Sitaram (Ram) Vangala is a Principal Statistician and Associate Director of DOMStat. His research interests include biomedical and social scientific applications of Bayesian methods, causal inference in observational studies, and statistical learning with high-dimensional data. He has extensive experience collaborating with health services, quality improvement and social science researchers on study design, data management and statistical analysis. He has assisted numerous UCLA investigators with grant preparation, protocol development, manuscript writing and responses to statistical review, and he regularly participates in seminars for junior investigators on drafting grant applications and best practices for clinical data management. His work for DOMStat additionally includes mentoring junior statisticians, trainees and research assistants.
Google Scholar Profile
PubMed MyBibliography
Selected Manuscripts
Galoosian A, Dai H, Croymans D, Saccardo S, Fox CR, Goshgarian G, De Silva S, Han MA, Vangala S, May FP. Population health colorectal cancer screening strategies in adults aged 45-49: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2025.
Zinter MS, Taylor CS, Markovic D, Pellegrini M, Wong K, Balliu B, Gala KP, Asaro LA, Nadkarni VM, McQuillen PS, Vangala S, Sinha P, Matthay MA, Agus MSD, Sapru A. Biologic mechanisms underlying the heterogeneous response to tight glycemic control among differentially inflamed patients in the HALF-PINT trial. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2025.
Tietbohl CK, Gurfinkel D, Duran D, Saville A, Clark E, O'Leary S, Albertin C, Beaty B, Vangala S, Szilagyi PG, Kempe A. Feasibility and acceptability of recommending HPV vaccine at ages 9-10 years. Pediatrics. 2025.
Leuchter RK, Craff M, Vangala S, Tseng CH, Arbanas JC, Tabatabai-Yazdi C, Hadfield M, Skinner D, Damberg CL, Sarkisian CA, Mafi JN, Kahn KL. Socioeconomically disadvantaged groups may have underused the emergency department for nonavoidable visits, 2018-22. Health Aff (Millwood). 2025.
Mafi JN, Vangala S, Kapral MK, Wu PE, Cui M, Romanov A, Kahn KL. Hospitalizations and mortality among older adults with and without restricted access to nirmatrelvir-ritonavir. JAMA. 2025.
Rockwell MS, Vangala S, Hadfield M, Cantor J, Skinner D, Craff M, Fendrick AM, Damberg CL, Kahn K, Mafi JN. Demographic variation in US outpatient hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Aff (Millwood). 2025.
Nelson BB, Dudovitz RN, Thompson LR, Vangala S, Zevallos-Roberts E, Gulsrud A, Porras-Javier L, Romley JA, Herrera P, Aceves I, Chung PJ. Early childhood care coordination through 211: a randomized clinical trial. Pediatrics. 2024.
Szilagyi PG, Duru OK, Casillas A, Ong MK, Vangala S, Tseng CH, Albertin C, Humiston SG, Clark E, Ross MK, Evans SA, Sloyan M, Fox CR, Lerner C. Text vs patient portal messaging to improve influenza vaccination coverage: a health system-wide randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2024.
Roy S, Romero T, Michalski JM, Feng FY, Efstathiou JA, Lawton CAF, Bolla M, Maingon P, de Reijke T, Joseph D, Ong WL, Sydes MR, Dearnaley DP, Tree AC, Carrier N, Nabid A, Souhami L, Incrocci L, Heemsbergen WD, Pos FJ, Zapatero A, Guerrero A, Alvarez A, San-Segundo CG, Maldonado X, Reiter RE, Rettig MB, Nickols NG, Steinberg ML, Valle LF, Ma TM, Farrell MJ, Neilsen BK, Juarez JE, Deng J, Vangala S, Avril N, Jia AY, Zaorsky NG, Sun Y, Spratt D, Kishan AU; Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials in Cancer of the Prostate (MARCAP) consortium investigators. Biochemical recurrence surrogacy for clinical outcomes after radiotherapy for adenocarcinoma of the prostate. J Clin Oncol. 2023.
Ranganath VK, La Cava A, Vangala S, Brook J, Kermani TA, Furst DE, Taylor M, Kaeley GS, Carpenter C, Elashoff DA, Li Z. Improved outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis with obesity after a weight loss intervention: randomized trial. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2023.
Reiff JS, Zhang JC, Gallus J, Dai H, Pedley NM, Vangala S, Leuchter RK, Goshgarian G, Fox CR, Han M, Croymans DM. When peer comparison information harms physician well-being. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022.
Shah MD, Szilagyi PG, Shetgiri R, Delgado JR, Vangala S, Thomas K, Dudovitz RN, Vizueta N, Darling J, Kapteyn A. Trends in parents' confidence in childhood vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatrics. 2022.
