Marnie Bertolet, PhD

Research Interests 

My research interests focus on the many uses of statistics in public health.  My devotion to statistics stems from the diversity of applications to which statistics can be applied.  I came to public health after a career in telecommunications, where I was a reliability and quality engineer performing analyses analogous to “consumer reports” for telecommunication equipment. 

My collaborative research currently focuses longitudinal, repeated measure and survival analysis methods in clinical trials and observational studies. Examples include:

• Myocardial Infarction and Transfusion
• Sickle Cell Disease and Cardiovascular Risk - Red Cell Exchange 
• Trauma Induced Coagulopathy
• Pre-Term Birth and Cardiovascular Disease in Women

My methodological research currently focuses Survey Sampling, Bayesian Analysis, Causal Inference, Adaptive Designs and methodology needed to support my collaborative research.  This includes the following topics

• Inverse probability weight modeling
• Bayesian interim monitoring of clinical trials
• Bayesian designed clinical trials with associated simulations to identify trial characteristics
• Classification and Regression Trees
• Bayesian latent class models
• Bayesian Network Meta Analysis

My research support comes from the following sources.
 

• The Trans-Agency Research Consortium for Trauma Induced Coagulopathy (TACTIC, NIH/NHLBI)
• Clinical and Translational Science Institute DBE Core (CTSI-DBE, NIH/NHLBI)
• Myocardial Infarction and Transfusion (MINT, NIH/NHLBI)
• Shared Antecedents to Pre-Term Birth and Cardiovascular Disease in Women (NIH/NHLBI)
• Sickle Cell Disease and Cardiovascular Risk - Red Cell Exchange Trial (SCD-CARRE, NIH/NHLBI)

Honors and Awards 
 

• Diversity and Inclusion Certificate, 2018
• Diversity in the Curriculum Award, from the University of Pittsburgh Provost 2017
• Certificate in Teaching Excellence from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health 2012
• Student of the Year Award, American Statistical Association, Pittsburgh Chapter 2008 
• Health Policy Student Paper Award, Joint Statistical Meetings, American Statistical Association, 2004 
• Most Outstanding Master of Engineering Student Award  Cornell University 1995

Service
My service varies from reviewing journal articles, participating in grant reviews and serving on various local and national committees.  I see service as an excuse to expose as many people as possible to the wonderful power of statistics.  
 

Graduate School of Public Health and Department Service

I have participated in the following committees

• GSPH School wide Acceptance Students Day 
• GSPH School-wide Dean’s Day Judge
• GSPH Faculty Diversity Committee/Diversity and Climate Committee
• Biostatistics Department Public Health Preliminary Exam Committee
• Epidemiology Department Preliminary Exam Committee

University Service
 

• Institutional Data Safety Monitoring Boards, currently active
  • ​Effect of Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) on Diabetes Self-Management and Glycemic Control: DIabetes OSA Treatment Trial (DOTT)
  • G2DM Study: Comparison of Two Screening Strategies for Gestational Diabetes.
  • ​Participated on 5 iDSMBs that have been completed.
• Epidemiology Department Preliminary Exam Committee

 National Service 
 

• ACCF/AHA Methodology Workshop on Guideline Development and Methodology Review
• President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Statistical Association, 2013-2014
• Member of an Industry Sponsored Data and Safety Monitoring Board for the Placebo-Controlled Effectiveness in Pulmonary Hypertension Shunting (PENS)
• Member of an NHLBI Observational Safety Monitoring Board, Sickle Cell Diseease - Implementation Consortium (SCD-IC)

I reviewed journal articles for the following journals in 2018-2019

• Circulation 
• Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

I have participated as an ad-hoc member in the following NIH grant/contract reviews

• Grand Opportunities Phase II ARRA Grants
• Science Moving Towards Research Translation and Therapy 
• Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Centers (P30 Center Core Grant)

First Author Publications, High Impact Publications and Publications between 2018-2019

Bon J, Zhang Y, Leader JK, Fuhrman C, Perera S, Chandra D, Bertolet M, Diergaarde B, Greenspan SL, Sciurba FC. Radiographic Emphysema, Circulating Bone Biomarkers, and Progressive Bone Mineral Density Loss in Smokers. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2018 May 1, 15(5). doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201709-743OC.PubMed PMID: 29328885.

