International Day Of Women in Statistics and Data Science: Full Schedule

Registration opens August 15th at www.idwsds.org.

You will be able to validate your attendance (Check-In to sessions) using your personal schedule.

08:00 UTC

S205 - Time-to-event data in biometry: Challenges, biases and perspectives

Tuesday October 6, 2026 08:00 - 09:00 UTC

In applied medical statistics, researchers encounter a wide variety of data structures. Among these, time-to-event data play a central role including survival times, transitions between disease stages, and sequences of medical events or progressions of patients’ states over time.
A broad spectrum of analytical approaches is available, ranging from (semi-)parametric methods such as the Cox proportional hazards model to flexible spline-based and other advanced modeling strategies. Depending on the motivation we encounter unique problems as well as unique solutions on which we want to shed light on in this session. Each setting introduces its own methodological challenges and potential sources of bias.
We aim to highlight key issues that arise when working with time-to-event data, including common pitfalls, structural complexities, and opportunities for methodological innovation. We will present different perspectives on model choice, interpretation, and discuss how careful consideration of the underlying data-generating mechanisms can inform both statistical analysis and the design of clinically relevant studies.

Speakers

Marilena Müller

German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

Marilena Müller is a postdoctoral scientist in the Biostatistics department at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. She received her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Dr. rer. nat. at the Mathematical Institute at Heidelberg University. The field of studies concerning her dissertation... Read More →

Judith Vilsmeier

Institute of Statistics, Ulm University

Judith Vilsmeier is a doctoral candidate in Biostatistics at Ulm University and a research assistant at the Institute of Statistics. She received both her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mathematical Biometry from Ulm University. Her current research interests involve nonstandard event histories... Read More →

Sandra Schmeller

Institute of Statistics, Ulm University

Sandra Schmeller is a postdoctoral researcher in Biostatistics at the Institute of Statistics, Ulm University. She received both her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mathematical Biometry from Ulm University and completed her PhD in Biostatistics at Ulm University. Prior to her doctoral studies... Read More →

Ema Požek

Institute for Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ema Požek is a PhD student in statistics at the Institute for Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. Her methodological interests lie in survival analysis and simulation studies, and her research focuses on developing statistical methods... Read More →

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