Yu-Ru Su, PhD
“Leveraging individuals’ genetic, environmental, and clinical information in risk modeling promotes risk stratification for complex health outcomes. My research focuses on statistical methods for addressing complexity in data and the development of personalized strategies in disease prevention and interventions.”
Yu-Ru Su, PhD
Associate Biostatistics Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
YuRu.Su@kp.org
206-287-2948
LinkedIn
Biography
Yu-Ru Su, PhD, specializes in statistical genetics, survival analysis, and functional/longitudinal data analysis. Her research interests cover a wide spectrum of statistical methods for modern biomedical studies, especially in cancer prevention and precision medicine. Her current research focuses on integrating information in genetics, environmental, and clinical data to develop precise risk models of cancers with a goal of promoting personalized prevention/surveillance strategies.
Before joining Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Dr. Su received her postdoctoral research training at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where she was promoted to a staff scientist position. During her time at Fred Hutch, she was part of the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO), one of the world’s leading collaborations in colorectal cancer research. At GECCO, she conducted complex analyses aiming to discover genetic risk factors and interactions between genetics and environmental factors for colorectal cancer. These findings are essential for developing risk prediction models. She also developed novel and computationally feasible statistical methods via the kernel machine framework for detecting novel genetic associations with complex diseases by bringing in functional information from multi-omics data. Another field of her methods research focuses on statistical approaches for functional association between functional exposures and a scalar outcome. Dr. Su developed a new dimension reduction technique and a testing approach for inferences on the infinite-dimensional association. The application of these methods in modern genetic and aging studies is leading to a better understanding of underlying mechanism of complex diseases, including cancer and dementia.
Dr. Su received her PhD in biostatistics from the University of California, Davis. Her dissertation focused on statistical estimating procedures used to infer associations of survival outcomes and complex exposures. An example is time-varying covariates, based on incomplete data such as intermittently measured longitudinal covariates and left-truncation or doubly-censored survival outcomes. She investigated asymptotic properties of the proposed methods via modern semiparametric theory and proposed complex algorithms for handling incompleteness in data.
At Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Dr. Su collaborates with scientists from multiple disciplines to pursue answers and solutions to scientific questions related to breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and opioid use disorders. She actively collaborates with the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium to investigate the screening performance of multiple screening modalitiesin women with and without breast cancer history, to build reliable risk prediction models and personalized strategies for screening and surveillance strategies. She also closely works with the Adult Change in Thought (ACT) study to understand the connection between dementia and other clinical and health conditions.
RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE
Recent Publications
