Heidi J. Sucharew, PhD

I’m a biostatistician and researcher with interest in, and passion for, developing latent variable and prediction models of biomedical data. For more than 18 years, I’ve used these modeling techniques to help scientists and clinicians better understand and predict certain health problems. More specifically, I focus on developing alternative statistical approaches and novel applications that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in stroke, infant neurobehavioral outcomes and the health effects of environmental toxicants.

Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to work with many talented and successful researchers. During my graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati, I worked closely with my advisor and mentor, Dr. Paul Succop, who specialized in structural equation modeling (SEM). This work launched my extensive experience and training in latent variable modeling and SEM techniques.

My ongoing research activities include:

• Developing prediction models for recurrent stroke
• Developing prediction models for post-stroke dementia
• Validating and refining the stroke triage scale (CSTAT)
• Assessing post-stroke healthcare utilization
• Estimating stroke outcomes using data from electronic medical records

I helped develop the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) item profiles, which showed that the latent class analysis method of evaluating NIHSS items provides a viable alternative to summarizing prognostic information. Compared with using the raw NIHSS total score, this approach may better forecast functional outcomes and death. Our results were successfully validated in subsequent studies.

My work also includes the development of infant neurobehavioral patterns. The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Summary (NNNS) results in 13 summary measures, making an overall exam response difficult to interpret. Our approach was shown to be useful in this study and the proposed algorithm for assigning profile membership to infants in other studies.

Since joining Cincinnati Children’s in 2010, I’ve enjoyed developing my research while collaborating with investigators on multidisciplinary research teams and providing education and training to junior faculty, students and fellows.