At the 2025 Joint Statistical Meetings, which brought more than five thousand quantitative scientists from around the world to Nashville in early August, Department of Biostatistics faculty, students, alumni, and colleagues were recognized as winners of the American Statistical Association’s Statistical Partnerships Among Academe, Industry, and Government (SPAIG) Award. The award, citing how the partnership between the department and a state agency led to data-driven improvements in the well-being of children and families, was accepted on behalf of the team by Dr. Rameela Raman, associate professor of biostatistics, health policy, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Team members affiliated with the department include David Schlueter (PhD 2018), Ryan Jarrett (PhD 2021), Sarah Lotspeich (PhD 2021), Jamie Joseph (PhD 2024), Julia Thome (PhD 2024), Joshua Slone (PhD candidate), Alexis Fleming (PhD candidate), Lisa Levoir (MS 2025), Ashley Mullan (PhD student), and Lynne Berry (research assistant professor), in conjunction with colleagues in Vanderbilt’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, and University of Kentucky.
Originating as a short-term consulting arrangement with Dr. Raman, the partnership’s projects have since involved multiple staff biostatisticians and application developers as well as the faculty and trainees listed above. Its high-impact projects have influenced policy and practice in the state and beyond, improved the quality of services for children, introduced novel statistical methods to child welfare, and exposed students to new research areas, dissertation topics, and job prospects in government. Publications by graduate program students and alumni emerging from this partnership include:
Lotspeich SC, Jarrett RT, Epstein RA, Shaffer AM, Gracey K, Cull MJ, Raman R. Incidence and neighborhood-level determinants of child welfare involvement. Child Abuse Negl. 2020 Nov; 109: 104767
Raman R, Jarrett RT (co-first author), Cull MJ, Gracey K, Shaffer AM, Epstein RA. Psychopharmaceutical Prescription Monitoring for Children in the Child Welfare System. Psychiatr Serv. 2021 Mar 1;72(3):295-301
Joseph J, DesAutels SJ, Gracey K, Kronenberg M, Kuhn T, Raman R. Child and family outcomes of the Safe Babies Court Team — A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review. 2023 Apr 5:106956
Thome JC, Gracey K, Epstein RA, Cull MJ, Kuhn T, Raman R. Reporting of Child Maltreatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Southern State in the United States. Public Health Rep. 2025 Jan-Feb;140(1_suppl):50S-60S. More about this publication.
Joseph J, Luo Z, Epstein RA, Gracey K, Kuhn TM, Cull MJ, Raman R. Analysis of longitudinal patterns of child maltreatment reports in the United States. Child Abuse Negl. 2025 Feb;160:107223. More about this publication.