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AHEAD Team

The AHEAD Institute faculty members within the Department of Health and Clinical Outcomes Research at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine lead the advancement of knowledge in critical areas such as health services research, health equity, palliative care, oncology, addiction medicine, vaccine hesitancy, study design, methodology and data science.

Through publications in high-impact journals and presentations at regional, national and international conferences, our faculty and staff consistently showcase their dedication to advancing health care research and disseminating impactful findings to a global audience. The combined methodological and statistical expertise of the AHEAD Institute's biostatistics core staff enables our collaborators to develop robust study designs and generate high-quality research that contributes to improved patient outcomes and health care delivery.

AHEAD Biostatistics Core Staff
 

Leadership

Eric Armbrecht, Ph.D.
Interim department director
eric.armbrecht@slu.edu

Leslie Hinyard, Ph.D. 
Chair, professor, Department of Health and Clinical Outcomes Research 
Executive director, AHEAD Institute  
leslie.hinyard@health.slu.edu 

Affiliated Clinical Faculty

Sarah Gebauer, M.D.  
Associate professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine 
sarah.gebauer@health.slu.edu

Matthew Breeden, M.D. 
Assistant professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine 
matthew.breeden@health.slu.edu

Daniel Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
PsychEpi Lab
daniel.lin@health.slu.edu 

Martin Schoen, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology
martin.schoen@health.slu.edu 

Biostatistics Core Staff

Linda Waller
Director of business strategy, AHEAD Institute
linda.waller@health.slu.edu 

Joanne Salas
Director for applied research and analytics, AHEAD Institute 
joanne.salas@health.slu.edu

Thomas Sessa 
Director of data oversight, AHEAD Institute
thomas.sessa@slu.edu

Irene Ryan 
Data manager 
irene.ryan@health.slu.edu

Paul Hitz
Director for data management and health informatics, AHEAD Institute
paul.hitz@health.slu.edu

Timothy Chrusciel
Senior Biostatistician 
timothy.chrusciel@health.slu.edu

Jason Doherty, Ph.D.
Senior biostatistician 
jason.doherty@health.slu.edu 

Matthew Simpson
Data analyst 
matthew.simpson@health.slu.edu

Zidong (Alex) Zhang, Ph.D. 
Biostatistician 
zidong.zhang@health.slu.edu

Ruizhi (Regina) Huang
Biostatistician 
ruizhi.huang@health.slu.edu

Lizzie Ward
Program Coordinator
lizzie.ward@health.slu.edu