I am methodologist with substantive interests in global health, community-based participatory research, and social determinants of health. My areas of expertise are Causal Inference and Machine Learning. These disciplines are integral to developing, evaluating, and implementing data-driven solutions in Public Health and Medicine. My research has focused on challenges that arise when making causal inferences with clustered and longitudinal data. I am is also interested the design and analysis of pragmatic trials and observational studies, which are both subject to complex measurement, missingness, and dependence. I am the Primary Statistician for three cluster randomized trials in East Africa: the SEARCH study to prevent HIV and improve community health, the SATURN study to improve care outcomes among HIV+ youth, and the SPIRIT study to prevent TB. My work is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has been recognized by ASAs Causality in Statistics Education Award and the Gertrude M. Cox Scholarship. Overall, my research is informed by cross-disciplinary real-world problems and aims to ensure methodological advances in Academia translate into real-world impact.
Freeman JR, Whitcomb BW, Bertone-Johnson ER, Balzer LB, O'Brien LM, Dunietz GL, Purdue-Smithe AC, Kim K, Silver RM, Schisterman EF, Mumford SL. (2023). Preconception sleep duration, sleep timing, and shift work in association with fecundability and live birth among women with a history of pregnancy loss. Fertility and sterility, 119(2)
Phillips AN, Bershteyn A, Revill P, Bansi-Matharu L, Kripke K, Boily MC, Martin-Hughes R, Johnson LF, Mukandavire Z, Jamieson L, Meyer-Rath G, Hallett TB, Ten Brink D, Kelly SL, Nichols BE, Bendavid E, Mudimu E, Taramusi I, Smith J, Dalal S, Baggaley R, Crowley S, Terris-Prestholt F, Godfrey-Faussett P, Mukui I, Jahn A, Case KK, Havlir D, Petersen M, Kamya M, Koss CA, Balzer LB, Apollo T, Chidarikire T, Mellors JW, Parikh UM, Godfrey C, Cambiano V, . (2022). Cost-effectiveness of easy-access, risk-informed oral pre-exposure prophylaxis in HIV epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa: a modelling study. The lancet. HIV, 9(5)
Oluwayiose OA, Houle E, Wu H, Whitcomb BW, Mumford SL, Schisterman EF, Suvorov A, Balzer LB, Pilsner JR. (2022). Urinary phthalate metabolites and their mixtures are associated with advanced sperm epigenetic aging in a general population. Environmental research, 214(Pt 4)
Pilsner JR, Saddiki H, Whitcomb BW, Suvorov A, Buck Louis GM, Mumford SL, Schisterman EF, Oluwayiose OA, Balzer LB. (2022). Sperm epigenetic clock associates with pregnancy outcomes in the general population. Human reproduction (Oxford, England), 37(7)
Kamya MR, Petersen ML, Kabami J, Ayieko J, Kwariisima D, Sang N, Clark TD, Schwab J, Charlebois ED, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Peng J, Jain V, Chen YH, Chamie G, Balzer LB, Havlir DV. (2021). SEARCH Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Streamlined Treatment Intervention Reduces Mortality at a Population Level in Men With Low CD4 Counts. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Balzer LB, van der Laan M, Ayieko J, Kamya M, Chamie G, Schwab J, Havlir DV, Petersen ML. (2021). Two-Stage TMLE to reduce bias and improve efficiency in cluster randomized trials. Biostatistics (Oxford, England)
Potter K, Masteller B, Balzer LB. (2021). Examining Obedience Training as a Physical Activity Intervention for Dog Owners: Findings from the Stealth Pet Obedience Training (SPOT) Pilot Study. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(3)
Hickey MD, Ayieko J, Owaraganise A, Sim N, Balzer LB, Kabami J, Atukunda M, Opel FJ, Wafula E, Nyabuti M, Brown L, Chamie G, Jain V, Peng J, Kwarisiima D, Camlin CS, Charlebois ED, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Kamya MR, Petersen ML, Havlir DV. (2021). Effect of a patient-centered hypertension delivery strategy on all-cause mortality: Secondary analysis of SEARCH, a community-randomized trial in rural Kenya and Uganda. PLoS medicine, 18(9)
