Research Interests
Theory and Methods: Causal inference; Health data science; Instrumental variables; Large-scale optimization-based approaches; Measurement error; Missing data; Observational studies; Randomized trials; Sensitivity analysis; Time and location heterogeneity in survey data; Unmeasured confounding.
Applications: Biomedical research; Global health; Health equity research; Health policy; Infectious disease research; Public health; Social science.
Theory and Methods: Causal inference; Health data science; Instrumental variables; Large-scale optimization-based approaches; Measurement error; Missing data; Observational studies; Randomized trials; Sensitivity analysis; Time and location heterogeneity in survey data; Unmeasured confounding.
Applications: Biomedical research; Global health; Health equity research; Health policy; Infectious disease research; Public health; Social science.
Publications and Preprints
Chen, Z*., Heng, S.*, Tapley, A., De Rosa, S., and Zhang, B. (2025+). Determining vaccine responders in the presence of baseline immunity using single-cell assays and paired control samples. Working Manuscript.
Heng, S. and Kang, H. (2025+). Generalized Rosenbaum bounds sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies with treatment doses: Sufficiency, consistency, and efficiency. Working Manuscript. (NYU Research Catalyst Prize)
Heng, S.*, Shen, Y.*, and Wang, P.* (2025+). Reconciling overt bias and hidden bias in sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies. Working Manuscript.
Zhu, J., Zhang, J., Guo, Z., and Heng, S. (2025+). Randomization-based inference for average treatment effects in inexactly matched observational studies. Working Manuscript.
Zhang, J. and Heng, S. (2025+). Bridging the gap between design and analysis: Randomization inference and sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies with treatment doses. Under Major Revision at Biometrics.
Wang, P., Huang, P., Jin, Y., Shen, Y., El-Shahawy, O., Ham, D. W., O'Meara, W. P., and Heng, S. (2025+). Re-evaluating the impact of reduced malaria prevalence on birthweight in sub-Saharan Africa: A pair-of-pairs study via two-stage bipartite and non-bipartite matching. Under Major Revision at BMJ Public Health.
Frazier, A., Heng, S., and Zhou, W. (2025+). Bias mitigation in matched observational studies with continuous treatments: Calipered non-bipartite matching and bias-corrected estimation and inference. Under Major Revision at Biometrics.
Heng, S.*, Zhang, J.*, and Feng, Y. (2025+). Design-based causal inference with missing outcomes: Missingness mechanisms, imputation-assisted randomization tests, and covariate adjustment. Journal of the American Statistical Association, in press. (IMS New Researcher Travel Award)
Gwadz, M. V., Heng, S., Cleland, C. M., Strayhorn, J. M., Robinson, J. A., Blanco, F. G., Wang, P., Parmeswaran, L., and Chero, R. (2025). Effects of behavioral intervention components to increase COVID-19 testing for African American/Black and Latino frontline essential workers not up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination: Results of an optimization randomized controlled trial. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, in press.
Heng, S. and Shaw, P. A. (2025). Sensitivity analysis for binary outcome misclassification in randomization tests via integer programming. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, in press. [R Package] (NESS Student Research Award)
Moucheraud, C., Ochieng, E., Kweka, A., Wang, P., Xie, S., Ototo, J., Kapindo, E., Banda, E., Szilagyi, P. G., and Heng, S. (2025) Parent-daughter agreement about HPV vaccination status in Kenya and Malawi. Vaccine, 55 (2025) 127025.
Wang, P., Cao, Y., Russell, C., Shen, Y., Luo, J., Zhang, M., Heng, S., and Luo, X. (2025) DELTA: Dual consistency delving with topological uncertainty for active graph domain adaptation. Transactions on Machine Learning Research.
Zhang, J., Small, D. S., and Heng, S. (2024). Sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies with continuous exposures and binary outcomes. Biometrika, 111(4), 1349-1368. (Jeffrey Zhang receives the Breslow Award for the Best Early Career Paper from the ASA Statistics in Epidemiology Section)
Guastaferro, K., Melchior, M., Heng, S., Trudeau, J., and Holloway, J. (2024) Maximizing the reach of universal child sexual abuse prevention: Protocol for an equivalence trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 41 (2024), 101345.
Heng, S.*, Zhang, B.*, Han, X., Lorch, S. A., and Small, D. S. (2023). Instrumental variables: To strengthen or not to strengthen? Journal of Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 186(4), 852-873.
