PhD defence G. (Grigorios) Papageorgiou

In this thesis, we developed extensions for the joint modeling framework for longitudinal and time-to-event data, motivated by various clinical research questions in cardiothoracic surgery. Heart diseased subjects are commonly followed up over long periods, and multiple outcomes, both longitudinal and clinical, are monitored. The association of these outcomes is of primary interest as its understanding and quantification can lead to prediction models that can help optimize the treatment and the decision-making for these patients. However, such prediction models are difficult to develop as there are several factors that can influence our understanding of the relationship between these outcomes. Intermediate events such as additional treatments and serious adverse events may occur during follow-up and can alter the course of the disease. Specifying the association structure between multiple correlated outcomes is challenging as its form may be unknown. Missing data and dropout can substantially reduce available information and pose additional challenges to our inference depending on the unknown cause of missingness. Motivated by these challenges, we extend the joint modeling framework to try and overcome them.

The public defence will take place at the Prof. Andries Queridoroom, 3rd floor Education Center, Erasmus MC. The ceremony will begin exactly at 13.00 PM. In light of the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.