Education

2015.09–2020.04  Ph.D. in Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh

2013.09–2015.05  M.S. in Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

2009.09–2013.04  M.S. in Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh

2005.09–2009.07  B.S. in Veterinary Medicine, Joint Program of China Agricultural University and Cornell University

Work Experience

2023.08–present  Associate Professor, School of Statistics, Renmin University of China

2020.08–2023.08  Lecturer, School of Statistics, Renmin University of China

Research Interests

• Statistical methodology: complex survival data modeling, semiparametric models, high-dimensional variable selection, neural network-based survival models

• Applications: prevention and management of disability, dementia, and chronic diseases in the elderly; deep learning for dynamic disease risk prediction

Funding

• National Natural Science Foundation of China, Principal Investigator, 2025–2028

• National Natural Science Foundation of China, Principal Investigator, 2022–2024

• National Bureau of Statistics of China, Principal Investigator, 2021–2023

• Renmin University of China, Principal Investigator, 2021–2023

Selected Publications

Statistical Methodology:

1. Liu, K., Zu, Y., Yi, D., Ding, Y., Sun, T.* (2025). Neural Network-Based Dynamic Prediction for Interval-Censored Data with Time-Varying Covariates: Application to Alzheimer’s Disease. Statistics in Medicine, 44(15-17), e70190.

2. Li, Y., Wang, X., Sun, T. (2024). Risk of Disability in Older Chinese Adults: A Semiparametric Transformation Model for Censored Data. Statistical Research.

3. Sun T., Liang W., Zhang G., Yi, D., Ding, Y., Zhang, L. (2024). Penalised semi-parametric copula method for semi-competing risks data: application to hip fracture in elderly. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C: Applied Statistics.

4. Li, Y., Ren, X., Yu, H., Sun, T.*, Ma, S. (2023). PIN: A penalized integrative deep neural network for variable selection among multiple omics datasets. The 21st Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Conference.

5. Sun, T., Li, Y., Xiao, Z., Ding, Y., Wang, X. (2023). Semiparametric copula method for semi-competing risks data subject to interval censoring and left truncation: Application to disability in elderly. Statistical Methods in Medical Research.

6. Sun, T., Cheng, Y., Ding, Y. (2023). An Information Ratio-based Goodness-of-Fit Test for Copula Models on Censored Data. Biometrics.

7. Sun, T., Ding, Y. (2023). Neural network on interval-censored data with application to the prediction of Alzheimer’s disease. Biometrics.

8. Zhang, J., Siegle, G., Sun, T., D`Andrea, W., Krafty, R. (2023) Interpretable Principal Component Analysis for Multilevel Multivariate Functional Data. Biostatistics.

9. Sun, T., Ding. Y. (2021) Copula-based semiparametric regression model for bivariate data under general interval censoring. Biostatistics. 22(2), 315-330.

10. Sun, T., Wei, Y., Chen, W., Ding, Y. (2020) Genome-wide association study-based deep learning for survival prediction. Statistics in Medicine. Statistics in Medicine. 39(30), 4605-4620.

11. Sun, T., Ding, Y. (2020) CopulaCenR: copula based regression models for bivariate censored data in R. The R Journal. 12(1), 266-282.

12. Sun, T., Liu Y., Cook, R., Chen, W., Ding, Y. (2019) Copula-based score test for bivariate time-to-event data, with application to a genetic study of AMD progression. Lifetime Data Analysis. 25(3), 546-568.

13. Wei, Y., Liu, Y., Sun, T., Chen, W., Ding, Y. (2019) Gene-based association analysis for bivariate time-to-event data through functional regression with copula models. Biometrics. 76(2), 619-629.

Statistical Applications:

14. Zheng, H., Sun, T.*, Wang, X.* (2025). Genome-Wide Cox Regression Analysis Identifies 134 Novel Risk Loci for Disability Development: The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and UK Biobank. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

15. Sun, T., Jiang, X., Wang, X.* (2025). Re-evaluating Sleep Difficulty as a Risk Factor for Dementia in the UK Biobank Cohort: Addressing Survival Bias Using a Semi-competing Risks Approach. Age and Ageing. 54(8), afaf235. DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afaf235.

16. Grubisha, MJ, Sun, T, Erickson, SL, Helmer, CD, Ding, Y, Homanics, GE, Penzes, P, Wills, ZP, Sweet, RA. (2021). A Kalirin Missense Mutation in Kalirin Enhances Neuronal RhoA Signaling and Leads to Regression of Cortical Dendritic Arbors Across Development. PNAS.

17. Dai, H., Lan, P., Zhao, D., Abou-Daya, K., Liu, W., Chen, W., Friday, A., Williams, A., Sun, T., Chen, J., Chen, W., Mortin-Toth, S., Danska, J., Wiebe, C., Nickerson, P., Nicotra, M., Gingras, S., Kubagawa, H., Shlomchik, M., Oberbarnscheidt, M., Li, X., Lakkis, F. (2020) Paired immunoglobulin-like receptors mediate innate memory to non-self MHC molecules. Science. 368(6495), 1122-1127.

18. Sun, T., Sun, Z., Jiang Y., Ferguson. A., Pilewski, J., Kolls, J., Chen, W., Chen, K. (2019) Transcriptomic responses to Ivacaftor and prediction of Ivacaftor clinical responsiveness. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 61(5), 643-652. (Editorial’s Highlight)

19. Yang, G.,* Sun, T.,* (co-first), Han, Y., Rosser, F., Forno, E., Chen, W., Celedón, J. (2019) Serum cadmium and lead, wheezing and lung function in a nationwide study of adults in the United States. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. 7(8), 2653-2660.

20. Yano, H., Sawant, D., Chikina, M., Zhang, Q., Sun, Z., Sun, T., Chen, W., Workman, C., Vignali, D. (2019) Adaptive plasticity of IL10+ and IL35+ regulatory T cells and their cooperative regulation of anti-tumor immunity. Nature Immunology. 20(6), 724-735.

Software

• CopulaCenR: R package for copula-based regression models with censored data (CRAN, since 2019).

• Online platform for dynamic Alzheimer’s disease risk prediction based on neural networks (since 2024, http://olap.ruc.edu.cn/).

Teaching

• Undergraduate: Sampling Techniques, Regression Analysis

• Graduate: Survival Analysis

Professional Service

• Board Member, Society of Aging Economics, China Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (since 2022)

• Executive Board Member, Disability Statistics Section, Chinese Statistical Society (2024–2025)