Chen, K., Heng, S., Long, Q., and Zhang, B. (2023). Testing biased randomization assumptions and quantifying imperfect matching and residual confounding in matched observational studies. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 32(2), 528-538.
Zhang, B., Heng, S., Ye, T., and Small, D. S. (2023). Social distancing and COVID-19: Randomization inference for a structured dose-response relationship. Annals of Applied Statistics, 17(1), 23-46.
Zhang, B., Heng, S., Mackay, E. J., and Ye, T. (2022). Bridging preference-based instrumental variable studies and cluster-randomized encouragement experiments: Study design, noncompliance, and average cluster effect ratio. Biometrics, 78(4), 1639-1650.
Lin, Y., Heng, S., Anand, S., Deshpande, S., and Small, D. S. (2022). Hemoglobin levels among male agricultural workers: Analyses from the Demographic and Health Surveys to investigate a marker for chronic kidney disease of uncertain etiology. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 64(12):p e805-e810.
Heng, S., O'Meara, W. P., Simmons, R. A., and Small, D. S. (2021). Relationship between changing malaria burden and low birth weight in sub-Saharan Africa: A difference-in-differences study via a pair-of-pairs approach. eLife, 10:e65133. (IPUMS Global Health Research Award for the Best Student Paper)
Heng, S.*, Kang, H.*, Small, D. S., and Fogarty, C. B. (2021). Increasing power for observational studies of aberrant response: An adaptive approach. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology), 83(3), 482-504. [R Package] (Lawrence D. Brown Best Paper Award; IMS Hannan Graduate Student Travel Award)
Heng, S. and Small, D. S. (2021). Sharpening the Rosenbaum sensitivity bounds to address concerns about interactions between observed and unobserved covariates. Statistica Sinica, 31(2021), 2331-2353. (ASA Mental Health Statistics Section Student Paper Award; ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award)
MacKay, E. J., Zhang, B., Heng, S., Ye, T., Neuman, M. D., Augoustides, J. G., Desai, N. D., and Groeneveld, P. W. (2021). Association between transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and clinical outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiology, 34(6), 571-581.
Heng, S., Small, D. S., and Rosenbaum, P. R. (2020). Finding the strength in a weak instrument in a study of cognitive outcomes produced by Catholic high schools. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 183(3), 935-958.
Sondak, D., Hawley, C.*, Heng, S.*, Vinsonhaler, R.*, Lauga, E., and Thiffeault, J. L. (2016). Can phoretic particles swim in two dimensions? Physical Review E, 94, 062606.
(* indicates equal contribution)
Acknowledgements
My research is supported in part by National Institutes of Health (NIH), NYU Research Catalyst Prize, and NYU GPH Research Support Grant.
Publications and Preprints
Chen, Z*., Heng, S.*, Tapley, A., De Rosa, S., and Zhang, B. (2025+). Determining vaccine responders in the presence of baseline immunity using single-cell assays and paired control samples. Working Manuscript.
Heng, S. and Kang, H. (2025+). Generalized Rosenbaum bounds sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies with treatment doses: Sufficiency, consistency, and efficiency. Working Manuscript. (NYU Research Catalyst Prize)
Heng, S.*, Shen, Y.*, and Wang, P.* (2025+). Reconciling overt bias and hidden bias in sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies. Working Manuscript.
Zhu, J., Zhang, J., Guo, Z., and Heng, S. (2025+). Randomization-based inference for average treatment effects in inexactly matched observational studies. Working Manuscript.
Zhang, J. and Heng, S. (2025+). Bridging the gap between design and analysis: Randomization inference and sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies with treatment doses. Under Major Revision at Biometrics.
Wang, P., Huang, P., Jin, Y., Shen, Y., El-Shahawy, O., Ham, D. W., O'Meara, W. P., and Heng, S. (2025+). Re-evaluating the impact of reduced malaria prevalence on birthweight in sub-Saharan Africa: A pair-of-pairs study via two-stage bipartite and non-bipartite matching. Under Major Revision at BMJ Public Health.
Frazier, A., Heng, S., and Zhou, W. (2025+). Bias mitigation in matched observational studies with continuous treatments: Calipered non-bipartite matching and bias-corrected estimation and inference. Under Major Revision at Biometrics.
Heng, S.*, Zhang, J.*, and Feng, Y. (2025+). Design-based causal inference with missing outcomes: Missingness mechanisms, imputation-assisted randomization tests, and covariate adjustment. Journal of the American Statistical Association, in press. (IMS New Researcher Travel Award)
Gwadz, M. V., Heng, S., Cleland, C. M., Strayhorn, J. M., Robinson, J. A., Blanco, F. G., Wang, P., Parmeswaran, L., and Chero, R. (2025). Effects of behavioral intervention components to increase COVID-19 testing for African American/Black and Latino frontline essential workers not up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination: Results of an optimization randomized controlled trial. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, in press.
