Tyler VanderWeele, PhD

Tyler J. VanderWeele, Ph.D., is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb professor of epidemiology in the departments of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and director of the Human Flourishing Program and co-director of the Initiative on Health, Religion and Spirituality at Harvard University. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University in mathematics, philosophy, theology, finance, and biostatistics. His methodological research is focused on theory and methods for distinguishing between association and causation in the biomedical and social sciences, and, more recently, on measurement theory and the importance of incorporating ideas from causal inference and from analytic philosophy into measure development and evaluation. His empirical research spans psychiatric and social epidemiology; the science of happiness and flourishing; and the study of religion and health. He is the recipient of the 2017 Presidents’ Award from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS). He has published over 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and is the author of the books “Explanation in Causal Inference” (2015) and “Measuring Well-Being” (2021), both published by Oxford University Press.