Dr. Loni Tabb
- Email: lpp22drexel.edu
- Website
- Drexel University/Dornsife School of Public Health
- Status: Faculty
- Department: Biostat,
- Will Mentor: Doctoral students, Pre-doctoral students
Areas of Expertise
Applied Statistics,
Research Interests
Bayesian methods
Bio
Dr. Tabb attended Drexel University in 1998, where she majored in business administration, but decided to ultimately switch to the mathematics field during her sophomore year. She applied and was admitted to the Masters Program at Drexel where she received a master of science degree in applied mathematics in (2005). Dr. Tabb knew she wanted to obtain a PhD, so she applied to various doctoral programs in the U.S., but, it was Harvard University that enticed her the most, and she was awarded a full scholarship from the Department of Biostatistics.
During her years at Harvard, Dr. Tabb successfully completed her master of science in biostatistics (2007), and her dissertation work focused on building multilevel statistical models applied to both environmental and health disparities settings. In particular, she examined the effect of neighborhood poverty on mortality rates in the city of Boston. This work allowed her to not only measure the health and social disparities present in this city, but to also map these disparities at a neighborhood level. Dr. Tabb completed the doctoral program at Harvard early, where she defended her dissertation in 2009. Immediately upon graduating, Dr. Tabb was offered a tenure-track Assistant Professor position at her alma mater, Drexel.
Dr. Tabb is currently an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at Drexel University, within the Dornsife School of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She teaches for the various graduate programs in the School, including the courses Biostatistics, Advanced Statistical Computing, Applied Survival Analysis, and Bayesian Data Analysis. Some of Dr. Tabbs research includes building complex statistical models to study health disparities, autism, environmental health as well as health and longevity of life in older populations. Some of Dr. Tabbs earlier work focused on examining the relationship between alcohol outlets (e.g. restaurants, bars, beer and wine distributors) and the violence that clusters around these locations in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (and other urban areas in the country). This research is timely given that the state of Pennsylvania is currently considering a move from being an alcohol beverage control state to a privatized state for alcohol sales and distribution.
More recently, Dr. Tabb focuses on using spatial statistical methods in looking at cardiovascular health disparities between blacks and whites across the country. This research hopes to lay the foundation for more informed policies and interventions geared towards minimizing these disparities. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Tabb also advises a number of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as serving on many doctoral students dissertation committees.
