Biographical Sketch

Thomas P.A. Debray (1985, Leuven, Belgium) studied at the University College of Ghent (2003-2007), the University of Maastricht (2007-2009) and the University of Utrecht (2010-2013), where he respectively attained a bachelor's degree in Applied Informatics, a master's degree in Artificial Intelligence and a master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology. His thesis in Maastricht was performed in collaboration with the Belgian Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, providing the acquired theoretical concepts with a realistic context and leading to a novel approach for diagnosing diseases with a low prevalence. From 2009-2013 he worked as a PhD student at the Julius Center for health sciences and primary care (University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands) under supervision of Prof. dr. K.G.M. Moons and Prof. dr. E.W. Steyerberg. Between November 2011 and March 2012, he was a visiting academic at the department of public health, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Birmingham (the United Kingdom) under supervision of Prof. dr. R.D. Riley. 

At present, Thomas P.A. Debray is working as a post-doctoral researcher on methodological aspects related to meta-analysis. He is also associate editor of BMC Diagnostic and Prognostic research, and coordinator of the High Performance Cluster at UMC Utrecht.

Awards

• VENI - ZonMW NWO - Better predictions using big data sets - Grant number: 016.176.050
• Cochrane Methods Innovation Funds round 2 - Methods for systematic review and meta-analysis of prognostic factors and prediction modeling studies - Grant number: MTH001F

  

Interests and Focus

Prediction modeling, meta-analysis, Machine Learning, regression analysis, evolutionary algorithms, Bayesian and frequentist statistics, Simulation & Sampling

Key Publications

• An overview of methods for network meta-analysis using individual participant data: when do benefits arise?

  Debray TPA, Schuit E, Efthimiou O, Reitsma JB, Ioannidis JP, Salanti G, Moons KG, on behalf of GetReal Workpackage 4. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 2016

• Individual Participant Data (IPD) Meta-analyses of Diagnostic and Prognostic Modeling Studies: Guidance on Their Use

  Debray TPA, Riley RD, Rovers M, Reistma JB, Moons KGM PLOS Medicine, 2015; 12; e1001886

• A new framework to enhance the interpretation of external validation studies of clinical prediction models.

  Debray TPA, Vergouwe Y, Koffijberg H, Nieboer D, Steyerberg EW, Moons KGM Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2014

• Imputation of systematically missing predictors in an individual participant data meta-analysis: a generalized approach using MICE

  Debray TPA, Jolani S, Koffijberg H, van Buuren S, Moons KGM Statistics in Medicine, 2015

• Meta-analysis and aggregation of multiple published prediction models.

  Debray TP, Koffijberg H, Nieboer D, Vergouwe Y, Steyerberg EW, Moons KG Statistics in Medicine, 2014;33(14);2341-2362

• A framework for developing, implementing, and evaluating clinical prediction models in an individual participant data meta-analysis

  Debray TP, Moons KG, Ahmed I, Koffijberg H, Riley RD Statistics in Medicine, 2013;32(18);3158-3180

• Aggregating published prediction models with individual patient data: a comparison of different approaches

  Debray TP, Koffijberg H, Vergouwe Y, Moons KG, Steyerberg EW Statistics in Medicine, 2012;31(23);2697-2712

• Get real in individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis: a review of the methodology.

  Debray TP, Moons KG, van Valkenhoef G, Efthimiou O, Hummel N, Groenwold RH, Reitsma JB, GetReal methods review group. Research Synthesis Methods, 2015

• Incorporating published univariable associations in diagnostic and prognostic modeling.

  Debray TP, Koffijberg H, Lu D, Vergouwe Y, Steyerberg EW, Moons KG BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2012

• Individual participant data meta-analysis for a binary outcome: one-stage or two-stage?

  Debray TPA, Moons KGM, Abo-Zaid G, Koffijberg H, Riley RD PLoS ONE, 2013 Apr 9;8(4):e60650

All Pubmed publications

• Link to all of this author's publications

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