Dr. Thaler's current research interests center on statistical data analytic paradigms, using data transformations and dimensionality-reducing techniques to obtain parsimonious mixed-effect models and longitudinal data models. Both baseline and time-dependent covariates are used to evaluate prognostic significance of laboratory assays and questionnaire data. In particular, he has recently worked on:
Patient-oriented studies focusing on health-related quality of life and symptom assessment, including development and validation of quality of life measures;
Statistical characterization of sequential measurements of CA125 in ovarian cancer patients and identification of a new and potentially better marker, YKL-40;
Combining Monte Carlo and data transformation to determine the distribution of test statistics in data-driven and model-driven contexts;
Statistical models of the effect of COX-2 inhibitors on tumor incidence and growth rates in mice;
Measurement of cognitive function in cancer patients.
Dr. Thaler serves on the Quality of Life Committee of the Gynecologic Oncology Group.
Selected Bibliography:
1. Dupont J, Tanwar MK, Thaler HT, Fleisher M, Kauff N, Hensley ML, Sabbatini P, Anderson S, Aghajanian C, Holland EC, Spriggs DR. Early Detection and Prognosis of Ovarian Cancer Using Serum YKL-40. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2004;22:3330-3339.
2. Chang VT, Hwang SS, Thaler HT, Kasimis B, Portenoy RK. The Memorial symptom assessment scale. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research 2004;4:171-178.
3. Moore KH, Thaler HT, Tan LK, Borgen PI, Cody III, HS. Immunohistochemically detected tumor cells in the sentinel lymph nodes of patients with breast carcinoma. Biologic metastasis or procedural artifact? Cancer 2004;100:929-934.
4. Patel MI, Subbaramaiah K, Du B, Chang M, Yang P, Newman RA, Cordon-Cardo C, Thaler HT, Dannenberg AJ. Celecoxib inhibits prostate cancer growth. Evidence of a COX-2 independent mechanism. Clinical Cancer Research (in press).
5. Temple LKF, Bacik J, Savatta S, Gottesman L, Paty P, Weiser M, Guillem J, Minsky BD, Kalman M, Thaler HT, Schrag D, Wong WD. The development of a validated instrument to evaluate bowel function after sphincter preserving surgery for rectal cancer. Dis Colon Rectum (in press).
