Mary Margaret Ryan

Statistics Methodology Research

As the biological sciences advance, so too does the need for new statistical methodologies serving these advances. Above all, I believe that newly developed biostatistical methods should be both useful to scenarios realistically seen in biomedical research and comprehensible, if not usable, by non-statistical investigators. Broadly, my research interests are the construction of study designs that optimize efficiency while maintaining valid inference. My current projects pertain to developing theory necessary to utilize group sequential study designs in novel settings, and studying how such designs behave in settings where traditional assumptions may be broken and where limited resources and/or time horizons necessitate the use of such efficient design methodology.

Applied Research

I believe that work done in collaborations should help to inform novel methodological research, and that methodological research should circle back to inform and shape collaborative work. Good collaborative statisticians are not just tools to be used in service of subject matter experts but full and equal members of the investigative research team: quantifying the limitations of what the data and methodology can tell us, identifying opportunities to go beyond the initial research goals, and effectively communicating those points to the rest of the team to shape the end research product.

I have been a member of the Gillen/Grill Alzheimer’s Disease Research Lab since 2017, transitioning from a neuroscience novice to an adept AD authority, spearheading projects, presenting research at international AD conferences, and writing first-author manuscripts for AD journals. The majority of my collaborative research in the lab has centered around the role of study partners in prodromal and preclinical AD trials.

Publications

Ryan, M.M., Cox, C.G., Witbracht, M., Hoang, D., Gillen, D.L., Grill, J.D. (2020). “Using Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Results to Accelerate Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trial Recruitment.” (Accepted). Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders. d​oi.org/10.1097/wad.0000000000000421

Cox, C.G., Ryan, M.M., Gillen, D.L., Grill, J.D. (2020). “Is reluctance to share Alzheimer’s disease biomarker status with a study partner a barrier to preclinical trial recruitment?” The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease. dx.doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2020.36

Ryan, M.M., Spotnitz, W.D., Gillen, D.L. (2020). “Variance estimation for the Kappa statistic in the presence of clustered data and heterogeneous observations.” Statistics in Medicine. doi.org/10.1002/sim.8522

Ryan, M.M., Grill, J.D., Gillen, D.L. (2019). “Participant and Study Partner Prediction and Identification of Cognitive Impairment in Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease: Study Partner vs. Participant Accuracy.” Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. doi.org/10.1186/s13195-019-0539-3

Cox, C.G., Ryan, M.M., Gillen, D.L., Grill, J.D. (2019). “A preliminary study of clinical trial enrollment decisions among people with Mild Cognitive Impairment and their study partners.” The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2018.10.016

Posters & Presentations

January 2021 | Variance estimation for the kappa statistic in the presence of clustered data and heterogeneous observations | Invited Presentation | ASA BIOP Webinar | UC Irvine

November 2020 | Variance estimation for the kappa statistic in the presence of clustered data and heterogeneous observations | Invited Presentation | Orange County Biostatistics Symposium | UC Irvine

November 2020 | Perceptions of Amyloid Imaging Among Cognitively Normal Older Adults with Elevated and Not Elevated Amyloid | Poster | Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease | UC Irvine

December 2019 | Using Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Results in Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trial Recruitment | Poster | Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease | UC Irvine

July 2019 | An Extension of Cohen's Kappa for Clustered Data and Group Sequential Testing | Speed Talk & Poster | Joint Statistical Meetings | UC Irvine

July 2019 | Participant and Study Partner Prediction and Identification of Cognitive Impairment in Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease: Study Partner vs. Participant Accuracy | Poster | Alzheimer's Association International Conference | UC Irvine

June 2019 | An Investigation of the Kappa Statistic Under Clustered Data and Group Sequential Testing, with an Application to Surgical Rating | Paper & Presentation | Western North American Region Annual Meeting | UC Irvine

March 2018 | Scientific Necessity of Study Partners in Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease Trials | Poster | ReMIND Emerging Scientists Symposium | UC Irvine

April 2016 | Bridging gaps: An in-depth analysis of racial and ethnic wage gaps across industries around the 2008 recession | Poster | the MU Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum | University of Missouri, Columbia

April 2015 | An Analysis of Suicide and Bullying in the United States Using a Non-Gaussian Multivariate Spatial Model | Poster | the National Conference on Undergraduate Research & MU Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum | University of Missouri, Columbia

Updated January 2021