Rushani Wijesuriya
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rush-099.bsky.social
Rushani Wijesuriya
@rush-099.bsky.social
220 followers 210 following 3 posts
Postdoctoral biostatistician at Murdoch Children's Research Institute and University of Melbourne★Biostatistics research : causal inference and missing data problems in child health, population allergy and social epidemiology ★she/her ★Views my own
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rush-099.bsky.social
Rushani Wijesuriya @rush-099.bsky.social · Jan 27
Hot off the press! 📣📣In this tutorial we illustrate available multiple imputation approaches for handling longitudinal data including when they are clustered within higher level clusters. A reproducible example with R and Stata code provided! #OpenAccess

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Multiple Imputation for Longitudinal Data: A Tutorial
Longitudinal studies are frequently used in medical research and involve collecting repeated measures on individuals over time. Observations from the same individual are invariably correlated and thu....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
myramcguinness.bsky.social
#ViCBiostat Summer School 13-20 Feb 2026

#Causal inference
#Estimands in trials
#Cluster randomised trials
Advanced #meta-analysis

In Melbs and online.
More details to come.
www.vicbiostat.org.au
Flyer saying Save the date for the 2025 ViCBiostat Summer School
November 12, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
statsepi.bsky.social
My own TLDR for the message from this paper:

statsepi.substack.com/p/sorry-what...
You aren't allowed to say “risk factor” People often say their goal is to identify “risk factors”. But what does that mean? Some people use the term to indicate potential causes of outcomes. Then just say cause. Others use it to identify predictors of outcomes. Then just say predict. And, sadly, too many others use it as shorthand for factors that are “statistically associated” with outcomes. In this case, say nothing at all, since this “goal” has no clinical utility whatsoever (beyond what it might suggest about causation or prediction). So once you have framed your research question as description, prediction, causation or measurement, there is no longer a need to talk about risk factors. It's basically just a catch-all phrase to cover up muddy thinking.
October 28, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
NEW PAPER!!! "Causal Machine Learning Methods and Use of Cross‐Fitting in Settings With High‐Dimensional Confounding"

led by Susie Ellul, with Stijn Vansteelandt & John Carlin
Published in Stats in Med

Check it out 👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#EpiSky #CausalSky
Causal Machine Learning Methods and Use of Cross‐Fitting in Settings With High‐Dimensional Confounding
Observational epidemiological studies commonly seek to estimate the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome. Adjustment for potential confounding bias in modern studies is challenging due to the p...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 25, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
cebu-melbourne.bsky.social
Awarded every two years by Australian Academy of Science,
the Moran Medal honours outstanding Australian scientists in statistics & related fields. Huge congratulations to our Co-Director @margaritamb.bsky.social on this well-deserved recognition! 🎉🥳 #WomenInSTEM #ResearchExcellence
margaritamb.bsky.social Margarita Moreno-Betancur @margaritamb.bsky.social · Oct 1
A few weeks ago I went to Canberra to receive the Moran Medal at the lovely Shine Dome of the Australian Academy of Science (@science.org.au). It was a huge honour, and wonderful to hear talks from all corners of science and to learn about the Academy's great work supporting science
- pics below!
October 8, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
NEW PAPER! (in press in EPIDEMIOLOGY)

Have you wondered:
- How to specify a target trial: as an ideal trial or something else?
- What biases do target trial emulations and actual RCTs share?
- How does it all relate to potential outcomes?

Read here! 👉 arxiv.org/abs/2405.10026
#EpiSky #CausalSky
The ideal trial: defining causal estimands that balance relevance and feasibility in target trial emulations and actual randomized trials
Causal inference is the goal of randomized trials and many observational studies. The first step in a formal causal inference framework is to define the causal estimand, and in both types of study thi...
arxiv.org
September 9, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
cebu-melbourne.bsky.social
🚨New method! So proud to see work led by @cttc101.bsky.social w/ @margaritamb.bsky.social @ghazalehd.bsky.social now available as an R package 📦
A powerful tool for estimating intervention effects via multiple mediators w/real examples to guide you!
Check it out ⬇️
#epitwitter #causaltwitter #rstats
margaritamb.bsky.social Margarita Moreno-Betancur @margaritamb.bsky.social · Jul 10
1/ NEW R PACKAGE! For estimating the impact of potential interventions on multiple mediators in countering exposure effects (led by @cttc101.bsky.social)