Mafi JN, Craff M, Vangala S, Pu T, Skinner D, Tabatabai-Yazdi C, Nelson A, Reid R, Agniel D, Tseng CH, Sarkisian C, Damberg CL, Kahn KL. Trends in US ambulatory care patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2021. JAMA. 2022.
Lajonchere C, Naeim A, Dry S, Wenger N, Elashoff D, Vangala S, Petruse A, Ariannejad M, Magyar C, Johansen L, Werre G, Kroloff M, Geschwind D. An integrated, scalable, electronic video consent process to power precision health research: large, population-based, cohort implementation and scalability study. J Med Internet Res. 2021.
Szilagyi PG, Thomas K, Shah MD, Vizueta N, Cui Y, Vangala S, Kapteyn A. Changes in COVID-19 vaccine intent from April/May to June/July 2021. JAMA. 2021.
Szilagyi PG, Shah MD, Delgado JR, Thomas K, Vizueta N, Cui Y, Vangala S, Shetgiri R, Kapteyn A. Parents' intentions and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccination for their children: results from a national survey. Pediatrics. 2021.
Dai H, Saccardo S, Han MA, Roh L, Raja N, Vangala S, Modi H, Pandya S, Sloyan M, Croymans DM. Behavioural nudges increase COVID-19 vaccinations. Nature. 2021.
Lerner C, Albertin C, Casillas A, Duru OK, Ong MK, Vangala S, Humiston S, Evans S, Sloyan M, Fox CR, Bogard JE, Friedman S, Szilagyi PG. Patient portal reminders for pediatric influenza vaccinations: a randomized clinical trial. Pediatrics. 2021.
Szilagyi PG, Thomas K, Shah MD, Vizueta N, Cui Y, Vangala S, Kapteyn A. National trends in the US public's likelihood of getting a COVID-19 vaccine-April 1 to December 8, 2020. JAMA. 2020.
Kempe A, Saville AW, Albertin C, Zimet G, Breck A, Helmkamp L, Vangala S, Dickinson LM, Rand C, Humiston S, Szilagyi PG. Parental hesitancy about routine childhood and influenza vaccinations: a national survey. Pediatrics. 2020.
Szilagyi PG, Albertin C, Casillas A, Valderrama R, Duru OK, Ong MK, Vangala S, Tseng CH, Rand CM, Humiston SG, Evans S, Sloyan M, Lerner C. Effect of patient portal reminders sent by a health care system on influenza vaccination rates: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2020.
Szilagyi P, Albertin C, Gurfinkel D, Beaty B, Zhou X, Vangala S, Rice J, Campbell JD, Whittington MD, Valderrama R, Breck A, Roth H, Meldrum M, Tseng CH, Rand C, Humiston SG, Schaffer S, Kempe A. Effect of state immunization information system centralized reminder and recall on HPV vaccination rates. Pediatrics. 2020.
Szilagyi PG, Valderrama R, Vangala S, Albertin C, Okikawa D, Sloyan M, Lopez N, Lerner CF. Pediatric patient portal use in one health system. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2020.
Mafi JN, Godoy-Travieso P, Wei E, Anders M, Amaya R, Carrillo CA, Berry JL, Sarff L, Daskivich L, Vangala S, Ladapo J, Keeler E, Damberg CL, Sarkisian C. Evaluation of an intervention to reduce low-value preoperative care for patients undergoing cataract surgery at a safety-net health system. JAMA Intern Med. 2019.
Shen JI, Hercz D, Barba LM, Wilhalme H, Lum EL, Huang E, Reddy U, Salas L, Vangala S, Norris KC. Association of citizenship status With kidney transplantation in Medicaid patients. Am J Kidney Dis. 2018.
Ringman JM, Liang LJ, Zhou Y, Vangala S, Teng E, Kremen S, Wharton D, Goate A, Marcus DS, Farlow M, Ghetti B, McDade E, Masters CL, Mayeux RP, Rossor M, Salloway S, Schofield PR, Cummings JL, Buckles V, Bateman R, Morris JC; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network. Early behavioural changes in familial Alzheimer's disease in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network. Brain. 2015.
Howard-Anderson J, Lonowski S, Vangala S, Tseng CH, Busuttil A, Afsar-Manesh N. Readmissions in the era of patient engagement. JAMA Intern Med. 2014.
Hochman ME, Asch S, Jibilian A, Chaudry B, Ben-Ari R, Hsieh E, Berumen M, Mokhtari S, Raad M, Hicks E, Sanford C, Aguirre N, Tseng CH, Vangala S, Mangione CM, Goldstein DA. Patient-centered medical home intervention at an internal medicine resident safety-net clinic. JAMA Intern Med. 2013.