Research

My research interests are in statistical methods and its applications. I have made contributions to hierarchical and multilevel models (also known as variance components models), the design and analysis of clinical trials, survival analysis, statistical methods for critical care, health services research and statistical bioinformatics.

In work funded by the ARC, I am developing new statistical methods for institutional comparisons in collaboration with Associate Professor John Moran of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide. Using a three-stage approach and hierarchical generalised linear mixed models, we have identified unusual performance as measured by significantly high or low mortality in Australian and New Zealand intensive care units. In 2009 and 2010, 4 ICUs in private hospitals had unusually high mortality (Kasza et al, Statistics in Medicine, 2013). Using a three-level hierarchical mixed model for longitudinal ICU mortality data, we have also established that there were 7 ICUs with poor performance (high mortality) in one or more years over the period 2000 to 2010: 3 were in private hospitals in Queensland, 1 a private hospital in Victoria, 2 were metropolitan ICUs, and 1 was a large tertiary ICU in South Australia (Solomon et al, BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2014). link to open access paper -->

Sir David Cox and I have written a research monograph on Components of Variance, in which we develop statistical methods for variance components from first principles, with a strong focus on both concepts and applications. The monograph is intended for statisticians as well as users of statistical methods. Applications include the analysis of two-colour microarray data (.RData file, save as linked file), blood pressure data (text file), and data from intensive care units in Australia and New Zealand from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care (ANZICS) Database. See the review of our book from the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A. You will find a list of errata here. I have written an overview article on variance components for the Encyclopedia of Biostatistics (Second Edition), which you may find helpful.