What we do

The Practical Causal Inference (PCI) Lab ​​at UCLA advances and applies methods that allow researchers and practitioners to make “safer” and more realistic causal conclusions in real-world scenarios. Such methods extract available useful information while reducing risk of generating over-confidence in a possibly badly biased result. We refer to this approach as “practical causal inference.” 

The PCI Lab serves as a multidisciplinary intellectual hub, producing research, providing training and mentorship, and spearheading collaborative initiatives across campus and beyond.

Who we are

Professors Onyebuchi Arah and Chad Hazlett lead an interdisciplinary team of students, postdoctoral scholars, and early-career faculty dedicated to advancing the field of causal inference and its practical application. They mentor students and postdoctoral scholars in the health, social, and physical sciences, including statistics, political science, epidemiology, biostatistics, education, communications, sociology, medicine, and computer science.

Leadership

Chad Hazlett Chad Hazlett Professor of Statistics and Political Science UCLA
Onyebuchi Arah Onyebuchi Arah Professor of Epidemiology UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Scott Mueller Scott Mueller PhD Student, Web Developer and Co-manager UCLA Department of Computer Science

Research interests include bounds, policies, and decision making on Probabilities of Causation, monotonicity, and selection bias.

Keri Lintz Keri Lintz PhD Student, Lab Manager UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Social Welfare My research interests include social policy evaluation, causal inference methods, early childhood development, family well-being, early adversity prevention, and structural inequality. The aim of my research i...

Researchers

Doeun Kim Doeun Kim PhD Candidate UCLA Department of Political Science

My research interest lies in causal inference in social science. My substantive research interest includes international political economy and interest group politics.

Matthew Coates Matthew Coates PhD Student UCLA Department of Epidemiology I am interested in using causal inference methods to better model potential impact of interventions and policies on population health. I am also interested in methods involving simulation for causal inference,...
Elizabeth Frank O'Neill Elizabeth Frank O'Neill PhD Student UCLA Department of Statistics

My research interest is in approaches to generalizability and transportability, particularly with applications in medicine, and the teaching of statistics. 

Soonhong Cho Soonhong Cho PhD Candidate UCLA Department of Political Science I am broadly interested in causal inference and machine learning methods for the social sciences. My research projects include partial identification of causal quantities and causal inference with survey and v...
Anne Hjorth Thomsen Anne Hjorth Thomsen PhD Student Aarhus University, Department of Public Health I'm a Ph.D. student enrolled at Aarhus University in Denmark. In my research I use the Danish National Birth Cohort and the Danish registers to investigate the association between parental socioeconomic factor...
Camilla Lomholt Kjersgaard Camilla Lomholt Kjersgaard MD, PhD student Aarhus University, Department of Public Health My primary interests include reproductive epidemiology, causal inference methods, and dermatology. During my PhD, I am researching the relationship between atopic dermatitis and various reproductive health out...
Tanvi Shinkre Tanvi Shinkre PhD Student UCLA Department of Statistics

My current research focuses on causal effect estimation and applications of causal methods in public policy settings.

Davis Vo Davis Vo PhD Student UCLA School of Education & Information Studies

Mixed methods inquiry, academic and labor market experiences of community college students, historically minoritized communities, equity and justice.

Jack Kappelman Jack Kappelman PhD Student UCLA Department of Political Science I study American Politics and Methodology. My broad research interests are in representation, political behavior, and public policy in state and local governments in the United States, centering on studying th...
Haotian Chen Haotian Chen PhD Student UCLA Department of Political Science

I use machine learning and causal inference tools to study the political economy of U.S. elections. 

Borna Bateni Borna Bateni PhD Student UCLA Statistics and Data Science

My current research interests include developing new models for causal inference and synthetic data generation using tools from transfer metric learning and optimal transport.

Thea Emily Benson Thea Emily Benson PhD Student Aarhus University, Department of Public Health

I have a master’s degree in health science and a great passion for epidemiological research. Currently, I study how pubertal development affects mental health problems in adolescence.

Ryan Baxter-King Ryan Baxter-King PhD Candidate Department of Political Science I study how real-world events interact with voters’ partisan attachments to shape elections and public opinion in the United States. I am broadly interested in electoral accountability, political economy, and ...
Nathan Hoffmann Nathan Hoffmann PhD Candidate UCLA Department of Sociology Nathan uses the cases of education and sexuality to study how state policies and other national institutions shape social inequality for immigrants. He also engages in methodological research with the aim of e...
Baffour Adusei-Poku Baffour Adusei-Poku Undergraduate Student UCLA College of Letters and Sciences - Integrative Biology and Physiology

My current research interests involve causal effects on physiological diseases and the application and effectiveness of treatments on different patient populations. 

Hyunyong Lee Hyunyong Lee MS Student UCLA Department of Epidemiology

My research interest lies in chronic disease epidemiology, with a particular focus on exploring causal association in the presence of incomplete data.

Eka Jose Eka Jose MD/MPH Student UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine

My research interests include adult and child psychiatry, specifically relating to mood disorders, substance use, family dynamics, and unhoused populations.

