2705-Tu, Wanzhu
Faculty

Wanzhu Tu, PhD

Professor of Biostatistics & Health Data Science

Email wtu1@iu.edu
Phone 317-278-6451
Address
HS 3017
BIOS

Indianapolis, IN 46202
Pubmed Logo

Bio

Dr. Wanzhu Tu is an applied statistician. He is interested in modeling biological processes that underlie the pathophysiology of common diseases, such as hypertension. His statistical methodological research is mostly in the areas of nonparametric and semiparamertric models. 
 
 

Key Publications

Dr. Tu has authored or co-authored more than 230 publications. The following is selected from his recent publications.
  1. Zhou J, Zhang Y, Tu W. clusterMLD: An efficient hierarchical clustering method for multivariate longitudinal data. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics. (in press)
  2. Zhou J, Zhang Y, Tu W. A reference-free R-learner for treatment recommendation. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. (in press)
  3. Agarwal R, Sinha A, Tu W. Chlorthalidone for resistant hypertension in advanced chronic kidney disease. Circulation. (in press)
  4. Tu, W. Zhang P, Roberts, A, Allen KS, Williams J, Embi P, Grannis S. SARS-CoV-2 infection, all-cause hospitalization and death in vaccinated and infected individuals in Indiana USA, November 2020-February 2022. American Journal of Public Health. (in press)
  5. Li Y, Liu H, Wang X, Tu W. Semiparametric time-to-event modeling of lengths of hospital stay. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C. (in press)
  6. Clark, D.O., Keith, N.R., Ofner, S., Hackett, J., Li, R., Agarwal, N. and Tu, W., 2022. Environments and situations as correlates of eating and drinking among women living with obesity and urban poverty. Obesity Science & Practice, 8(2), pp.153-163.
  7. Agarwal, R., Sinha, A.D. and Tu, W., 2022. Chlorthalidone for Hypertension in Advanced CKD. Reply. The New England Journal of Medicine386(14), p.1384.
  8. Agarwal R, Sinha AD, Cramer AE, Balms-Fenwick M, Dickinson J, Ouyang F, Tu W. Chlorthalidone for hypertension in advanced chronic kidney disease. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2021. 385; 2507-2519.
  9. Tu W, Li R, Stump T, Fowler N, Carnahan J, Blackburn J, Saches GA, Hickman SE, Unroe KT.  Age-specific rates of hospital transfers in long-stay nursing home residents. Age and Ageing. 2021. 51(1), afab232.
  10. Li R, Wang H, Zhao Y, Su J, Tu W. Robust estimation of heterogenious treatment effects: An algorithm-based approach. Communication in Statistics: Simulation and Computation. (in press)
  11. Thomas S, Tu W. Learning Hamiltonian Monte Carlo in R. The American Statistician. (in press)
  12. Li R, Wang H, Tu W. Robust estimation of heterogeneous treatment effect using electronic health record data. Statistics in Medicine (in press)
  13. Agarwal R, Tu W. NIH funding, research productivity, and scientific impact: A 20 year study. Journal of General Internal Medicine (in press)
  14. Tu W, Pratt JH. Autonomous aldosterone production and left ventricular hypertrophy. Hypertension 2020. 75(6). 1409-1411.
  15. Xie Y, He Z, Tu W. Variable selection for joint models with time-varying coefficients. Statistical Methods in Medical Research 2020. 29(1), 309-322.
  16. Zhao S, Bakoyannis G, Lourens S, Tu W. Comparisons of nonlinear curves and surfaces. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis 2020. 150. 106987. 
  17. Tu W, Pratt JH. Big data and causal inference: What does a new analysis of the UK BioBank data tell us? Hypertension 2020. 75(3). 625-627.
  18. Chu C, Zhang Y, Tu W. Stochastic functional estimates in longitudinal models with interval-censored anchoring events. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics. 2020. 47(3). 638-661
  19.  
  20. Tu W, Agarwal R. SPRINT and Statins: A story of statistical interaction. American Journal of Nephrology. 2019. 49. 294-296.
  21. Wu J, Peng H, Tu W. Large-sample estimation and inference in multivariate single-index models. Journal of Multivariate Statistics. 2019. 171. 382-396.
  22. Chu C, Zhang Y, Tu W. Distribution-free estimation of local growth rates around interval-censored anchoring events. Biometrics. 2019. 75(2). 463-474.
  23. Agarwal R, Tu W. Minimally sufficient number of measurements for validation of 24-hour blood pressure monitoring in chronic kidney disease. Kidney International 2018. 94(6). 1199-1204.
