340.674.11
Causal Inference: Emulating A Target Trial to Assess Comparative Effectiveness

Location
East Baltimore
Term
Summer Institute
Department
Epidemiology
Credit(s)
2
Academic Year
2025 - 2026
Instruction Method
In-person
Auditors Allowed
No
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Pass/Fail
Contact Name
Ayesha Khan
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Description
For health researchers or other data scientists who will use observational studies to estimate causal effects as part of their current or future professional career. Learn how to determine “what works” using data from observational and randomized studies.
Introduces students to a general framework for the assessment of comparative effectiveness and safety research. The framework, which can be applied to both observational data and randomized trials with imperfect adherence to the protocol, relies on the specification of a (hypothetical) target trial. Explores key challenges for comparative effectiveness research and critically reviews methods proposed to overcome those challenges. The methods are presented in the context of several case studies for cancer, cardiovascular, renal, and infectious diseases.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  1. Formulate sufficiently well-defined causal questions for comparative effectiveness research
  2. Specify the protocol of the target trial
  3. Design analyses of observational data that emulate the protocol of the target trial
  4. Critique observational studies and randomized for comparative effectiveness research
Instructor Consent
No consent required
Special Comments

Chapters 1-3 of the book Hernán MA, Robins JM (2017). Causal Inference. Boca Raton: Chapman & Hall/CRC, forthcoming. The book can be downloaded (for free) from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/miguel-hernan/causal-inference-book/