About

My name is Luke Benz and I am a fourth year Biostatistics PhD Student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. I graduated from Yale University in 2019 with a BS in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in Statistics and Data Science. I am advised by Sebastien Haneuse, and my research interests include analyzing data from observational studies, causal inference, target trial emulation, electronic health records (EHR) data, and missing data. I am particularly interested in problems posed by missing eligibility/inclusion criteria. I am currently supported by an a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31) from the NIH (NIDDK).

Before coming to Harvard, I was a senior data scientist at Medidata Solutions, Inc., where I most recently worked on models to select sites to use in clinical trials, and to forecast enrollment patterns and key milestones in those trials.

In my free time, I enjoy working on projects at the intersection of statistics and sports, and was president of the Yale Undergraduate Sports Analytics Group from 2017-2019. Many of my past projects have involved college basketball, and my R package ncaahoopR is designed to facilitate easy access and analysis of college basketball play-by-play data. More recent sports analytics projects have focused on home advantage, in European soccer following the COVID-19 pandemic and across levels of American football.