Mallik Rettiganti, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biostatistics Section, Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Phone: ((501) 364-6631

Research Overview

Dr. Rettiganti’s research interests are in applications of statistical methods to clinical trial data and survival analysis. Specifically, he is interested in statistical modeling and inference for overdispersed count data with applications to multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical trials. Currently, nonparametric tests are used frequently to test for treatment effect even though parametric models such as negative binomial distribution have been shown to provide a good fit. This results in a loss of statistical power and an increase in sample sizes required to detect a significant treatment effect. Dr. Rettiganti is currently using Negative Binomial and Poisson-Inverse Gaussian distributions to model MRI lesion count data arising out of various trial designs in MS clinical trials. He proposes exact parametric tests based on the likelihood that they have higher power than nonparametric tests while maintaining nominal Type I error rates.

Key publications

Perry, TT., Rettiganti, M., Brown, RH., Nick, TG. and McCracken, A., `Poorly Controlled Asthma
Among High Risk Children Living in a Rural Environment', Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunol-
ogy, Accepted.

Rettiganti, M. and Nagaraja, H., `Power Analysis for Clinical Trials Using Negative Binomial
Models with Application to Multiple Sclerosis Count Data', Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics.,
22 237-259, 2012.

Thrailkill, K. M., Moreau, C. S., Swearingen, C., Rettiganti, M. et al. `Insulin pump therapy
started at the time of diagnosis: Effects on glycemic control and pancreatic beta cell function'. Dia-
betes Technology and Therapeutics, 13(10) 1-8, 2011.