Catov JM, Snyder GG, Fraser A, Lewis CE, Liu K, Althouse AD, Bertolet M, Gunderson EP. Blood Pressure Patterns and Subsequent Coronary Artery Calcification in Women Who Delivered Preterm Births. Hypertension. 2018 May 23. pii: hypertensionaha.117.10693. doi: 10.1161/hypertensionaha.117.10693. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29792302.

Geltzeiler M, Bertolet M, Albergotti W, Gleysteen J, Olson B, Persky M, Gross N, Li R, Andersen P, Kim S, Ferris RL, Duvvuri U, Clayburgh D. Staging HPV-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer: Validation of AJCC-8 in a Surgical Cohort. Oral oncology. 2018 84:82-87. PubMed PMID: 30115841

Brienza DM, Karg PE, Bertolet M, Schmeler M, Poojary-Mazzotta P, Vlachos H, Wilkinson D. A randomized Clinical Trial on Wheeled Mobility for Pressure Injury Prevention and Improved Function.  Journal of the American Geriatric Society. 2018; 66 (9): 1752-1759 PubMed PMID: 30094810.

Snyder GG, Holzman C, Sun T, Bullen B, Bertolet M, Catov JM. Breastfeeding Greater Than 6 Months Is Associated with Smaller Maternal Waist Circumference Up To One Decade After Delivery. Journal of Women’s Health. 2018 Nov 27. PubMed PMID 30481097

Borrero CG, Bertolet M, Costello J, Vyas D. Value of anterosuperior rotator cuff and labral tears at MRI for predicting long head of biceps tearing at arthroscopy.  Clinical Radiology 2018; 73 (12) 1058 PubMed PMID: 30224185, PMCID: PMC6269187

Follansbee CW, Beerma LB, Wu L, Bertolet M, Arora G. Utility and Safety of Adenosine Challenge for Subtle Ventricular Preexcitation in the Pediatric Population. Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology 2019:  PubMed PMID:30938913.

Bertolet M, Brooks MM, Bittner V. Tree-based identification of subgroups for time-varying covariate survival data. Statistical methods in medical research. 2016 Feb; 25 (1):488-501. PMID: 23070595. PMCID: PMC5575747.  doi: 10.1177/0962280212460442.

Jacobs AK, Kushner FG, Ettinger SM, Guyton RA, Anderson JL, Ohman EM, Albert NM, Antman EM, Arnett DK, Bertolet M, Bhatt DL, Brindis RG, Creager MA, DeMets DL, Dickersin K, Fonarow GC, Gibbons RJ, Halperin JL, Hochman JS, Koster MA, Normand SL, Ortiz E, Peterson ED, Roach WH Jr, Sacco RL, Smith SC Jr, Stevenson WG, Tomaselli GF, Yancy CW, Zoghbi WA, Harold JG, He Y, Mangu PB, Qaseem A, Sayre MR, Somerfield MR. ACCF/AHA clinical practice guideline methodology summit report: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Journal of The American College of Cardiology. 2013 Jan 15; 61 (2):213-65. PMID: 23238451. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2012.09.025.

Jacobs AK, Kushner FG, Ettinger SM, Guyton RA, Anderson JL, Ohman EM, Albert NM, Antman EM, Arnett DK, Bertolet M, Bhatt DL, Brindis RG, Creager MA, DeMets DL, Dickersin K, Fonarow GC, Gibbons RJ, Halperin JL, Hochman JS, Koster MA, Normand SL, Ortiz E, Peterson ED, Roach WH Jr, Sacco RL, Smith SC Jr, Stevenson WG, Tomaselli GF, Yancy CW, Zoghbi WA. ACCF/AHA clinical practice guideline methodology summit report: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Circulation. 2013 Jan 15; 127 (2):268-310. PMID: 23230312. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0b013e31827e8e5f.

A complete list of publications can be seen at - (both are clickable links)

Pubmed 

OCRID