iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Teaching sibling comparison designs on Friday, which means I get to bust out this slide:

From left to right: a picture of the creepy twins from The Shining movie, a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito from the movie Twins, and a picture of two siblings

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Weekly Ruport: bad news cycle means more emotional support pillows

A picture of a chocolate labrador curled up on a pile of throw pillows and looking sleepily at the camera

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

It’s hard to know whether talking about these things is helpful or just gives them more oxygen, but the current acetaminophen fire is already roaring so here we go. Most importantly: ACOG affirms their position that acetaminophen is safe in pregnancy bsky.app/profile/acog...

"In more than 2 decades of research on the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children." -ACOG President Steven J. Fleischman, MD, MBA, FACOG

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

I don't know how many of my ISPE friends (and enemies...?) are on here, but (a) the ISPE Peer Mentoring program is currently taking applications and (b) it's GREAT, you should probably sign up. Link: www.pharmacoepi.org/get-involved...

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Interested in selection of an index date for studies using external comparators? Free upcoming seminar on July 25 hosted by UNC Pharmacoepi, FDA Oncology CoE, and the Triangle CERSI (link to register: lu.ma/yilev7pp).

You are invited to attend our upcoming Collaborative Summit “Index Date Selection for External Comparators”. Hosted by UNC Pharmacoepidemiology and Triangle CERSI in partnership with the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE), this virtual meeting will convene regulators, thought leaders and industry experts to discuss one of the major challenges in designing externally controlled studies: the selection of time zero for comparators. We will hear from FDA OCE and invited speakers from academia, industry and research organizations who will share insights regarding the successes and challenges around this critical decision for externally controlled studies. We welcome you to join the discussion. Registration is free; please register by July 24.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Prepping for a big writing day

A brown labrador and a human wearing blue jeans and a red sweatshirt lie on their backs next to each other on a leather couch.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

“Don’t worry, Lady. That third aim will start making sense any minute now.”

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

A little snow day baking: sourdough discard scones with dried blueberries

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Weekly Ruport: appetite for destruction edition

A dark brown Labrador guards the green winter glove he stole. He fears neither death nor pain.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

For jul dinner, I made choux au craquelin with the idea that they’d look like mushrooms and… I somehow completely ignored size and scale? Anyway they were still delicious

A picture of a Yule log cake with cranberry filling and an enthusiastic if not entirely successful attempt at birch bark covering, surrounded by enormous choux buns. The cake sits on a green plate on a wooden table, with a window in the background.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Thought about getting my husband generic linear regression for Christmas, but decided to go for name brand instead

An ANOVA sous vide set up with immersion heater and vacuum sealer, on a messy kitchen countertop.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Okay, I’ll bite: what are we trying to catch?

A photo of a “live bait” sign in front of about 12 Christmas trees for sale.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

New AI policy for my syllabus just dropped

Poem by Joseph Fasano
Title: for a student who used AI to write a paper
Now I let it fall back
in the grasses.
I hear you. I know
this life is hard now.
I know your days are precious
on this earth.
But what are you trying
to be free of?
The living? The miraculous
task of it?
Love is for the ones who love the work.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Got my emotional support spicy almonds. Am I the only person whose writing improves when their mouth hurts? …just me then?

A bag of Trader Joe’s Thai lime and chili almonds sitting on a desk near a keyboard

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

The weekly Ruport: grant budgets are exhausting.

A very large chocolate Labrador sleeping on his back, on a leather couch, in a nest of throw pillows. He is a good boy.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Last year I updated my course readings to include any SERious EPI-sodes that overlapped with ME4 readings. Not sure yet if students appreciated it, but it made me happy.

Current as of March 24.

The 716 readings are structured as follows:
1. Core readings should be read prior to the Monday lecture and are required.
2. Foundational readings are included for learners who may benefit from additional background to get the most out of the core readings. They are an excellent place to start if the core readings are too advanced, but they are not required.
3. Advanced material is provided for students who want to delve more deeply into material introduced in the core readings. These readings are intended to support engagement with Stretch Questions and expose students to more challenging content.
4. Supplemental content is any additional material that may enhance learning.
5. Background readings are intended to acquaint you with the NC Birth Certificate data, including details on how variables are coded, recorded, and reported. This material should be familiar from previous classes or from the SAS competency exam.
6. Scientific writing resources are intended to teach you juggling and basic acrobatics.

Textbook abbreviations:
ME4: Lash, VanderWeele, Haneuse, and Rothman (2021), Modern Epidemiology, 4th edition.
RE2: K Rothman (2012), Epidemiology: An Introduction 2nd Edition (“Baby Rothman”)

Lab 1
1. Core (required)
 ME4 Chapter 4: Measures of Occurrence. Pages 53-77
 Neophytou, Kioumourtzoglou, Goin, Darwin, and Casey. Educational note: addressing special cases of bias that frequently occur in perinatal epidemiology. International Journal of Epidemiology 2021; 50: 337-345
2. Foundational
 Purisch and Gyamfi-Bannerman. Epidemiology of preterm birth. Seminars in Perinatology 2017;387-391
3. Advanced
 Suarez et al. Bias from restricting to live births when estimating effects of prescription drug use on pregnancy complications: A simulation. Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety 2018;27:307–314
4. Supplemental
 SERious Epi Podcast
o Season 2 Episode 5: “The great open vs closed population debate”
o Season 2 Episode 6: “The building blocks of epi with Dr. Liz Stuart”
5. Background
 Jones-Vessey KA. Revisions to the North Carolina Birth Certificate and Their Impact on Tracking Maternal and Infant Health Data. Statistical Primer No. 19 2012.
 NC Certificate of Live Birth Data Dictionary (all elements)
 Vinikoor et al, Reliability of variables on the North Carolina birth certificate: a comparison with directly queried values from a cohort study. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol, 24: 102-12, 2010
 Flanagin A, Frey T, Christiansen SL, AMA Manual of Style Committee. Updated guidance on the reporting of race and ethnicity in medical and science journals. JAMA 2021 Aug 17;326(7):621-627.
 Likis FE. Inclusive Language Promotes Equity: The Power of Words. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health 2021 January/February;66(1): 7-9
 Von Elm et al., The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. PLoS Med 2007 Oct 16;4(10):e296. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0040296.
6. Scientific writing
 Mensh B and Kording K. Ten simple rules for structuring papers. PLoS Comput Biol 2017 Sep 28;13(9):e1005619. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005619. eCollection 2017 Sep.

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 18/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #376,172!

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Mollie Wood @anecdatally.bsky.social · 09/09/2024

I’m so conflicted. On the one hand: the dangers of drawing a straight line through messy data. On the other: I arrived in Oslo 10 days ago, obviously this is causal.