- Paper👉 tinyurl.com/ye26jsps
- Package👉 tinyurl.com/yuh4kens

Thread shows published examples of how the method can be used! #EpiSky #CausalSky
tinyurl.com
July 10, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
cebu-melbourne.bsky.social
🚨 A MUST-READ by John Carlin and @margaritamb.bsky.social including 6 commentaries and rejoinder

NOW PUBLISHED:
“On the Uses and Abuses of Regression Models: A Call for Reform of Statistical Practice and Teaching”
July 2, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
1/ NEW R PACKAGE! For estimating the impact of potential interventions on multiple mediators in countering exposure effects (led by @cttc101.bsky.social)

- Paper👉 tinyurl.com/ye26jsps
- Package👉 tinyurl.com/yuh4kens

Thread shows published examples of how the method can be used! #EpiSky #CausalSky
tinyurl.com
July 10, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
ghazalehd.bsky.social
📣 📣NEW PAPER providing guidance on best practice for using multiple imputation when estimating interventional mediation effects, considering missingness mechanism, multiple imputation model specification, & variance estimation
#CausalSky #EpiSky

Read more 👇🏽
journals.lww.com/epidem/abstr...
Handling multivariable missing data in causal mediation... : Epidemiology
miologic studies. However, guidance is lacking on best practice for using multiple imputation when estimating interventional mediation effects, specifically regarding the role of missingness mechanism...
journals.lww.com
April 2, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
Over the moon to have received the Moran Medal from the Australian Academy of Science!🥳

Amazing recognition, hopefully highlighting the key role of biostats & causal inference in high-quality research vimeo.com/1065735362
tinyurl.com/2m3dx2ms
@cebu-melbourne.bsky.social @vicbiostat.bsky.social
Professor Margarita Moreno-Betancur - Moran Medal 2025
This is "Professor Margarita Moreno-Betancur - Moran Medal 2025" by Australian Academy of Science on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people…
vimeo.com
April 8, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
cttc101.bsky.social
Thrilled to share our new preprint on causal ML for mediation analysis! We introduce causal ML estimators for interventional effects explicitly mapped to target trials assessing hypothetical interventions inducing distinct shifts in joint mediator distributions📊 📈🧪
#CausalSky #EpiSky
paperposterbot.bsky.social ArXiv Paperboy (Stat.ME+Econ.EM) @paperposterbot.bsky.social · Apr 23
link 📈🤖
Causal machine learning for high-dimensional mediation analysis using interventional effects mapped to a target trial (Chen, Vansteelandt, Burgner et al) Causal mediation analysis examines causal pathways linking exposures to disease. The estimation of interventional effects, which are me
April 24, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
Recording of my talk @causalab.bsky.social on using m-DAGs to guide the treatment of missing data now available 👇 #EpiSky #CausalSky
causalab.bsky.social CAUSALab @causalab.bsky.social · Apr 22
Check out the last Methods Series talk now on YouTube:
youtu.be/QuQnZ4don54?...
causalab.bsky.social CAUSALab @causalab.bsky.social · Apr 8
2 weeks away!

@margaritamb.bsky.social (Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne) continues the 2025 Methods Series @ki.se.

📆 April 22, 2025
⏰ 13.00 CEST/7.00 ET
📍 All Methods Series talks virtual

Register now 👇
stats.sender.net/forms/e7JD1d...
#publichealth #causalinference
April 23, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
pwgtennant.bsky.social
"Using missingness directed acyclic graphs (m-DAGs) to guide the treatment of multivariable missing data in epidemiological studies"

Don't miss the next #CIIG seminar with @margaritamb.bsky.social on 7th April 2025 at *9am* BST!

