E. John Orav, PhD
Associate Professor
Biostatistics
Brigham and Women's Hospital/EH&E
Biography
Dr. Orav is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Biostatistics) at Harvard Medical School and also at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. He received his PhD in Statistics from Stanford University and has worked as a collaborative biostatistician in the Division of General Medicine for the past 40 years.
Dr. Orav has been involved with a number of collaborative research projects ranging from clinical trials of medical and behavioral therapy for arthritis patients, to epidemiological studies of problem drinking and substance use, and to randomized trials of weight loss in adults and children. Much of his current research is involved with the use of quasi-experimental models for quality assessment and quality improvement. His work in General Medicine involves the development of randomized intervention trials to improve the delivery of primary care, particularly through applications of health information technology. At TH Chan, he leads analyses of national databases to evaluate trends in health care and the impact of national health policy programs. Nationally, Dr. Orav is a contractor to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation where he helps develop evaluations of national health policy initiatives.
Dr. Orav has been involved with the quantitative training of academic physicians since the inception of the Program in Clinical Effectiveness 38 years ago. He designed the original biostatistics curriculum for that program and taught both the introductory and advanced components each summer. Many of the continuing students also take the follow-up regression course that Dr. Orav designed and teaches every Fall. Through his dedicated teaching at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Dr. Orav has earned multiple teaching awards. In addition to helping to develop and evaluate the curriculum as a Co-Director of the Program in Clinical Effectiveness Program at Harvard, Dr. Orav has participated in clinical effectiveness programs in Argentina, Japan, Russia, and, most recently, in Lebanon.