Lili Ding, PhD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

lili.ding@cchmc.org

About

Biography

I’m a statistician working to develop and apply statistical methods to accelerate the translational impact of biomedical data. I became interested in this work through collaborations with researchers with overlapping projects. I have more than 10 years of statistical research and consulting experience in pediatric biomedical research areas. I’ve provided statistical support for numerous observational and intervention studies and have a history of successful collaboration with both clinical and basic science investigators.

My methodology and collaborative research areas are statistical genetics, design and analysis of pediatric population pharmacokinetic studies, cancer prevention behaviors and sexually transmitted infections in adolescents, HPV vaccination and its impact on the epidemiology of HPV and pain management in pediatric populations.

Some of my groundbreaking discoveries include the following:

Studying different measures of marker informativeness for ancestry and admixture mapping
Rank-based analysis of multiple genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of childhood asthma among human populations
Identifying the association between African ancestry and cluster-based childhood asthma subphenotypes

I’m honored to have received many awards, including:

Young Investigator Award (co-author, oral presentation), SPA/AAP Pediatric Anesthesiology meeting Phoenix, AZ, (2018)
First place winner (co-author), International Conference of PeriAnesthesia Nurses (ICPAN), Luna Park, Sydney, Australia (2017)
First prize winner (co-author) of the American Academy of Pediatrics John J. Downes Resident Research Award, Society for Pediatric Anesthesia/American Academy of Pediatrics (SPA/AAP) Pediatric Anesthesiology (2013)
First place Abstract Award (co-author) International Assembly for Pediatric Anesthesia, Washington DC (2012)

I’m an associate editor for Frontiers in Genetics and a reviewer for many other scholarly journals. I’ve been a presenter at national and international conferences and served as a co-investigator and biostatistician for several National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. I started working at Cincinnati Children’s in 2010.

Interests

Bayesian statistics; statistical genetics; population PK/PD study design and modeling

Research Areas

Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Publications

Implementation of virtual parental presence during induction of anesthesia: a single-site descriptive study at a pediatric academic center. Karthic, A; Bell, NF; Eduafo, V; Elmitwalli, I; Nazir, W; Kitio, SAY; Orgil, Z; Kanavitoon, S; Rice-Weimer, J; Roth, C; Caldeira-Kulbakas, M; Matava, C; Tobias, JD; Olbrecht, VA. BMC Anesthesiology. 2026; 26(1).

Virtual Reality for the Management of Postoperative Pain and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Undergoing Nuss Repair of Pectus Excavatum: Randomized Controlled Trial. Walter, CM; Froass, D; Bell, N; Haack, L; Boehmer, C; Bruguera Torres, C; Spivak, R; Chou, M; Geisler, K; O'conor, K; Williams, SE; Ding, L; King, CD; Olbrecht, VA. JMIR Perioperative Medicine. 2026; 9:e80902.

Cumulative Stress Burden and Association With DNA Methylation in Ethiopian American Immigrants: Protocol for a Community-Engaged, Biopsychosocial Study. Stone, L; Ding, L; Hirpa Kassa, M; Amsalu, B; Getnet, B; Eshete, H; Mersha, TB; Vaughn, LM. JMIR Research Protocols. 2026; 15:e85971.

Incidence and Mortality of Chronic Subdural Hematomas: A Population-Based Study. Robinson, D; Ding, L; Stanton, RJ; Mistry, E; Kleindorfer, D; Woo, D; Adeoye, O; Kamel, H; Ngwenya, L; Kissela, B. Stroke. 2026; 57(2):459-466.

Abstract DP153: Rate of Early Post-Stroke Seizures Has Not Changed Over Time: A Population-Based Study. Sarkar, M; Ding, L; Stanton, R; Flaherty, M; Demel, S; Mistry, E; Aziz, Y; Menzies, L; Wechsler, P; Laporta, J; Kleindorfer, D; Kissela, B; Broderick, J; Robinson, D. Stroke. 2026; 57(Suppl_1).

Abstract A010: Temporal Trends in the Incidence and Case Fatality Rates of Stroke in the Young: A Population-Based Study. Fisher, E; Ding, L; Stanton, R; Aziz, Y; Demel, S; Ferioli, S; Flaherty, M; Laporta, J; Menzies, L; Mistry, E; Broderick, J; Kissela, B; Kleindorfer, D; Robinson, D. Stroke. 2026; 57(Suppl_1).

Erector Spinae Catheters and Celiac Plexus Block for Analgesia After Total Pancreatectomy With Islet Autotransplantation: A Retrospective Feasibility Study. Mahmoud, H; Adams, M; Hartzell, C; Duan, Q; Ding, L; Goetz, M; Gurria, J; Chidambaran, V. Anesthesia and Analgesia. 2026; 142(1):190-192.

Population-Level Effectiveness and Herd Protection 17 Years After HPV Vaccine Introduction. Desieghardt, A; Ding, L; Ermel, A; Franco, EL; Dagnall, C; Brown, DR; Yao, S; Kahn, JA. JAMA pediatrics. 2025; 179(12):1326-1334.

Multi-Institutional Study of Multimodal Analgesia Practice, Pain Trajectories, and Recovery Trends After Spine Fusion for Idiopathic Scoliosis. Einhorn, LM; Monitto, CL; Ganesh, A; Duan, Q; Lee, J; Ramamurthi, RJ; Barnett, K; Ding, L; Chidambaran, V. Anesthesia and Analgesia. 2025; 141(5):1137-1148.

Total pancreatectomy with islet auto-transplantation in pediatric patients results in significantly decreased opioid use, improved long-term pain and quality of life outcomes. Hartzell, CJ; Gurria, JP; Goldschneider, KR; Vitale, DS; Szabova, A; Farrell, PR; Rich, KL; Christian, P; Duan, Q; Ding, L; Tiao, G; Abu-El-Haija, M. Pancreatology. 2025; 25(7):1071-1079.