Heng, S. and Shaw, P. A. (2025). Sensitivity analysis for binary outcome misclassification in randomization tests via integer programming. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, in press. [R Package] (NESS Student Research Award)
Moucheraud, C., Ochieng, E., Kweka, A., Wang, P., Xie, S., Ototo, J., Kapindo, E., Banda, E., Szilagyi, P. G., and Heng, S. (2025) Parent-daughter agreement about HPV vaccination status in Kenya and Malawi. Vaccine, 55 (2025) 127025.
Wang, P., Cao, Y., Russell, C., Shen, Y., Luo, J., Zhang, M., Heng, S., and Luo, X. (2025) DELTA: Dual consistency delving with topological uncertainty for active graph domain adaptation. Transactions on Machine Learning Research.
Zhang, J., Small, D. S., and Heng, S. (2024). Sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies with continuous exposures and binary outcomes. Biometrika, 111(4), 1349-1368. (Jeffrey Zhang receives the Breslow Award for the Best Early Career Paper from the ASA Statistics in Epidemiology Section)
Guastaferro, K., Melchior, M., Heng, S., Trudeau, J., and Holloway, J. (2024) Maximizing the reach of universal child sexual abuse prevention: Protocol for an equivalence trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 41 (2024), 101345.
Heng, S.*, Zhang, B.*, Han, X., Lorch, S. A., and Small, D. S. (2023). Instrumental variables: To strengthen or not to strengthen? Journal of Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 186(4), 852-873.
Chen, K., Heng, S., Long, Q., and Zhang, B. (2023). Testing biased randomization assumptions and quantifying imperfect matching and residual confounding in matched observational studies. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 32(2), 528-538.
Zhang, B., Heng, S., Ye, T., and Small, D. S. (2023). Social distancing and COVID-19: Randomization inference for a structured dose-response relationship. Annals of Applied Statistics, 17(1), 23-46.
Zhang, B., Heng, S., Mackay, E. J., and Ye, T. (2022). Bridging preference-based instrumental variable studies and cluster-randomized encouragement experiments: Study design, noncompliance, and average cluster effect ratio. Biometrics, 78(4), 1639-1650.
Lin, Y., Heng, S., Anand, S., Deshpande, S., and Small, D. S. (2022). Hemoglobin levels among male agricultural workers: Analyses from the Demographic and Health Surveys to investigate a marker for chronic kidney disease of uncertain etiology. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 64(12):p e805-e810.
Heng, S., O'Meara, W. P., Simmons, R. A., and Small, D. S. (2021). Relationship between changing malaria burden and low birth weight in sub-Saharan Africa: A difference-in-differences study via a pair-of-pairs approach. eLife, 10:e65133. (IPUMS Global Health Research Award for the Best Student Paper)
Heng, S.*, Kang, H.*, Small, D. S., and Fogarty, C. B. (2021). Increasing power for observational studies of aberrant response: An adaptive approach. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology), 83(3), 482-504. [R Package] (Lawrence D. Brown Best Paper Award; IMS Hannan Graduate Student Travel Award)
Heng, S. and Small, D. S. (2021). Sharpening the Rosenbaum sensitivity bounds to address concerns about interactions between observed and unobserved covariates. Statistica Sinica, 31(2021), 2331-2353. (ASA Mental Health Statistics Section Student Paper Award; ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award)
MacKay, E. J., Zhang, B., Heng, S., Ye, T., Neuman, M. D., Augoustides, J. G., Desai, N. D., and Groeneveld, P. W. (2021). Association between transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and clinical outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiology, 34(6), 571-581.
Heng, S., Small, D. S., and Rosenbaum, P. R. (2020). Finding the strength in a weak instrument in a study of cognitive outcomes produced by Catholic high schools. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 183(3), 935-958.
Sondak, D., Hawley, C.*, Heng, S.*, Vinsonhaler, R.*, Lauga, E., and Thiffeault, J. L. (2016). Can phoretic particles swim in two dimensions? Physical Review E, 94, 062606.
(* indicates equal contribution)
Acknowledgements
My research is supported in part by National Institutes of Health (NIH), NYU Research Catalyst Prize, and NYU GPH Research Support Grant.