Larry Dong

I am a fifth year PhD student in biostatistics at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. My research interests revolve around dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs) and Bayesian methods and, on the software side, I take interest in making Bayesian software “better”. For my PhD, I am jointly supervised by Dr. Olli Saarela and Dr. Eleanor Pullenayegum and my thesis focuses on developing Bayesian estimation methods for optimal DTRs using irregularly observed data. On the side, I am also a core developer of PyMC, a GitHub Campus Expert and a co-founder of the Health Data Working Group.

Prior to my PhD studies, I have pursued a dual Master’s program: one MSc in biostatistics at McGill University and the other in Public Health Data Science at the University of Bordeaux. I was jointly supervised by Dr. Erica Moodie and Dr. Rodolphe Thiébaut, both of whom I look up to greatly and attribute a lot of my personal and professional growth.

In my free time, I enjoy coding in Python, skateboarding and eating copious amounts of fruit (especially grapes, bananas, oranges and watermelon).

Update: I am currently looking for summer 2025 opportunities, industry or research-related. If you think that I would be a good fit for your team, please reach out!