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EDUCATION

Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, USA (2019 - 2024)

PhD in Health Services Research

  • Emphasis area: Health Economics and Data Science

  • Dissertation title: “Using Machine Learning and Causal Inference to Improve Suicide Outcomes in Veterans”

  • Dissertation committee: Dr. Kiersten Strombotne (chair), Dr. Steve Pizer (member), Dr. Melissa Garrido (member), Dr. Peter Szolovits (member)

Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs, Paris, France (2016 - 2018)

Master of Arts in Humanitarian Action

  • Emphasis area: Global Health

  • Thesis title: “Achieving Equitable Access to Family Planning in Afghanistan”

University of Tartu, Estonia (2012 - 2016)

Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics

  • Thesis title: “Individual-level Predictors of Attitudes Towards Immigration in Eastern and Western Europe”

Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux, France (2015)

Erasmus exchange program

SKILLS AND ASSETS

  • Causal Inference – instrumental variables, difference in differences, regression discontinuity, synthetic control, propensity score matching

  • Machine learning – imbalanced data techniques, regression, k-NN, SVM, Naïve Bayes, Decision Trees, Random Forest, Super Learner, clustering

  • Biostatistics and epidemiology – hypothesis testing, regression, longitudinal studies, cohort design, survival analysis, case-control design, cross-sectional design, randomized evaluations

  • SQL – advanced level: joins, indexing, basic and nested queries, aggregate functions

  • Python – advanced level: data visualization, core data science and machine learning packages (scikit-learn, seaborn, pandas, NumPy, sklearn, matplotlib)

  • Stata – advanced level: experience in data wrangling and exploratory, statistical, and econometric analyses

  • R Studio – intermediate level: experience in exploratory and statistical analysis (dplyr, ggplot2, tidyr, stats)

  • Project Management – leading 4-6 people multidisciplinary teams of biostatisticians, econometricians, and policy analysts

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

The Veterans Health Administration, Boston, USA (2019 - current)

Data Analyst at the Partnered Evidence-Based Policy Resource Center (PEPReC)

  • Building analytic data files using SQL language in the electronic health records data warehouse

  • Performing biostatistics and econometrics analyses in Stata and Python

  • Leading four data-focused studies on COVID-19 mortality, emergency department utilization, and impacts of physician training, culminating in published peer-reviewed articles

  • Presenting research findings to relevant technical and non-technical stakeholders

Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School – Cambridge, MA (2018-2019)                                                   

Research Assistant at the Health Equity Research Lab under Professor Benjamin Cook

  • Contributing to the conceptualization, data manipulation, analyses, interpretation, drafting and revising of an opioid research study

Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA (2018 - 2019)                                                             

Independent Research Under the Supervision of Professor Chunling Lu

  • Investigating the relationship between external health aid and government resource allocation to health sector, as well as to specific health areas such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and reproductive and maternal health at the national and district level in Rwanda.

  • Contributing to the conceptualization of the study, data organization and management, trend and panel analyses, interpretation of the results.

Institut Pasteur, Center for Global Health Research and Education, Paris, France (2018)

Research Assistant

  • Supporting countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in the management of infectious disease outbreaks.

  • Designing a survey in REDCap to map the technical resources at Institut Pasteur.

  • Conducting a literature review for a follow-up cohort study on the evaluation of the cognitive functions of children born to Zika-positive women in the Caribbean region.

World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, Cairo, Egypt (2017)                     

Health Policy Research Intern at the Reproductive and Maternal Health Unit

  • Providing descriptive statistics of family planning indicators on the global and regional level, using DHS, MICS and PAPFAM datasets.

  • Conducting a literature review to map family planning related vulnerable groups in Afghanistan.

  • Leading, from inception to completion, an in-depth case study on national family planning policies targeting vulnerable populations in Afghanistan, and triangulating the data using text-corpus analysis, key informant questionnaire and semi-structured interviews.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

SPH PH717, Quantitative Methods for Public Health, Boston University School of Public Health (Fall 2022 and 2023)

Teaching Assistant to Professor Bruce Larson

  • Teaching office hours on biostatistics and epidemiology.

  • Teaching students to perform statistical analyses in R Studio.

  • Evaluating and grading students’ weekly problem sets and exams.

SPH GH762, Essentials of Economics and Finance for Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health (Spring 2022 and 2023)

Head Teaching Assistant to Professor Bruce Larson

  • Teaching office hours on cost-effectiveness analysis and microeconomic theory.

  • Evaluating and grading students’ weekly problem sets and exams.

SPH PH843, Introduction to Quantitative Analysis for Public Health and Health Services Research, Boston University School of Public Health (Fall 2021)

Co-instructor

  • Co-teaching introduction to quantitative research to first year doctoral students and advanced masters students.

  • Lecturing on statistics and probability revision, recent advancements in difference-in-differences analysis, and teaching a Stata lab.

WORK ACTIVITIES

United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland (2016)

Member of the Estonian delegation during the 31st UNHRC session

  • Representing the Estonian Government at the Human Rights Council sessions at the UNHRC.

  • Writing and delivering statements and speeches on behalf of the Government of Estonia on HIV/AIDS, people with disabilities and child violence in armed conflicts.