and Singapore's National Medical Research Council.

His work emphasizes methodological innovation in respiratory and cardiovascular epidemiology, including harmonizing multi-cohort data and validating clinical outcome measures. He teaches advanced statistical methods courses and leads teams analyzing longitudinal cohorts like ARIC and SPIROMICS.

Key contributions include COPD biomarker studies, cardiovascular risk modeling, and attrition bias correction in longitudinal cognitive decline research. He has published extensively on COPD mechanisms, lipid profiles in atherosclerosis, and genetic determinants of menopause timing.