W. Scott Comulada, DrPH, is a Professor-in-Residence with joint appointments in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the Department of Health Policy and Management. He also directs the Semel Institute Center for Community Health, leads the subcommittee on XR in Health and Wellness for the UCLA XR Initiative, serves as a board member for the South Central Family Health Center in Los Angeles, and has served in various roles for the CHIPTS Methods Core since 2007. He has been a statistician on numerous HIV clinical trials and observational studies, including his role as an Analytic Core Project Lead for a U19 funded through the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN). His methodological interests have focused on the analysis of longitudinal data and the development of predictive algorithms using machine learning and artificial intelligence methods. His current research focuses on the development of large language model chatbots and virtual simulations to support clinical training and patient care. Topics for courses he teaches reflect his research interests. He has taught graduate courses on statistical methods that cover longitudinal modeling, causal inference, and machine learning methods in the Departments of Biostatistics and Health Policy and Management. He has served on 24 dissertation committees, including committees in the Departments of Biostatistics, Computer Science, Epidemiology, and Health Policy and Management. He has also mentored a junior faculty member through the ATN National Diversity Scholars Program, postdoctoral scholars through a T32 HIV training fellowship, and doctoral students through F31 awards.

Contact: wcomulada@mednet.ucla.edu

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1.  Comulada, W. S., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Arnold, E. M., Norwood, P., Lee, S. J., Ocasio, M. A., Flynn, R., Nielsen-Saines, K., Bolan, R., Klausner, J. D., Swendeman, D., & Adolescent Medicine Trials Network (ATN) CARES Team (2023). Using Machine Learning to Identify Predictors of Sexually Transmitted Infections Over Time Among Young People Living With or at Risk for HIV Who Participated in ATN Protocols 147, 148, and 149. Sexually transmitted diseases, 50(11), 739–745. https://doi.org/10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001854

2. Comulada, W. S., Rezai, R., Sumstine, S., Flores, D. D., Kerin, T., Ocasio, M. A., Swendeman, D., Fernández, M. I., & Adolescent Trials Network (ATN) CARES Team (2024). A necessary conversation to develop chatbots for HIV studies: qualitative findings from research staff, community advisory board members, and study participants. AIDS care, 36(4), 463–471. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2023.2216926

3. Gunn, H. J., Hayati Rezvan, P., Fernández, M. I., & Comulada, W. S. (2023). How to apply variable selection machine learning algorithms with multiply imputed data: A missing discussion. Psychological methods, 28(2), 452–471. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000478