Madeline McCarren, PhD, MPH, is a biostatistician in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

She earned a BS in Chemistry in 1978, a PhD in pharmacology in 1982, and an MPH in epidemiology in 1992. McCarren has worked with both primary and secondary data. She has designed, conducted, analyzed, and published studies based on both experimental and observational designs. Because of her diverse training and experience, her niche is to provide a bridge between subject matter experts and statisticians and design effective and efficient studies. She can often see opportunities and potential pitfalls that those separate groups miss.

In 2015, as I read Krakauer’s Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (Krakauer), I was sickened and asked, What can I do? I know that good intentions are not enough, and that there are plenty of interventions that make intuitive sense but nevertheless fail to improve outcomes. I went on a quest for an organization to support that was tackling the problem of sexual assault in an evidence based manner. I found Green Dot and have been supporting their work ever since. We recently brought Green Dot to Chicago-area high schools, and through that I have become a certified Green Dot facilitator.

In my free time, I love to orienteer (a map and compass navigation sport), and I serve on the Board of the Chicago Area Orienteering Club (CAOC). Besides Green Dot Etc. and CAOC, my other major volunteer activities are facilitator of a Girls Who Code club and supporting political candidates. I am married and mother of three young adults, and we try to organize our lives to minimize our carbon footprint.