  24. Tu W, Li R, Bhala V, Eckert E, Pratt JH. Age-related blood pressure sensitivity to aldosterone in blacks and whites. Hypertension. 2018. 72(1). 247-252.
  25. Zhao H, Tu W, Yu Z. A nonparametric time-varying coefficient model for panel count data. Journal of Nonparametric Statistics. 2018. 30(3). 640-661
  26. Li Z, Liu H, Tu W. Model selection in multivariate semiparametric regression. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. 2018. 27(10); 3026-3038.
  27. Zhang Y, Cheng G, Tu W. Robust nonparametric estimation of monotone regression functions with interval censored observations. Biometrics. 2016. 72; 720-730.
  28. Tu W, Eckert G, Decker B, Pratt JH. Varying influences of aldosterone on the plasma potassium concentration in blacks and whites. American Journal of Hypertension. 2017. 30(5); 490.
  29. Tu W. A Comment on Fast Approximation Inference in Arbitrarily Large Semiparametric Regression Models via Message Passing. Journal of the American Statistical Associations. 2017. 112(517); 158-162. 
  30. Tu W, Nyandiko WM, Liu H, Slaven JE, Scanlon ML, Ayaya SO, Vreeman RC. Pharmacokinetics-based adherence measures for antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected Kenyan children. Journal of the International AIDS Society. 2017. 20(1); 21157
  31. Li Z, Liu H, Tu W. A generalized semiparametric mixed effect model for analysis of multivariate health care utilization data. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. 2017, 26(6). 2909-2918. 
  32. Wu J, Tu W. A multivariate single-index model for longitudinal data. Statistical Modeling. 2016. 16(5); 392-408.
  33. Tu W. Li S. Resampling Methods. Wiley Statistics Reference Online. (in press) A previous version of the article was published in Encyclopedia of Environmetrics. A.-H. El-Shaarawi and W. Piegorsch (eds), John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester, UK. DOI: 10.1002/9780470057339.var038.pub2. 2013
  34. Tu W, Liu H. Zero-inflated data. Wiley Statistics Reference Online. (in press) 
  35. Masud A, Tu W, and Yu Z. Variable Selection in Mixture and Promotion Time Cure Rate Models. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. (in press).
  36. Tu W, Pratt JH. Small potassium channels: Speculation on a role to regulate aldosterone production and blood pressure [Editorial Commentary]. Hypertension. 2016. 68(3); 542-543.
  37. Li Z, Liu H, Tu W. A sexually transmitted infection screening algorithm based on semiparametric regression models. Statistics in Medicine.2015. 34(20) 2844-2857. 
  38. Hua L, Zhang Y, Tu, W. Spline-based semiparametric sieve maximum likelihood method for over-dispersed panel count data. The Canadian Journal of Statistics. 2014. 42(2); 217-245
  39. He Z, Tu W, Wang S, Fu H, Yu Z. Simultaneous variable selection for joint models of longitudinal and survival outcomes. Biometrics. 2015.71; 178-187.
  40. Tu W, Chu C, Li S, and Liangpunsakil S. Development and validation of a composite score for excessive alcohol use screening. Journal of Investigative Medicine. 2016. 64(5); 1006-1011.
  41. Wu J; Tu W. Development of a pediatric body mass index using longitudinal single-index models. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. 2016. 25(2). 872-884.
  42. Tu W. Decker BS, He Z, Erdel BL, Eckert GJ, Hellman RN, Murray MD, Oates JA, Pratt JH. Triamterene enhances the blood pressure lowering effect of hydrochlorothiazide in patients with hypertension. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2016. 31(1); 30-36. [Published with Editorial Commentary: Smetana GW. Triamterene in the treatment of hypertension: More than just potassium sparing?2016. 31(1); 7-8. ] 
  43. Tu W, Eckert G, Hannon T, Liu H, Pratt L, Wagner MA, DiMeglio L, Jung J, Pratt JH. Racial differences in sensitivity of blood pressure to aldosterone. Hypertension.  2014. 63. 1212-1218.[Published with Editorial Commentary: Funder JW. Sensitivity to aldosterone: Plasma levels are not the full story. Hypertension. 2014. 63. 1168-1170] 
  44. Tu W, Wagner EK, Eckert GJ, Yu Z, Hannon T, Pratt JH, He C. Associations of menarche-related gentic variates with pubertal growth in males and females. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2015. 56(1); 66-72.
  45. Yu Z, Eckert G, Liu H, Pratt JH, Tu W. Adiposity has unique influence on renin-aldosterone axis and blood pressure in black children. Journal of Pediatrics. 2013. 163(5); 1317-1322.