Snyder T, Ravenhurst J, Cramer EY, Reich NG, Balzer L, Alfandari D, Lover AA. (2021). Serological surveys to estimate cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in adults (Sero-MAss study), Massachusetts, July-August 2020: a mail-based cross-sectional study. BMJ open, 11(8)
Balzer LB, Westling T. (2021). Demystifying Statistical Inference When Using Machine Learning in Causal Research. American journal of epidemiology
Balzer LB, Petersen ML. (2021). Machine Learning in Causal Inference: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. American journal of epidemiology
Oluwayiose OA, Wu H, Saddiki H, Whitcomb BW, Balzer LB, Brandon N, Suvorov A, Tayyab R, Sites CK, Hill L, Marcho C, Pilsner JR. (2021). Sperm DNA methylation mediates the association of male age on reproductive outcomes among couples undergoing infertility treatment. Scientific reports, 11(1)
Nyabuti MN, Petersen ML, Bukusi EA, Kamya MR, Mwangwa F, Kabami J, Sang N, Charlebois ED, Balzer LB, Schwab JD, Camlin CS, Black D, Clark TD, Chamie G, Havlir DV, Ayieko J. (2021). Characteristics of HIV seroconverters in the setting of universal test and treat: Results from the SEARCH trial in rural Uganda and Kenya. PloS one, 16(2)
Hickey MD, Ayieko J, Kwarisiima D, Opel FJ, Owaraganise A, Balzer LB, Chamie G, Jain V, Peng J, Camlin C, Charlebois ED, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Kamya MR, Petersen ML, Havlir DV. (2020). Improved Viral Suppression With Streamlined Care in the SEARCH Study. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 85(5)
Marquez C, Atukunda M, Balzer LB, Chamie G, Kironde J, Ssemmondo E, Ruel TD, Mwangwa F, Tram KH, Clark TD, Kwarisiima D, Petersen M, Kamya MR, Charlebois ED, Havlir DV. (2020). The age-specific burden and household and school-based predictors of child and adolescent tuberculosis infection in rural Uganda. PloS one, 15(1)
Marcus JL, Sewell WC, Balzer LB, Krakower DS. (2020). Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for HIV Prevention: Emerging Approaches to Ending the Epidemic. Current HIV/AIDS reports
Kabami J, Balzer LB, Saddiki H, Ayieko J, Kwarisiima D, Atukunda M, Charlebois ED, Clark TD, Koss CA, Ruel T, Bukusi EA, Cohen CR, Musoke P, Petersen ML, Havlir DV, Kamya MR, Chamie G. (2020). Population-level viral suppression among pregnant and postpartum women in a universal test and treat trial. AIDS (London, England)
Koss CA, Charlebois ED, Ayieko J, Kwarisiima D, Kabami J, Balzer LB, Atukunda M, Mwangwa F, Peng J, Mwinike Y, Owaraganise A, Chamie G, Jain V, Sang N, Olilo W, Brown LB, Marquez C, Zhang K, Ruel TD, Camlin CS, Rooney JF, Black D, Clark TD, Gandhi M, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Petersen ML, Kamya MR, Havlir DV, . (2020). Uptake, engagement, and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis offered after population HIV testing in rural Kenya and Uganda: 72-week interim analysis of observational data from the SEARCH study. The lancet. HIV, 7(4)
Heller DJ, Balzer LB, Kazi D, Charlebois ED, Kwarisiima D, Mwangwa F, Jain V, Kotwani P, Chamie G, Cohen CR, Clark TD, Ayieko J, Byonanabye DM, Petersen M, Kamya MR, Havlir D, Kahn JG. (2020). Hypertension testing and treatment in Uganda and Kenya through the SEARCH study: An implementation fidelity and outcome evaluation. PloS one, 15(1)
Muiru AN, Charlebois ED, Balzer LB, Kwarisiima D, Elly A, Black D, Okiror S, Kabami J, Atukunda M, Snyman K, Petersen M, Kamya M, Havlir D, Estrella MM, Hsu CY. (2020). The epidemiology of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in rural East Africa: A population-based study. PloS one, 15(3)
