Jemar Bather

Assistant Professor of Biostatistics

Professional overview

Jemar R. Bather, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the NYU School of Global Public Health, where he co-directs the Biosocial Approaches to Stress and Embodiment (BASE) Lab. He is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Patient Innovation Lab at Dartmouth College and a Statistical Reviewer for JAMA Network Open.

Dr. Bather’s research sits at the intersection of biostatistics, epidemiology, and social genomics. Using large population-level datasets (e.g., Add Health, Midlife in the United States, Health and Retirement Study) and a life-course approach, his work examines how psychosocial exposures can become biologically embedded through immune and genomic pathways. Methodologically, Dr. Bather’s work emphasizes the rigorous design and analysis of complex survey data. His work has appeared in diverse outlets such as Brain, Behavior & Immunity, JAMA Network Open, Journal of Affective Disorders, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, and Social Science & Medicine. His research has also been featured in media outlets such as The New York Post, Gothamist, The Trace, and SELF Magazine.

Dr. Bather is committed to training the next generation of quantitative public health scientists. He advises undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees across statistics, biostatistics, data science, epidemiology, and the social & behavioral sciences, and has mentored students who have gone on to pursue doctoral study. In service to the broader discipline, he serves on the ENAR Regional Advisory Board and the Distinguished Student Paper Award Committee. His teaching, mentorship, and service have been recognized with the Albert Schweitzer Award and a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the President’s Service Award and the Samuel Eshborn Service Award from New York University, and the Alumni Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Bather received his PhD and MA in Biostatistics from Harvard University, his MS in Applied Statistics for Social Science Research from New York University, and his BS in Statistics from the Pennsylvania State University. He is an active member of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the International Biometric Society’s Eastern North American Region (ENAR).

Education

BS, Statistics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

MS, Applied Statistics for Social Science Research, New York University, New York, NY

MA, Biostatistics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

PhD, Biostatistics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Publications

Publications

Social vulnerability and genetic service utilization among unaffected BRIDGE trial patients with inherited cancer susceptibility

on behalf of the BRIDGE research team, A., Bather, J., Goodman, M. S., Harris, A., Del Fiol, G., Hess, R., Wetter, D. W., Chavez-Yenter, D., Zhong, L., Kaiser-Jackson, L., Chambers, R., Bradshaw, R., Kohlmann, W., Colonna, S., Espinel, W., Monahan, R., Buys, S. S., Ginsburg, O., Kawamoto, K., & Kaphingst, K. A. (n.d.).

Publication year

2025

Journal title

BMC Cancer

Volume

25

Issue

1

10.1186/s12885-025-13495-4

Abstract

Abstract

Background: Research on social determinants of genetic testing uptake is limited, particularly among unaffected patients with inherited cancer susceptibility. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of the Broadening the Reach, Impact, and Delivery of Genetic Services (BRIDGE) trial at University of Utah Health and NYU Langone Health, involving 2,760 unaffected patients meeting genetic testing criteria for inherited cancer susceptibility and who were initially randomized to either an automated chatbot or an enhanced standard of care (SOC) genetic services delivery model. We used encounters from the electronic health record (EHR) to measure the uptake of genetic counseling and testing, including dichotomous measures of (1) whether participants initiated pre-test cancer genetic services, (2) completed pre-test cancer genetic services, (3) had genetic testing ordered, and (4) completed genetic testing. We merged zip codes from the EHR to construct census tract-weighted social measures of the Social Vulnerability Index. Multilevel models estimated associations between social vulnerability and genetic services utilization. We tested whether intervention condition (i.e., chatbot vs. SOC) moderated the association of social vulnerability with genetic service utilization. Covariates included study arm, study site, age, sex, race/ethnicity, language preference, rural residence, having a recorded primary care provider, and number of algorithm criteria met. Results: Patients living in areas of medium socioeconomic status (SES) vulnerability had lower odds of initiating pre-test genetic services (adjusted OR [aOR] = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.67, 0.98) compared to patients living in low SES vulnerability areas. Patients in medium household vulnerability areas had a lower likelihood of completing pre-test genetic services (aOR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.66–0.97) and having genetic testing ordered (aOR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.63–0.99) relative to patients in low household vulnerability areas. We did not find that social vulnerability associations varied by intervention condition. Conclusions: These results underscore the importance of investigating social and structural mechanisms as potential pathways to increasing genetic testing uptake among patients with increased inherited risk of cancer. Census information is publicly available but seldom used to assess social determinants of genetic testing uptake among unaffected populations. Existing and future cohort studies can incorporate census data to derive analytic insights for clinical scientists. Trial registration: BRIDGE was registered as NCT03985852 on June 6, 2019 at clinicaltrials.gov.

 Love After Lockup: Examining the Role of Marriage, Social Status, and Financial Stress Among Formerly Incarcerated Individuals. 

Goodman, M., Bather, J., Cuevas, A., & Rouhani, S. (n.d.).

Publication year

2024

Journal title

Health Justice

Volume

12

Issue

7

Impact of COVID-19 on Interest in the Master of Public Health Degree: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis of SOPHAS Applicants and Applications, 2016-2023

Goodman, M., Bather, J., & Furr-Holden, D. (n.d.).