BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20250802T132248EDT-9977pb9Xr3@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20250802T172248Z DESCRIPTION:Estimating the Impact of Cluster-Based Interventions: the SEARC H trial and HIV prevention in East Africa.\n\n \n\nDr. Laura Balzer is a P ost-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She earned her PhD in Biostatistics from th e University of California\, Berkeley under the guidance of Drs. Maya Pete rsen and Mark van der Laan. Her research is on the development of optimal designs and estimators for causal effects with highly dependent data. Appl ications of this work include impact evaluation for HIV prevention and tre atment strategies and understanding the neighborhood determinants of healt h. Laura is also passionate about teaching more advanced causal and statis tical methods to applied audiences. Jointly with Dr. Maya Petersen\, she w as awarded the 2014 ASA’s Causality in Statistics Education Award. (More i nfo: www.works.bepress.com/laura_balzer) \n\n\nEvaluation of cluster-based interventions presents significant methodological challenges. In this tal k\, we describe the design and analysis of the SEARCH trial\, an ongoing c ommunity randomized trial to evaluate the impact of early HIV diagnosis an d immediate treatment with streamlined care in rural Uganda and Kenya. We focus on 3 choices to optimize the design and analysis: pair-matching over complete randomization\, targeting the sample effect instead of a populat ion average parameter\, and data-adaptive adjustment through a pre-specifi ed targeted maximum likelihood estimator (TMLE). These choices are compare d theoretically and with finite sample simulations. We demonstrate each ch oice improves efficiency relative to standard practice\, while maintaining nominal confidence interval coverage. We conclude with practical implicat ions and some ongoing challenges.\n DTSTART:20161018T193000Z DTEND:20161018T203000Z LOCATION:Room 24\, Purvis Hall\, CA\, QC\, Montreal\, H3A 1A2\, 1020 avenue des Pins Ouest SUMMARY:Laura B. Balzer\, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health URL:/mathstat/channels/event/laura-b-balzer-harvard-th -chan-school-public-health-263290 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR