Who am I?

Zhou (Joe) Lan is an associate director at Real-World Evidence Analytics on Sanofi’s HEVA Team. He earned his PhD in Statistics from North Carolina State University in 2019 and has since focused on real-world evidence studies examining treatment effectiveness, as well as biobank studies supporting R&D biomarker investigation, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital–Harvard Medical School.

As both a lead investigator and collaborative team member in medical research, he has contributed to numerous studies with publications in prestigious journals including JAMIA Open, NEJM, JAHA, JAMA Network Open, Circulation, Neuro-Oncology, and Imaging Neuroscience. As trained biostatistician and data scientist, he has served as lead author on more than 15 publications in prominent journals such as Technometrics, Biometrics, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Data Science in Science.

Investigation Areas

Biobank studies supporting R&D biomarker investigation,

Biobank studies supporting R&D biomarker investigation

  • Neuroscience
    Zhou L, Chen Y, Rushmore J, Zekelman L, Makris N, Rathi Y, Golby AJ, Zhang F, O’Donnell LJ.
    Fiber Microstructure Quantile (FMQ) Regression: A Novel Statistical Approach for Analyzing White Matter Bundles from Periphery to Core.
    Imaging Neuroscience, 3:11, 2025.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/imaga00569

  • Neuroscience
    Legarreta JH et al.
    Towards an Informed Choice of Diffusion MRI Image Contrasts for Cerebellar Segmentation.
    Human Brain Mapping, 46(11), 2025.
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70317

  • Neuroscience
    Lan Z, Foster S, Charney M et al.
    Neurometabolic Network (NMetNet) for Functional Neurological Disorder in Children and Adolescents.
    NeuroImage: Clinical, 46, 2025.

  • Neuroscience
    Beroukhim B et al.
    A novel automated pipeline to assess MR spectroscopy quality control.
    Journal of Neuroimaging, 35(1), 2025.

  • Oncology
    Youssef G, Aquilanti E, Miller JJ, Lan Z, Lasica AB, Arrillaga-Romany I, Batchelor TT, Berger TR, Beroukhim R, Chukwueke U.
    Prognostic Significance of MGMT Promoter Methylation Status in IDH-mutant Glioma.
    Neuro-Oncology, 2025.

  • Oncology
    Lasica AB, Lan Z, Miller JJ, Russ A, Westergaard C, Lee EQ, Chukwueke U, Castro LNG, Figueroa JRM, Aquilanti E.
    Clinical and Radiographic Predictors of Prognosis in Astrocytoma, IDH-Mutant, WHO Grade 4.
    Neuro-Oncology, 26(Suppl 8): viii188–viii189, 2024.

  • Oncology
    Nakhate V, Westergaard C, Lan Z, Lasica AB, Muzikansky A, Barlow B, Russ A, Aker L, Jiao AD, Pan I.
    Evaluation of Sex Differences in Survival Among Glioblastoma Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.
    Neuro-Oncology Advances, 2025.

  • Oncology
    Lasica AB, Lan Z, Miller JJ, Jiao A, Pan I, Aker L, Prabhakar P, Japo J, Russ A, Westergaard C.
    Clinical, Molecular, and Radiological Predictors of Prognosis in Newly Diagnosed Astrocytoma, IDH-mutant, WHO Grade 4.
    Neuro-Oncology, 27(9):2382–2398, 2025.

  • Cardiology
    Lopez DM, Huck DM, Divakaran S, Brown JM, Weber BN, Lemley M, Builoff V, Shanbhag A, Lan Z, Buckley C.
    Utility of 18F-Flurpiridaz PET Relative Flow Reserve in Differentiating Obstructive from Nonobstructive Coronary Artery Disease.
    Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, 18(11): e018323, 2025.

  • Cardiology
    Pfeferman M et al.
    Impact of Enduring Risk Factors on Efficacy and Safety of Extended Anticoagulation for Provoked Venous Thromboembolism.
    Thrombosis Research, 2026.

  • Cardiology
    Hummel JP, Lan Z et al.
    Predictors of Right Ventricular Pacing in Patients Undergoing Implantable Defibrillator Placement.
    Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, 36(4), 2025.

Real-World Evidence Analytics

Epidemiological real-world studies and outcomes research using EHRs, insurance claims, and registry data for treatment effectiveness, safety evaluation, and patient trajectory modeling with advanced causal inference and survival analysis methods.

  • Cardiology
    Brown CJ, Chang LS, Hosomura N, Malmasi S, Morrison F, Shubina M, Lan Z, Turchin A.
    Assessment of Sex Disparities in Nonacceptance of Statin Therapy and LDL Cholesterol Levels Among Patients at High Cardiovascular Risk.
    JAMA Network Open, 6(2): e231047, 2023.

  • Endocrinology
    Thurber EG, Lan Z, Turchin A.
    Impact of Telemedicine Use on Subsequent Glycemic Control in Patients with Diabetes.
    Diabetes, 73(Suppl 1):1078-P, 2024.

  • Endocrinology
    Shah N, Lan Z, Martin SS, Brown CJ, Turchin A.
    Impact of Delays in Statin Therapy Due to Statin Nonacceptance on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Diabetes.
    Diabetes, 73(Suppl 1):56-OR, 2024.

Statistical Methodology