Loki Natarajan

Dr. Loki Natarajan is a Professor in the Division of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), within the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health & Human Longevity Science. She holds a PhD in Mathematics from UC Berkeley and has over 20 years of experience as a Principal Investigator in clinical trials and biostatistical research. Her work focuses on developing statistical methods to analyze health behaviors, particularly using wearable sensor data, and improving outcomes in chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

Dr. Natarajan’s research integrates ‘omics data and behavioral interventions, with notable contributions to accelerometer-based physical activity analysis, sedentary behavior patterns, and prognostic modeling in diabetic kidney disease. She leads the UCSD Biostatistics PhD program and teaches advanced courses in statistical learning and public health biostatistics. Her funded projects include NIH grants on metabolomic signatures in kidney disease, behavioral interventions for low-income seniors, and genomic predictors of breast cancer survival.

Key publications include studies on functional data analysis of physical activity patterns, machine learning applications in accelerometer data, and clinical trials evaluating sleep interventions during chemotherapy. Dr. Natarajan’s work emphasizes translating statistical innovations into actionable public health strategies, with a focus on aging populations and underserved communities.