BIDS Special Seminar

Talk title: Making “All of Us” More Like All of Us: RAILS Weights and Beyond

Abstract: National biobanks are transforming medical research, but because participants volunteer, the enrolled cohort may not reflect the broader population, potentially biasing estimates of disease burden and risk. We present a survey-informed weighting approach (RAILS) that rebalances volunteer-based biobank data to better represent the target U.S. population. Applied to the All of Us Research Program using national survey benchmarks, the method improves agreement with population prevalence estimates and supports more reliable phenome-wide profiling and cardiovascular risk assessment. This work offers a practical tool for reducing selection bias and strengthening the population relevance of biobank-based findings.

Qingxia ‘Cindy’ Chen, PhD, is a Professor of Biostatistics, Biomedical Informatics, and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She also serves as the Vice Chair of Education at the Department of Biostatistics. Her research spans both novel statistical and impactful biomedical research, with a focus on missing data, survival analysis, Bayesian analysis, and the use of electronic health records and multimodal data resources for precision medicine. Additionally, she co-led statistical efforts for the All of Us Research Program at the Data and Research Center and has contributed to initiatives focused on enhancing data quality and developing educational resources.