Kenneth J. Wilkins, Ph.D.

Responsibilities & Activities

I am a mathematical statistician serving in the Biostatistics Program at the NIDDK, which provides advice to both extramural and intramural staff on the design, analysis, and feasibility of proposed research studies, and supporting the effective conduct of ongoing studies. Having taught courses at Harvard School of Public Health and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, I add to the biostatistics program’s capacity for developing educational curricula and conducting training seminars; these efforts complement how the multidisciplinary Office of Clinical Research Support and Data Science and Data Management Working Group each develop NIDDK-wide resources. I regularly consult and collaborate on research projects, whether developed within the extramural community (such as issues faced by research consortia, Data and Safety Monitoring Boards, or other government agencies) or by intramural investigators, contributing to the design, conduct, analysis, and dissemination of NIDDK-sponsored biomedical and clinical research.

I also perform research on data-analytic methods, focusing on causal inference from longitudinal/multilevel or network-based studies and handling incomplete data (especially informative missingness and competing risks), among other topics relevant to NIDDK research. As institute mission activities arise, I engage these same methodology communities to bridge the gap between methods innovation and implementation along two avenues. One seeks to catalyze improved biomedical research data-interoperability via user-centered standards to inform methods application and peer review—especially ones that leverage widely-available data, such as the NIDDK Central Repository, USRDS, and other NIH-sponsored platforms; where possible these emphasize rich annotation by subject-matter experts, methodologists, and data contributors. The other avenue seeks to share best practices in bridging the innovation-implementation gap between the biomedical/clinical researchers’ conventional practices and novel methods from the statistical/machine learning methodology communities, actively contributing to related efforts supporting the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science where applicable.

I earned a Ph.D. in biostatistics from Harvard University after using my master’s degree from the University of Virginia to teach gifted high school students at a regional magnet school. Prior to joining the NIDDK, I served as a senior biostatistician in data coordination center leadership for the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program. I was responsible for the scientific review of proposed research to development and implementation of multicenter protocols, helping to develop the corresponding worldwide research network. I have led the statistical endeavors for a dozen NIH-sponsored trials across multiple NIH institutes, supported under contract by the EMMES Corporation in Rockville, Maryland, ranging from first-in-human pandemic vaccines to rare-disease therapeutics.