Rob Cavanaugh


I’m an Assistant Professor of Quantitative Methods at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Professions with appointments in Communication Science and Disorders and Genetic Counseling. I serve dual roles in this position, acting as methodologist for a range of studies across the rehabilitation disciplines, and as investigator and collaborator on a diverse research agenda focused on improving assessment and outcomes for individuals with post-stroke aphasia.

As a methodologist, I’m one of two core statistical faculty members in IHP’s PhD program, providing statistical support to students and faculty across the institute and teaching courses in statistics, measurement, and reproducible research. My statistical toolkit includes hierarchical/mixed-effects models, Bayesian methods, psychometics such as item response theory, and causal inference. In my role as an educator, I’m committed to hands-on, experiential learning approaches that build strong statistical foundations for future rehabilitation and health science researchers and practitioners. I also have experience working with large observational datasets such as medical claims data, electronic health record data, and national datasets like the AllofUs Research Program, using both common data models and bespoke relational databases. I have developed multiple web applications, websites, and R packages for science dissemination and implementation, including open-source computer adaptive testing platforms for aphasia assessment, the allofus R package. I encourage you to look through this website which includes summaries and links to these projects.

My background as a speech-language pathologist in neurorehabilitation shapes my teaching and research perspectives. Driven by the disparities I observed in clinical outcomes, my PhD work at the University of Pittsburgh investigated mechanisms of behavioral treatments and dose effects in post-stroke aphasia. My current, highly collaborative research agenda spans efficacy, effectiveness, and implementation approaches. Current projects integrate health services and population health methods, analyzing insurance claims and electronic health record data to examine the role of utilization and dose on healthcare outcomes in speech-language pathology. I’m also a collaborator on multiple studies seeking to improve aphasia assessment, treatment efficacy, and generalization. The long-term goal of this work is to improve the effectiveness and implementation of complex interventions in neurorehabilitation, particularly related to treatment dose and recovery trajectories in post-stroke aphasia.

Outside of my day job, you can find me and my wife Amanda exploring the outdoors with our two dogs, Murphy and Willa.

Rob Cavanaugh


I’m an Assistant Professor of Quantitative Methods at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Professions with appointments in Communication Science and Disorders and Genetic Counseling. I serve dual roles in this position, acting as methodologist for a range of studies across the rehabilitation disciplines, and as investigator and collaborator on a diverse research agenda focused on improving assessment and outcomes for individuals with post-stroke aphasia.

As a methodologist, I’m one of two core statistical faculty members in IHP’s PhD program, providing statistical support to students and faculty across the institute and teaching courses in statistics, measurement, and reproducible research. My statistical toolkit includes hierarchical/mixed-effects models, Bayesian methods, psychometics such as item response theory, and causal inference. In my role as an educator, I’m committed to hands-on, experiential learning approaches that build strong statistical foundations for future rehabilitation and health science researchers and practitioners. I also have experience working with large observational datasets such as medical claims data, electronic health record data, and national datasets like the AllofUs Research Program, using both common data models and bespoke relational databases. I have developed multiple web applications, websites, and R packages for science dissemination and implementation, including open-source computer adaptive testing platforms for aphasia assessment, the allofus R package. I encourage you to look through this website which includes summaries and links to these projects.

My background as a speech-language pathologist in neurorehabilitation shapes my teaching and research perspectives. Driven by the disparities I observed in clinical outcomes, my PhD work at the University of Pittsburgh investigated mechanisms of behavioral treatments and dose effects in post-stroke aphasia. My current, highly collaborative research agenda spans efficacy, effectiveness, and implementation approaches. Current projects integrate health services and population health methods, analyzing insurance claims and electronic health record data to examine the role of utilization and dose on healthcare outcomes in speech-language pathology. I’m also a collaborator on multiple studies seeking to improve aphasia assessment, treatment efficacy, and generalization. The long-term goal of this work is to improve the effectiveness and implementation of complex interventions in neurorehabilitation, particularly related to treatment dose and recovery trajectories in post-stroke aphasia.

Outside of my day job, you can find me and my wife Amanda exploring the outdoors with our two dogs, Murphy and Willa.