Kaido Lepik

Kaido obtained a bachelor’s degree in 2012 and a master’s degree in 2014, both in mathematical statistics at the University of Tartu (Estonia) with a specialization in machine learning and algorithmics. After his MSc studies, he worked in industry for a market research company, optimizing work and providing business intelligence solutions.
He then decided to embark on a PhD in human genetics which he completed in 2021 at the University of Tartu as part of a Bioinformatics, Algorithmics and Data Mining research group (BIIT) lead by Prof. Hedi Peterson and Prof. Jaak Vilo. Kaido’s research was focused on identifying causal links between the transcriptome and complex traits using tools such as Mendelian randomization.

The PhD work included a fruitful collaboration with Prof. Zoltán Kutalik and spending 5 months in the Statistical Genetics Group in Lausanne as a visiting researcher. Eager to continue this collaboration after graduation, Kaido started as a postdoc in the group, working on the methodology of causal inference and estimating mediated causal effects.