Dimou N, Kim AE, Flanagan O, Murphy N, Diez-Obrero V, Shcherbina A, Aglago EK, Bouras E, Campbell PT, Casey G, Gallinger S, Gruber SB, Jenkins MA, Lin Y, Moreno V, Ruiz-Narvaez E, Stern MC, Tian Y, Tsilidis KK, Arndt V, Barry EL, Baurley JW, Berndt SI, Bézieau S, Bien SA, Bishop DT, Brenner H, Budiarto A, Carreras-Torres R, Cenggoro TW, Chan AT, Chang-Claude J, Chanock SJ, Chen X, Conti DV, Dampier CH, Devall M, Drew DA, Figueiredo JC, Giles GG, Gsur A, Harrison TA, Hidaka A, Hoffmeister M, Huyghe JR, Jordahl K, Kawaguchi E, Keku TO, Larsson SC, Le Marchand L, Lewinger JP, Li L, Mahesworo B, Morrison J, Newcomb PA, Newton CC, Obon-Santacana M, Ose J, Pai RK, Palmer JR, Papadimitriou N, Pardamean B, Peoples AR, Pharoah PDP, Platz EA, Potter JD, Rennert G, Scacheri PC, Schoen RE, Su YR, Tangen CM, Thibodeau SN, Thomas DC, Ulrich CM, Um CY, van Duijnhoven FJB, Visvanathan K, Vodicka P, Vodickova L, White E, Wolk A, Woods MO, Qu C, Kundaje A, Hsu L, Gauderman WJ, Gunter MJ, Peters U. Probing the diabetes and colorectal cancer relationship using gene - environment interaction analyses. Br J Cancer. 2023 Aug;129(3):511-520. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02312-z. Epub 2023 Jun 26. PubMed
Sprague BL, Coley RY, Lowry KP, Kerlikowske K, Henderson LM, Su YR, Lee CI, Onega T, Bowles EJA, Herschorn SD, diFlorio-Alexander RM, Miglioretti DL. Digital breast tomosynthesis versus digital mammography screening performance on successive screening rounds from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. Radiology. 2023;307(5):e223142. doi: 10.1148/radiol.223142. PubMed
Aglago EK, Kim AE, Lin Y, Qu C, Evangelou M, Ren Y, Morrison J, Albanes D, Arndt V, Barry EL, Baurley JW, Berndt SI, Bien SA, Bishop DT, Bouras E, Brenner H, Buchanan DD, Budiarto A, Carreras-Torres R, Casey G, Cenggoro TW, Chan AT, Chang-Claude J, Chen X, Conti DV, Devall M, Díez-Obrero V, Dimou N, Drew D, Figueiredo JC, Gallinger S, Giles GG, Gruber SB, Gsur A, Gunter MJ, Hampel H, Harlid S, Hidaka A, Harrison TA, Hoffmeister M, Huyghe JR, Jenkins MA, Jordahl K, Joshi AD, Kawaguchi ES, Keku TO, Kundaje A, Larsson SC, Le Marchand L, Lewinger JP, Li L, Lynch BM, Mahesworo B, Mandic M, Obón-Santacana M, Moreno V, Murphy N, Nan H, Nassir R, Newcomb PA, Ogino S, Ose J, Pai RK, Palmer JR, Papadimitriou N, Pardamean B, Peoples AR, Platz EA, Potter JD, Prentice RL, Rennert G, Ruiz-Narvaez E, Sakoda LC, Scacheri PC, Schmit SL, Schoen RE, Shcherbina A, Slattery ML, Stern MC, Su YR, Tangen CM, Thibodeau SN, Thomas DC, Tian Y, Ulrich CM, van Duijnhoven FJB, Van Guelpen B, Visvanathan K, Vodicka P, Wang J, White E, Wolk A, Woods MO, Wu AH, Zemlianskaia N, Hsu L, Gauderman WJ, Peters U, Tsilidis KK, Campbell PT. A genetic locus within the FMN1/GREM1 gene region interacts with body mass index in colorectal cancer risk. Cancer Res. 2023 May 30;CAN-22-3713. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-22-3713. Online ahead of print. PubMed
van den Puttelaar R, Meester RGS, Peterse EEP, Zauber AG, Zheng J, Hayes RB, Su YR, Lee JK, Thomas M, Sakoda LC, Li Y, Corley DA, Peters U, Hsu L, Lansdorp-Vogelaar I. Risk-stratified screening for colorectal cancer using genetic and environmental risk factors: A cost-effectiveness analysis based on real-world data. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023 Mar 9:S1542-3565(23)00177-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2023.03.003. Online ahead of print. PubMed
Su YR, Buist DS, Lee JM, Ichikawa L, Miglioretti DL, Aiello Bowles EJ, Wernli KJ, Kerlikowske K, Tosteson A, Lowry KP, Henderson LM, Sprague BL, Hubbard RA. Performance of statistical and machine learning risk prediction models for surveillance benefits and failures in breast cancer survivors. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 Jan 25:EPI-22-0677. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-22-0677. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Breast Cancer Surveillance
Kaiser Permanente Washington Breast Cancer Surveillance Registry
Kaiser Permanente Washington has been part of the national Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium since 1994. Learn about the Kaiser Permanente Washington Breast Cancer Surveillance Registry here.
addictions
Long-term opioid risks are the focus of $10 million KPWHRI study
Dr. Denise Boudreau launches a collaborative project with Kaiser and other health systems on the safety of long-term prescription opioid use.
aging and geriatrics
The ACT Study: Looking toward the future
At 25 years, the Adult Changes in Thought Study is committed to science, collaboration, and jokes, writes Erin Bowles
Land Acknowledgment
Our Seattle offices sit on the occupied land of the Duwamish and by the shared waters of the Coast Salish people, who have been here thousands of years and remain. Learn about practicing land acknowledgment.