Lillian B Brown, Laura B Balzer, Jane Kabami, Dalsone Kwarisiima, Norton Sang, James Ayieko, Yiqun Chen, Gabriel Chamie, Edwin D Charlebois, Carol S Camlin, Craig R Cohen, Elizabeth Bukusi, Moses R Kamya, James Moody, Diane V Havlir, Maya L Petersen. (2019). The Influence of Social Networks on Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Among HIV-Infected Antiretroviral TherapyNaive Youth in Rural Kenya and Uganda. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 83(1)
Stephen A. Lauer, Nicholas G. Reich, Laura B. Balzer. (2019). The covariate-adjusted residual estimator and its use in both randomized trials and observational settings. arXiv preprint
Yiqun Chen, Wenjing Zheng, Lillian B Brown, Gabriel Chamie, Dalsone Kwarisiima, Jane Kabami, Tamara D Clark, Norton Sang, James Ayieko, Edwin D Charlebois, Vivek Jain, Laura Balzer, Moses R Kamya, Diane Havlir, Maya Petersen. (2019). Semi-Supervised Record Linkage for Construction of Large-Scale Sociocentric Networks in Resource-limited Settings: An application to the SEARCH Study in Rural Uganda and Kenya. arXiv.org
Laura B Balzer, James Ayieko, Dalsone Kwarisiima, Gabriel Chamie, Edwin Charlebois, Joshua Schwab, Mark van der Laan, Moses Kamya, Diane Havlir, Maya Petersen. (2019). Far from MCAR: obtaining population-level estimates of HIV viral suppression. MedRxiv
Havlir DV, Balzer LB, Charlebois ED, Clark TD, Kwarisiima D, Ayieko J, Kabami J, Sang N, Liegler T, Chamie G, Camlin CS, Jain V, Kadede K, Atukunda M, Ruel T, Shade SB, Ssemmondo E, Byonanebye DM, Mwangwa F, Owaraganise A, Olilo W, Black D, Snyman K, Burger R, Getahun M, Achando J, Awuonda B, Nakato H, Kironde J, Okiror S, Thirumurthy H, Koss C, Brown L, Marquez C, Schwab J, Lavoy G, Plenty A, Mugoma Wafula E, Omanya P, Chen YH, Rooney JF, Bacon M, van der Laan M, Cohen CR, Bukusi E, Kamya MR, Petersen M. (2019). HIV Testing and Treatment with the Use of a Community Health Approach in Rural Africa. The New England journal of medicine, 381(3)
Puryear SB, Balzer LB, Ayieko J, Kwarisiima D, Hahn JA, Charlebois ED, Clark TD, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Kamya MR, Petersen ML, Havlir DV, Chamie G. (2020). Associations between alcohol use and HIV care cascade outcomes among adults undergoing population-based HIV testing in East Africa. AIDS (London, England), 34(3)
Fox MP, Edwards JK, Platt R, Balzer LB. (2019). The critical importance of asking good questions: The role of epidemiology doctoral training programs. American journal of epidemiology
Katie Potter, Hachem Saddiki, Laura B Balzer. (2019). DOG WALKING MEDIATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DOG OWNERSHIP AND NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL INTERACTION. Innovation in Aging, 3(1)
Balzer LB, Havlir DV, Kamya MR, Chamie G, Charlebois ED, Clark TD, Koss CA, Kwarisiima D, Ayieko J, Sang N, Kabami J, Atukunda M, Jain V, Camlin CS, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, van der Laan M, Petersen ML. (2019). Machine learning to identify persons at high-risk of HIV acquisition in rural Kenya and Uganda. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Potter K, Teng JE, Masteller B, Rajala C, Balzer LB. (2019). Examining How Dog 'Acquisition' Affects Physical Activity and Psychosocial Well-Being: Findings from the BuddyStudy Pilot Trial. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 9(9)
Kwarisiima D, Atukunda M, Owaraganise A, Chamie G, Clark T, Kabami J, Jain V, Byonanebye D, Mwangwa F, Balzer LB, Charlebois E, Kamya MR, Petersen M, Havlir DV, Brown LB. (2019). Hypertension control in integrated HIV and chronic disease clinics in Uganda in the SEARCH study. BMC public health, 19(1)
Shetty VA, Balzer LB, Geissler KH, Chin DL. (2019). Association Between Specialist Office Visits and Health Expenditures in Accountable Care Organizations. JAMA network open, 2(7)
Wenjing Zheng, Laura Balzer, Mark van der Laan, Maya Petersen, SEARCH Collaboration. (2018). Constrained binary classification using ensemble learning: an application to cost‐efficient targeted PrEP strategies. Statistics in Medicine, 37(2)
