Nathaniel S. O’Connell, PhD

Experience & background

Curriculum vitae

Nathaniel S. O’Connell, PhD
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Download CV PDF ↓

Updated September 2026

Selected appointments, education, publications, and service are listed below. Download the full CV for the complete record.

Appointments and leadership

  • 2026–present: Associate Professor with tenure, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
  • 2025–present: Director of Biostatistics, ARISE Cancer Consortium.
  • 2018–2026: Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
  • 2013–2018: Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina.

Education

  • PhD, Biostatistics, 2018 — Medical University of South Carolina. Dissertation: Elicitation of Composite Patient Toxicity Scores in Cancer Clinical Trials with Application to Dose-Finding Trials for Combination Therapies. Advisors: Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer and Andrew Lawson.
  • BS, Biology, 2013 — Kennesaw State University.

Selected teaching and service

  • Instructor, THSS 732: Statistical Modeling, Wake Forest, 2021 and 2022.
  • Guest lecturer, Power Calculations, MMTS 724, Wake Forest, spring 2021–2026.
  • NIH Center for Scientific Review, Advancing Therapeutics A: recurring biostatistical reviewer, 2024–present.
  • ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Grants Selection Committee: biostatistical reviewer, 2023–2026.
  • Department of Defense grant review panels, including Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and psychological health programs.
  • Editorial Board member, Childhood Obesity.
  • Nature Medicine Statistical Advisory Panel, Neurology & Psychiatry.

Selected publications

  • O’Connell NS, Dai L, Jiang Y, Speiser JL, Ward R, Wei W, Carroll R, Gebregziabher M. Methods for Analysis of Pre-Post Data in Clinical Research: A Comparison of Five Common Methods. Journal of Biometrics & Biostatistics. 2017;8(1):1–8. DOI. 300+ citations.
  • O’Connell NS, Wages NA, Garrett-Mayer E. Quasi-partial order continual reassessment method: Applying toxicity scores to cancer dose-finding drug combination trials. Contemporary Clinical Trials. 2023;125:107050. DOI · PubMed.
  • O’Connell NS, Jaeger B, Bullock G, Speiser JL. A Comparison of Random Forest Variable Selection Methods for Regression Modeling of Continuous Outcomes. Briefings in Bioinformatics. 2025;26(2):bbaf096. DOI.
  • O’Connell NS, Speiser JL. OpenClustered: An R package with a benchmark suite of clustered datasets for methodological evaluation and comparison. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 2025;25:92. DOI.
  • O’Connell NS et al. Importance of Low- and Moderate-Grade Adverse Events in Patients’ Treatment Experience and Treatment Discontinuation: An Analysis of the E1912 Trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2024;42(3):266–272. DOI.
  • Hundley WG et al. Statins and left ventricular ejection fraction following doxorubicin treatment. NEJM Evidence. 2022;1(9). DOI.
  • Wells RE et al. Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation vs Headache Education for Adults With Migraine: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2021;181(3):317–328. DOI.