  46. Teng Y, Kong N, Tu W. Estimating age-dependent per-encounter chlamydia trachomatis acquisition risk via Markov-based state-transition model. Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics. 2014. 4:7.
  47. Ho MW, Tu W, Ghosh P, Tiwari R. A Nested Dirichlet Process Analysis of Cluster Randomized Trial Data with Application in Geriatric Care Assessment. Journal of the American Statistical Associations. 2013. 108(501); 48-68.
  48. Tu W, Pratt JH. A Consideration of genetic mechanisms behind the development of hypertension in blacks.Current Hypertension Reports. 2013. 15(2); 108-113
  49. Tu W, Eckert J, Pratt JH, Danser AHJ. Response to "Is high prorenin level related to relative aldosterone excess?". American Journal of Hypertension. 2013. 26(2); 154-155
  50. Liu H, and Tu W. A semiparametric regression model for paired longitudinal outcomes with application in childhood blood pressure development. Annals of Applied Statistics.2012. 6(4), 1861-1882.
  51. Yu Z, Lin X, Tu W. Semiparametric frailty models for clustered failure time data. Biometrics. 2012. 68(2); 429-436.
  52. Tu W, Eckert G, Pratt JH, Danser AHJ. Plasma levels of prorenin and renin in blacks and whites; their relative abundance and associations with plasma aldosterone concentration. American Journal of Hypertension. 2011. 25(9); 1030-1034.
  53. Tu, W; Ghosh, P; Katz BP. A Stochastic Model for Assessing Chlamydia trachomatis Transmission Risk Using Longitudinally Observational Data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A. 2011. 174(4), 975-989
  54. Tu W, Eckert G, DiMeglio LA, Yu Z, Jung J, Pratt JH. Intensified effect of adiposity blood pressure in overweight and obese children. Hypertension. 2011 Nov;58(5):818-24 [Published with Editorial Commentary: Falkner B, Gidding S. Childhood obesity and blood pressure: Back to the future? Hypertension. 201158: 754-755]
  55. Kroenke K, Theobald D, Wu J, Norton K, Morrison G, Carpenter J, Tu W.  Effect of telecare management on pain and depression in cancer patients:  a randomized trial.  JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association  2010;304(2):163-171.
  56. Aalsma M; Tong Y; Wiehe SE; Tu W. The impact of delinquency on young adult sexual risk behaviors and sexually transmitted infections. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2010. 46. 17–24
  57. Tu W, Eckert G, Saha C, Pratt JH. Synchronization of adolescent blood pressure and pubertal somatic growth. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2009 Dec;94(12):5019-22.
  58. Ghosh, P; Tu, W.. Assessing Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors of Young Women: A Joint Model with Nonlinear Time Effects, Time Varying Covariates, and Dropouts. Journal of the American Statistical Associations2009.104 (486): 474-485.
  59. Yu Z; Tu W; Lee MLT. A semiparametric threshold regression analysis of sexually transmitted infections in adolescent women. Statistics in Medicine. 2009 Oct 30;28(24):3029-42.
  60. Kroenke K, Wu J, Bair MJ, Krebs EE, Damush TM, Tu W. Reciprocal relationship between pain and depression: A 12-month longitudinal analysis in primary care. J Pain. 2011, 12 (9); 964-973
  61. Tu, W; Batteiger BE; Wiehe S; Ofner, S; Van Der Pol, B; Katz BP, Orr DP, Fortenberry, JD.  Time from first intercourse to first sexually transmitted infection diagnoses among adolescent women. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2009. 163(12):1106-11.
  62. Kroenke, K; Bair, MJ; Damush, TM; Wu, JW; Hoke, S; Sutherland, J; Tu, W.. Optimized Antidepressant Therapy and Pain Self-management in Primary Care Patients With Depression and Musculoskeletal Pain A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association. 2009. 301 (20): 2099-2110

Titles & Appointments

  • Professor of Biostatistics & Health Data Science
  • Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health
  • Executive Vice Chair, Department of Biostatistics &amp
  • Health Data Sciences
  • Scientist, Indiana University Center for Aging Research
  • Education
    1997 PhD University of South Carolina, Columbia
  • Research

    Nonparametric and semiparametric models

    Bayesian computation

    Observational studies and causal inference

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