James Ayieko, Maya L Petersen, Annelies Van Rie, Erick Wafula, Wilson Opudo, Tamara D Clark, Moses R Kamya, Laura B Balzer, Craig R Cohen, Elizabeth A Bukusi, Edwin D Charlebois, Diane V Havlir. (2018). Effect of a patient-centered phone call by a clinical officer at time of HIV testing on linkage to care in rural Kenya. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 5(6)
Jakubowski A, Snyman K, Kwarisiima D, Sang N, Burger R, Balzer L, Clark T, Chamie G, Shade S, Cohen C, Bukusi E, Charlebois E, Kamya M, Petersen M, Havlir D, Thirumurthy H. (2018). High CD4 counts associated with better economic outcomes for HIV-positive adults and their HIV-negative household members in the SEARCH Trial. PloS one, 13(6)
Milena A Gianfrancesco, Laura Balzer, Kimberly E Taylor, Laura Trupin, Joanne Nititham, Michael F Seldin, Amanda Wheeler Singer, Lindsey A Criswell, Lisa F Barcellos. (2018). Genetic risk and longitudinal disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus using targeted maximum likelihood estimation. Genes & Immunity, 17(6)
Laura B Balzer, Diane V Havlir, Joshua Schwab, Mark J Van Der Laan, Maya L Petersen. (2018). Statistical Analysis Plan for SEARCH Phase I: Health Outcomes among Adults. arXiv
Shade SB, Osmand T, Luo A, Aine R, Assurah E, Mwebaza B, Mwai D, Owaraganise A, Mwangwa F, Ayieko J, Black D, Brown LB, Clark TD, Kwarisiima D, Thirumurthy H, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Charlebois ED, Balzer L, Kamya MR, Petersen ML, Havlir DV, Jain V. (2018). Costs of streamlined HIV care delivery in rural Ugandan and Kenyan clinics in the SEARCH Studys. AIDS (London, England), 32(15)
Balzer LB, Zheng W, van der Laan MJ, Petersen ML. (2019). A new approach to hierarchical data analysis: Targeted maximum likelihood estimation for the causal effect of a cluster-level exposure. Statistical methods in medical research, 28(6)
Naimi AI, Balzer LB. (2018). Stacked generalization: an introduction to super learning. European journal of epidemiology, 33(5)
Ayieko J, Chamie G, Balzer L, Kwarisiima D, Kabami J, Sang N, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Clark TD, Plenty A, Charlebois ED, Petersen M, Kamya M, Havlir DV, Ruel T. (2018). Mobile, Population-wide, Hybrid HIV Testing Strategy Increases Number of Children Tested in Rural Kenya and Uganda. The Pediatric infectious disease journal, 37(12)
Koss CA, Ayieko J, Mwangwa F, Owaraganise A, Kwarisiima D, Balzer LB, Plenty A, Sang N, Kabami J, Ruel TD, Black D, Camlin CS, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Clark TD, Charlebois ED, Petersen ML, Kamya MR, Havlir DV, . (2018). Early Adopters of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Preexposure Prophylaxis in a Population-based Combination Prevention Study in Rural Kenya and Uganda. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 67(12)
Labrecque JA, Kaufman JS, Balzer LB, Maclehose RF, Strumpf EC, Matijasevich A, Santos IS, Schmidt KH, Barros AJD. (2018). Effect of a conditional cash transfer program on length-for-age and weight-for-age in Brazilian infants at 24 months using doubly-robust, targeted estimation. Social science & medicine (1982), (211)
Delphine Perriat, Laura Balzer, Richard Hayes, Shahin Lockman, Fiona Walsh, Helen Ayles, Sian Floyd, Diane Havlir, Moses Kamya, Refeletswe Lebelonyane, Lisa A Mills, Velephi Okello, Maya Petersen, Deenan Pillay, Kalpana Sabapathy, Kathleen Wirth, Joanna Orne‐Gliemann, François Dabis,. (2018). Comparative assessment of five trials of universal HIV testing and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 21(1)
Laura Balzer, Patrick Staples, Jukka-Pekka Onnela, Victor DeGruttola. (2017). Using a network-based approach and targeted maximum likelihood estimation to evaluate the effect of adding pre-exposure prophylaxis to an ongoing test-and-treat trial. Clinical Trials, 2(14)