Jade Moore Jade Moore MS Student UCLA Department of Epidemiology

My research interests include infectious diseases, women’s reproductive health, and occupational health. 

Duy Pham Duy Pham PhD Student UCLA Department of Statistics

My research is in heterogenous treatment effects, specifically in social settings like education research and policy evaluation. 

Faculty

Roch Nianogo Roch Nianogo Assistant Professor UCLA Department of Epidemiology The goal of my research is to develop and utilize innovative and rigorous epidemiologic, econometric and causal inference methods, as well as computational modeling and simulation tools for investigating the i...
Kosuke Inoue Kosuke Inoue Associate Professor Department of Social Epidemiology, Kyoto University I am a physician-epidemiologist specializing in the application of various causal inference methods, particularly in the field of chronic disease epidemiology. My recent work focuses on identifying mechanisms ...
Ryan Cook Ryan Cook Assistant Professor Oregon Health & Science University, School of Medicine

I am interested in generalizing results of substance use treatment clinical trials to people with multiple co-occurring mental health disorders.

Christina Fille Christina Fille Associate Professor Institute of Social Work, School of Economics | Dar es salaam, Tanzania

My research interests are in Development Economics, Labour Economics, and Girls Education, Gender Equality.

Andrew Bertoli Andrew Bertoli Assistant Professor School of Politics, Economics, and Global Affairs, IE University

My research explores the social and political effects of modern sports. I also work to improve social science methods for causal inference, in particular regression discontinuity analysis and survey designs.

Benjamin Seligman Benjamin Seligman Clinical Instructor Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System and Department of Medicine, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine

I am interested in target trial emulation from observational data and the application of causal inference to questions about aging physiology.

Cecilia H. Ramlau-Hansen Cecilia H. Ramlau-Hansen Professor Department of Public Health, Research Unit of Epidemiology, Aarhus University My key contributions to science are in the field of reproductive epidemiology with a strong focus on the potential effects of prenatal and early life exposures on pubertal development, semen quality, fecundity...
Nis Brix Nis Brix MD, PhD Departments of Public Health & Clinical Genetics, Aarhus University

My research area is reproductive epidemiology with a special focus on early life causes and genetics.

Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi Assistant Professor UCLA Department of Biostatistics

My research interests are primarily in methodological and applied (bio)statistics with a focus on applications of causal inference and machine learning in public and environmental health.

Affiliates

Adam Rohde Adam Rohde PhD; Senior Decision Scientist UCLA Department of Statistics; ZipRecruiter My research interests include developing tools that aid practitioners in making more credible causal inferences, sample selection as a threat to both internal and external validity, placebo methods, and the co...
Pablo Geraldo Bastías Pablo Geraldo Bastías Postdoctoral Fellow Nuffield College, University of Oxford

I study causal inference in observational and quasi-experimental settings, with a focus on identifying the effects of social inequality on people's life outcomes. 

Stacey Rowe Stacey Rowe Postdoctoral Associate Fellow University of San Francisco I am an infectious diseases epidemiologists, with research interests in maternal, perinatal and pediatric vaccine program evaluation. I have considerable experience in the use of linked data to support communi...
Gabrielle Stanco Gabrielle Stanco District Director, Research, Planning, and Data Management North Orange County Community College District My research is focused on providing timely and practical information about our students, employees, and programs to assist our institutional leadership in making decisions. Recent projects have included evalua...
L. Paloma Rojas-Saunero L. Paloma Rojas-Saunero Postdoctoral Scholar Department of Epidemiology, FSPH, UCLA I am a dementia researcher, focused on extending causal inference methods and the target trial framework to study time-varying exposures related to dementia incidence, with a particular interest on selection b...

Publications

August 2023 View all publications

August 2023

Simultaneous adjustment of uncontrolled confounding, selection bias and misclassification in multiple-bias modelling International Journal of Epidemiology Adjusting for multiple biases usually involves adjusting for one bias at a time, with careful attention to the order in which these biases are adjusted. A novel, alternative approach to multiple-bias adjustmen...

Paul Brendel, Aracelis Torres, Onyebuchi Arah

August 2023

Monotonicity: Detection, Refutation, and Ramification The assumption of monotonicity, namely that outputs cannot decrease when inputs increase, is critical for many reasoning tasks, including unit selection, A/B testing, and quasi-experimental econometrics. It is...

Scott Mueller, Judea Pearl

July 2023

From “Is it unconfounded?” to “How much confounding would it take?”: Applying the sensitivity-based approach to assess causes of support for peace in Colombia The Journal of Politics Attention to the credibility of causalclaims has increased tremendously in recent years. When relying onobservational data, debate often centers on whether investigators have ruledout any bias due to confoundi...

Chad Hazlett, Francesca Parente

January 2022

Causal Effect of Chronic Pain on Mortality Through Opioid Prescriptions: Application of the Front-Door Formula Epidemiology Background: Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is strongly associated with the epidemic of opioid overdosing events. However, the causal links between chronic pain, opioid prescripti...

Kosuke Inoue, Beate Ritz, Onyebuchi Arah

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Los Angeles, CA 90095

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