Register at: turing-uk.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

#EpiSky #CausalSky
Advert for next Causal Inference Interest Group seminar. "Using missingness directed acyclic graphs (m-DAGs) to guide the treatment of multivariable missing data in epidemiological studies" with Margarita Moreno Betancur on 7th April 2025 at 9am BST.
March 26, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
cebu-melbourne.bsky.social
🎉 Our VERY FIRST newsletter is here! 📬Use the link to access it and learn more about our group and the work/activities we do: shorturl.at/bzmio
@vicbiostat.bsky.social
March 12, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
Thrilled to have received this funding for my causal inference research program - with my amazing team we shall continue to advance methods and provide expertise in this key area for another 5 years!!! 🥳☺️ #CausalSky #EpiSky
vicbiostat.bsky.social ViCBiostat @vicbiostat.bsky.social · Feb 24
Exciting Monday news with two of our brilliant researchers awarded NHMRC Investigator Grants 🎊

Congratulations Margarita Moreno-Betancur @margaritamb.bsky.social and Julie Simpson @julieasimpson50.bsky.social

More:
www.vicbiostat.org.au/news

@mischhub.bsky.social @cebu-melbourne.bsky.social
News
www.vicbiostat.org.au
February 24, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
Really happy with how this went! Our first missing data workshop completely grounded on the use of missingness DAGs (m-DAGs) to specify missingness assumptions 😀 #EpiSky #CausalSky
vicbiostat.bsky.social ViCBiostat @vicbiostat.bsky.social · Feb 12
Another successful workshop from our missing data methods research group ✔️Led by Margarita Moreno-Betancur @margaritamb.bsky.social, with presenters Kate Lee, Ghazaleh Dashti @ghazalehd.bsky.social, Jiaxin Zhang, Cattram Nguyen, Melissa Middleton and Jessica Xu.

Thank you to all who came along!
February 12, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
cebu-melbourne.bsky.social
Our research methods and software training course timetable for 2025 is out! check it out here 👇 www.mcri.edu.au/research/res...
CEBU course timetable - Murdoch Children's Research Institute
2025 CEBU course timetable at MCRI. Enhance your research skills with our short courses in clinical research methods, data management, and statistical analysis.
www.mcri.edu.au
February 11, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
ghazalehd.bsky.social
NEW COMMENTARY in Epidemiology on causal estimands in studies of pre-diagnostic exposures and cancer survival

#EpiSkye #CausalSky

journals.lww.com/epidem/citat...
Pre-diagnostic exposures and cancer survival: Can a... : Epidemiology
An abstract is unavailable. This article is available as a PDF only.
journals.lww.com
January 30, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
lachcribb.bsky.social
New paper!! We find that prevalent exposure designs are very common in dementia research, explain why they are ill-suited for causal inference, and show how the target trial framework helps us move beyond them.

Read here👇 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Moving beyond the prevalent exposure design for causal inference in dementia research
As randomised trials are not always feasible or practical, observational studies remain crucial for addressing many causal questions in the dementia prevention field. Through a systematic search, we f...
www.thelancet.com
February 2, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
NOW PUBLISHED! Correction to: “Canonical causal diagrams to guide the treatment of missing data in epidemiologic studies" doi.org/10.1093/aje/...

Grateful to have had the opportunity to correct our paper translating missingness DAGs (m-DAGs) into epidemiological practice #CausalSky #EpiSky
Correction to: “Canonical causal diagrams to guide the treatment of missing data in epidemiologic studies”
Moreno-Betancur et al.1 report and correct here errors in their article “Canonical causal diagrams to guide the treatment of missing data in epidemiologic
doi.org
January 28, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by Rushani Wijesuriya
margaritamb.bsky.social
WORKSHOPS! On causal inference, missing data and SMARTs, part of the ViCBiostat Summer School (10-14 Feb, hybrid). For more details & registration visit: www.vicbiostat.org.au/short-courses

#CausalSky #EpiSky
January 22, 2025 at 5:08 AM
rush-099.bsky.social
Hot off the press! 📣📣In this tutorial we illustrate available multiple imputation approaches for handling longitudinal data including when they are clustered within higher level clusters. A reproducible example with R and Stata code provided! #OpenAccess

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Multiple Imputation for Longitudinal Data: A Tutorial
Longitudinal studies are frequently used in medical research and involve collecting repeated measures on individuals over time. Observations from the same individual are invariably correlated and thu....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 27, 2025 at 4:14 AM