Laura B Balzer, Maya L Petersen, Mark J van der Laan. (2017). The Sample Average Treatment Effect. Targeted Learning in Data Science
Laura B Balzer, Mark J van der Laan, Maya L Petersen. (2017). Data-Adaptive Estimation in Cluster Randomized Trials. Targeted Learning in Data Science
Maya Petersen, Laura Balzer, Dalsone Kwarsiima, Norton Sang, Gabriel Chamie, James Ayieko, Jane Kabami, Asiphas Owaraganise, Teri Liegler, Florence Mwangwa, Kevin Kadede, Vivek Jain, Albert Plenty, Lillian Brown, Geoff Lavoy, Joshua Schwab, Douglas Black, Mark van der Laan, Elizabeth A Bukusi, Craig R Cohen, Tamara D Clark, Edwin Charlebois, Moses Kamya, Diane Havlir. (2017). Association of Implementation of a Universal Testing and Treatment Intervention With HIV Diagnosis, Receipt of Antiretroviral Therapy, and Viral Suppression in East Africa. JAMA Network, 317(21)
Michelle Pearl, Laura Balzer, Jennifer Ahern. (2016). Targeted Estimation of Marginal Absolute and Relative Associations in CaseControl Data. Epidemiology, 27(4)
Chamie G, Clark TD, Kabami J, Kadede K, Ssemmondo E, Steinfeld R, Lavoy G, Kwarisiima D, Sang N, Jain V, Thirumurthy H, Liegler T, Balzer LB, Petersen ML, Cohen CR, Bukusi EA, Kamya MR, Havlir DV, Charlebois ED. (2016). A hybrid mobile approach for population-wide HIV testing in rural east Africa: an observational study. The lancet. HIV, 3(3)
Kwarisiima D, Balzer L, Heller D, Kotwani P, Chamie G, Clark T, Ayieko J, Mwangwa F, Jain V, Byonanebye D, Petersen M, Havlir D, Kamya MR. (2016). Population-Based Assessment of Hypertension Epidemiology and Risk Factors among HIV-Positive and General Populations in Rural Uganda. PloS one, 11(5)
Laura Balzer, Jennifer Ahern, Sandro Galea, Mark van der Laan. (2016). Estimating Effects with Rare Outcomes and High Dimensional Covariates: Knowledge is Power. Epidemiologic Methods, 5(1)
Balzer LB, van der Laan MJ, Petersen ML, . (2016). Adaptive pre-specification in randomized trials with and without pair-matching. Statistics in medicine, 35(25)
Balzer LB, Petersen ML, van der Laan MJ, . (2016). Targeted estimation and inference for the sample average treatment effect in trials with and without pair-matching. Statistics in medicine, 35(21)
Jennifer Ahern, Laura Balzer, Sandro Galea. (2015). The roles of outlet density and norms in alcohol use disorder. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, (151)
Balzer LB, Petersen ML, van der Laan MJ, . (2015). Adaptive pair-matching in randomized trials with unbiased and efficient effect estimation. Statistics in medicine, 34(6)
Chamie G, Kwarisiima D, Clark TD, Kabami J, Jain V, Geng E, Balzer LB, Petersen ML, Thirumurthy H, Charlebois ED, Kamya MR, Havlir DV. (2014). Uptake of community-based HIV testing during a multi-disease health campaign in rural Uganda. PloS one, 9(1)
Prashant Kotwani, Laura Balzer, Dalsone Kwarisiima, Tamara D. Clark, Jane Kabami, Dathan Byonanebye, Bob Bainomujuni, Douglas Black, Gabriel Chamie, Vivek Jain, Harsha Thirumurthy, Moses R. Kamya, Elvin H. Geng, Maya L. Petersen, Diane V. Havlir, Edwin D. Charlebois. (2014). Evaluating linkage to care for hypertension after community-based screening in rural Uganda. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 19(4)
Jain V, Byonanebye DM, Liegler T, Kwarisiima D, Chamie G, Kabami J, Petersen ML, Balzer LB, Clark TD, Black D, Thirumurthy H, Geng EH, Charlebois ED, Amanyire G, Kamya MR, Havlir DV, . (2014). Changes in population HIV RNA levels in Mbarara, Uganda, during scale-up of HIV antiretroviral therapy access. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 65(3)
van der Laan MJ, Balzer LB, Petersen ML. (2012). ADAPTIVE MATCHING IN RANDOMIZED TRIALS AND OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES. Journal of statistical research, 46(2)
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