Robert Wellman, MS

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“Being part of Kaiser Permanente research teams gives me a chance to develop cutting-edge biostatistical methods while contributing to health care research with a national impact.”

Robert Wellman, MS

Principal Collaborative Biostatistician, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

Biography

A graduate of the University of Washington (UW) biostatistics program, Robert Wellman, MS, joined the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) Biostatistics Unit in 2009. His work spans a diverse collection of topics including mental health, pharmacoepidemiology, postmarketing drug safety surveillance, obesity, diagnostic test accuracy, back pain, and breast cancer. Prior to this, he spent 5 years in the Biostatistics Core at the UW Center for AIDS Research.

Research interests and experience

  • Biostatistics

    Causal inference; longitudinal data; diagnostic and screening test accuracy; clinical trials; survival analysis: rare disease outcomes; nonparametrics; missing data; electronic data; distributed data; statistical computing

    Vaccines & Infectious Diseases

    Biostatistics; HIV/AIDS; vaccine safety

    Complementary & Integrative Health

    Biostatistics; clinical trials; back pain

    Obesity

    Biostatistics; bariatric surgery

  • Cancer

    Biostatistics; breast cancer; effects of chemotherapy; accuracy of automated data; screening test accuracy; advanced imaging

    Medication Use & Patient Safety

    Biostatistics; pharmacoepidemiology; postmarketing drug safety surveillance; big data; electronic health record and claims data

    Mental Health

    Biostatistics; suicide risk prediction, machine learning

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Recent publications

Lewis CC, Wellman R, Jones SMW, Walsh-Bailey C, Thompson E, Derus A, Paolino A, Steiner J, De Marchis EH, Gottlieb LM, Sharp AL. Comparing the performance of two social risk screening tools in a vulnerable subpopulation.  J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 30;9(9):5026-5034. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_650_20. eCollection 2020 Sep.  PubMed

McTigue KM, Wellman R, Nauman E, Anau J, Coley RY, Odor A, Tice J, Coleman KJ, Courcoulas A, Pardee RE, Toh S, Janning CD, Williams N, Cook A, Sturtevant JL, Horgan C, Arterburn D. Comparing the 5-year diabetes outcomes of sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass: the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORNet) - Bariatric Study. JAMA Surg. 2020 May 1;155(5):e200087. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2020.0087. Epub 2020 May 20. PubMed

Shi X, Wellman R, Heagerty PJ, Nelson JC, Cook AJ. Safety surveillance and the estimation of risk in select populations: Flexible methods to control for confounding while targeting marginal comparisons via standardization.  Stat Med. 2020;39(4):369-386. doi: 10.1002/sim.8410. Epub 2019 Dec 10.  PubMed

Sherman KJ, Wellman RD, Hawkes RJ, Phelan EA, Lee T, Turner JA. T'ai Chi for chronic low back pain in older adults: a feasibility trial. J Altern Complement Med. 2020 Feb 3. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0438. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Courcoulas A, Coley RY, Clark JM, McBride CL, Cirelli E, McTigue K, Arterburn D, Coleman KJ, Wellman R, Anau J, Toh S, Janning CD, Cook AJ, Williams N, Sturtevant JL, Horgan C, Tavakkoli A. Interventions and operations 5 years after bariatric surgery in a cohort from US National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network Bariatric Study. JAMA Surg. 2020 Jan 15. pii: 2758646. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2019.5470. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

 

New findings

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Simpler models to identify suicide risk perform similarly to more complex ones

Models that are easier to explain, use could have better uptake in health care settings.

Research

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Phone therapy for insomnia shown to improve sleep

A study among KP members with sleep problems and osteoarthritis shows promise for overcoming obstacles to treatment.

healthy findings blog

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Best weight-loss surgery for diabetes and severe obesity?

Watch video on latest results from PCORnet Bariatric Study. (Spoiler alert: Bypass, not sleeve.)