Dr. Rahbar received his PhD degree in Statistics from Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan, in 1988. Currently, he is professor of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Clinical and Translational Sciences (tenured), Director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) component of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS), and Director of Division of Clinical and Translational Sciences in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Since 2009, with funding from NICHD/FIC (R21 HD057808; PI: Rahbar) and NIEHS (R01ES022165; PI: Rahbar), he collaborated with researchers at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Kingston, Jamaica to investigate the role of six metals (lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, manganese, aluminum) as well as several pesticides and their potential interaction with the glutathione-S-transferase (GST) genes in relation to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dr. Rahbar has considerable experience leading Data Coordinating Center (DCC) activities for large-scale clinical studies and trials. For example, He served as the founding director of Michigan State University (MSU) Data Coordinating Center and PI of the DCC for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded national network of autism research centers (U10-DD000007) during 2004-2008. Since 2008, he served as the PI of the DCC for Prospective, Observational, Multi-center Major Trauma Transfusion (PROMMTT) study, a $ 9.8-milion DoD funded project. He also served as PI of Data Core for The University of Texas Specialized Program in Acute Stroke (SPOTRIAS) funded by NINDS (P50 NS044227). In this role he has collaborated with stroke faculty including Dr. Savitz (Director of Stroke Institute at UTHealth) and served as the PI of DCC for SHRINC (PI: Dr. Nicole Gonzales): a dose finding trial evaluating safety of Pioglitazone for hematoma resolution in intracerebral hemorrhage and PI of DCC for ARTSS-2 (PI: Dr. Andrew Barreto): a pilot, phase IIb, randomized, multi-center trial of Argatroban in combination with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for acute stroke that involved 14 clinical sites in the US and in the UK.  As PI of Data Core for SPOTRIAS, Dr. Rahbar led an effort to develop and establish data quality assurance procedure for the UTHealth Stroke Registry which were published in BMC Neurology in 2013.  Dr. Rahbar’s methodological research is focused on survival analysis with randomly right-censored data and sequential trial designs. Since January 2020, Dr. Rahbar serves as PI of a methodologic grant (1R03NS111178) titled, “Risk Prediction of Progression, Recurrence, and Death after Acute Ischemic Stroke” that involves collaboration with other faculty at UTHealth including Dr. Savitz. Considering Dr. Rahbar’s interest in global health issues, currently he is the process of developing a stroke project that improves the quality of stroke care in Dominican Republic.