Dr. Michael Harhay leads a research program that develops statistical methods, study designs, and outcome measures to improve studies for patients with critical and severe illnesses. As director of the NIH and PCORI-funded Clinical Trials Methods and Outcomes Lab at Penn’s PAIR (Palliative and Advanced Illness Research) Center, his team is particularly interested in developing and using causal inference and Bayesian statistical methods to better design and analyze pragmatic and cluster-randomized trials for these patient populations. Dr. Harhay’s team has contributed to a wide range of clinical trial methodology areas, including informatively missing/truncated data, clustered survival methods, estimand refinement, Bayesian trial applications, small-sample corrections, and making the best use of baseline covariate information. In 2022, he joined the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit as the Director of Statistical Evaluation, where he applies these methods to studies in the health system. He also leads and collaborates on multiple studies focused on the allocation of solid organs for transplantation and on long-term outcomes following hospitalization. 

Dr. Harhay has authored more than 200 scientific publications and is involved in a wide range of international research activities, including randomized trial data safety and monitoring boards, societal and trial steering committees, and research consortia. He currently serves as Deputy Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and is an editor of the International Journal of Epidemiology. As an educator, he has developed and leads multiple new graduate courses and serves as vice chair of the PhD program in epidemiology at Penn. He is the recipient of several teaching and research awards, including the 2021 Assembly on Critical Care Early Career Achievement Award from the American Thoracic Society. In 2023, he was named an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology at the University College London.