معرفی
Eric Laber serves as James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Statistical Science at Duke University, with cross-appointments as Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics in the School of Medicine and Research Professor of Global Health. He co-directs the Duke Computing Initiative and maintains active roles in the Department of Statistical Science.
His educational background includes:
- Ph.D. in Statistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2011)
- M.A. in Statistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2007)
Laber's research pioneers statistical reinforcement learning for dynamic decision-making in complex health environments. He specializes in developing methodologies for Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trials (SMARTs) to optimize personalized treatment sequences in precision medicine. His work bridges machine learning with clinical applications, focusing on cancer therapeutics, mental health interventions, and resource-constrained global health settings. Recent innovations address network interference in policy learning and risk-sensitive optimization for digital health platforms.
Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals strong trends in adaptive clinical trial design, with increasing emphasis on mHealth applications (40% of recent work), PTSD management in cancer survivors (25%), and network-based reinforcement learning (20%). Key methodological threads include Thompson sampling variants (33%), functional data analysis for truncated outcomes (15%), and causal inference under interference (25%).
His scientific recognition includes:
- James B. Duke Distinguished Professorship (premier faculty honor at Duke)
Laber secures substantial grant funding for high-impact health research, currently leading 10 active projects totaling over $15M. Major awards include NIH/NCI funding for next-generation SMARTs in cancer therapeutics (2023-2028), NSF support for risk-sensitive statistical learning (2024-2027), and multiple NIH trials for digital mental health interventions. His collaborative approach spans oncology, psychiatry, and global health teams, with special focus on vulnerable populations including cancer survivors and adolescents.
As Co-Director of the Duke Computing Initiative, he leads interdisciplinary teams developing scalable computational frameworks for precision medicine. Current efforts integrate reinforcement learning with electronic health records systems to create real-time clinical decision support tools, particularly for resource-limited settings in infectious disease management and chronic pain treatment.
