Title: Using causal inference to evaluate the efficacy of medicinal treatments from observational data
Speaker: Callum Abbott
Abstract: 

Whether we’re talking about COVID vaccines, antibiotics, or painkillers; the efficacy of medicinal treatments has been traditionally tested using the gold-standard Randomized Control Trial (RCT). However, conducting RCTs can often be unfeasible due to ethical, logistical or financial concerns. For instance, what if we needed to know the efficacy of a surgical procedure in treating a fatal neurological condition? We cannot afford to send the control group to their inevitable doom. Hence, in this study, we look to apply causal inference techniques to purely observational data to investigate the effectiveness of subdural drainage in preventing the recurrence of chronic subdural hematoma.