Nicole Butera TabsBio Nicole Butera is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at the George Washington University School of Public Health. She joined the Biostatistics Center in August 2019 as a statistician for the Glycemic Reduction Approaches in Diabetes (GRADE) study, a clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of different glucose-lowering drugs among individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She has statistical expertise related to methods to accommodate “messy” data, such as missing data and measurement error, and methods to analyze complex survey data. In particular, she is interested in applying her statistical expertise to research aimed at improving public health. Prior to joining the GWU Biostatistics Center, Dr. Butera received her PhD in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation research focused on developing a doubly robust method for regression analysis using multilevel data (i.e., clustered data) where there are missing data on the outcome variable, as well as developing statistical methods to model longitudinal change in a biomarker (e.g., blood pressure) when a subset of the sample has initiated treatment (e.g., antihypertensive medication) mid-study. During her doctoral education, she also worked as a collaborative statistician on a multi-site, community-based cohort study, with a sample selected through a probability-based complex sampling design. ExpertiseExpertise: BiostatisticsEpidemiologyEducation: Doctor of Philosophy (Biostatistics), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2019 Bachelor of Science (Mathematics), The Pennsylvania State University, 2012 Institutes and Centers: Biostatistics Center PublicationsPublications: Butera, N., Yu, L., & Herring, A. H. (in press). Understanding missing data: When and why are missing data a problem, and how one can avoid it? British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Butera, N., Yu, L., & Herring, A. H. (in press). Analysis with missing data: Can one obtain valid results when data are missing? British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Siega-Riz, A. M., Vladutiu, C. J., Butera, N. M., Daviglus, M., Gellman, M., Isasi, C. R., Stuebe, A. M., Talavera, G. A., Van Horn, L., & Sotres-Alvarez, D. (in press). Preconception Diet Quality is Associated with Birth Weight for Gestational Age Among Women in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Sivitz, W. I., Phillips, L. S., Wexler, D. J., Fortmann, S. P., Camp, A. W., Titkin, M., Perez, M., Craig, J., Hollander, P. A., Cherrington, A., Aroda, V. R., Tan, M. H., Krakoff, J., Rasouli, N., Butera, N. M., Younes, N., and the GRADE Research Group. (2020). Optimization of metformin in the GRADE cohort: Effect on glycemia and body weight. Diabetes Care, 43: 940-947. Butera, N.M., Li, S., Evenson, K.R., Di, C., Buchner, D.M., LaMonte, M.J., LaCroix, A., & Herring, A. (2019). Hot Deck Multiple Imputation for Handling Missing Accelerometer Data. Statistics in Biosciences, 11(2): 422-448. Siega-Riz, A. M., Pace, N. D., Butera, N. M., Van Horn, L., Daviglus, M., Harnack, L., Mossavar-Rahmani, Y., Rock, C. L., Pereira, R. I., Sotres-Alvarez, D. (2019). How Well Do U.S. Hispanics Adhere to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans? Results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). Health Equity, 3(1): 319-327. Islam, J. Y., Hoyt, A. M., Ramos, S., Morgan, K., Kim, C. J., de Sanjosé, S., Butera, N., Senkomago, V., Richter, K. L., McDonald, M. A., Vielot, N. A., & Smith, J. S. (2018). Acceptability of two- versus three-dose human papillomavirus vaccination schedule among providers and mothers of adolescent girls: A mixed-methods study in five countries. Cancer Causes & Control, 29(11): 1115-1130. Meyer, A., Powell, P., Butera, N., Klinger, M., & Klinger, L. (2018). Brief report: Developmental trajectories of adaptive behavior in children and adolescents with ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(8): 2870-2878. Corsino, L., Sotres-Alvarez, D., Butera, N. M., Siega-Riz, A. M., Palacios, C., Pérez, C. M., Albrecht, S. S., Espinoza Giacinto, R. A., Perera, M. J., Van Horn, L., & Avilés-Santa, M. L. (2017). Association of the DASH dietary pattern with insulin resistance and diabetes in U.S. Hispanic/Latino adults: results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, 5(1): e000402. doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2017-000402. Kugler, K. C., Vasilenko, S. A., Butera, N. M., & Coffman, D. L. (2017). Long-term consequences of early sexual initiation on young adult health: a causal inference approach. Journal of Early Adolescence, 37(5): 662-676. Lanza, S. T., Vasilenko, S. A., Dziak, J. J., & Butera, N. M. (2015). Trends among US high school seniors in recent marijuana use and associations with other substances: 1976 to 2013. Journal of Adolescent Health, 57, 198-204. Vasilenko, S. A., Kugler, K. C., Butera, N. M. & Lanza, S. T. (2015). Patterns of adolescent sexual behavior predicting young adult sexually transmitted infections: A latent class analysis approach. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 705-715. Butera, N. M., Lanza, S. T., & Coffman, D. L. (2014). A framework for estimating causal effects in latent class analysis: Is there a causal link between early sex and subsequent profiles of delinquency? Prevention Science, 15, 397-407. Lanza, S. T., Moore, J. E., & Butera, N. M. (2013). Drawing causal inferences using propensity scores: A practical guide for community psychologists. American Journal of Community Psychology, 52, 380-392.