2008 ENAR Distinguished Paper Awards

Doctoral students Megan Othus and Mike Wu have won 2008 ENAR Distinguished Paper Awards. Megan's paper is entitled "A Class of Semiparametric Mixture Cure Survival Models with Dependent Censoring," and Mike's paper is entitled "A Parametric Permutation Test for Regression Coefficients in LASSO Regularized Regression for High Dimensional Data." They presented their papers in the March 2008 spring meeting in Arlington, VA. Congratulations to Megan and Mike!

Xihong Lin wins Award for Best Biometrics Paper for 2007

Xihong Lin's paper with co-authors Dawei Liu from Brown University and Debashis Ghosh from Penn State, "Semiparametric regression for multi-dimensional genomic pathway data: Least square kernel machines and linear mixed models", has been selected as the best Biometrics paper for 2007. The paper appeared in volume 63 of the journal, pages 1079-1088. The work will be presented as an invited Biometrics "showcase" session organized by the Biometrics Co-Editors at the International Biometric Conference (IBC) to be held July 2008 in Dublin, Ireland. The session is scheduled for Tuesday, July 15, 2008. Congratulations, Xihong, on a wondeful achievement!

2008 Distinguished Alum Award

We are pleased to announce that Robert Strawderman has been selected to receive the 2008 Distinguished Alum award. Rob completed his doctorate from the Department in 1992, and is currently a Professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Rob will be presented his award at a lecture on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4 pm in FXB-G12. All faculty, students and alum are invited to the occasion.

2008 Zelen Leadership Award Announced

The Department is delighted to announce that Dr. Norman Breslow, Professor, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Washington, has been named as the recipient of the 2008 Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science. Dr. Breslow will speak at the Department of Biostatistics Schering-Plough Workshop on May 30, 2008.

Department Welcomes Our Incoming Class

The incoming class to the Department of Biostatistics consists of 20 students. Of the twenty new students, 14 are enrolled in our Ph.D. doctoral program, and 6 in our Master's program. Of these new degree students, 15 are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and 5 are international students. There are 13 women and 7 men, and their prior degrees are distributed as follows (1 with a Ph.D., 6 have at least a prior Master's degree, 13 enter with Bachelor's degrees). The Department welcomes the new students to our program and wishes them every success during their stay with us and beyond.

The New Faces - (left to right) Front Row (on the floor): Gourab De. Front Row (seated): Miles Ott, Jessica Larson, Angie Rodday, and Frederick Cudhea. Back Row: Layla Parast, Alejandros Quiroz Zarate, Zeynep Coban, Shuli Li, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Alisa Stephens, Lisa Sahagian, Anna Snavely, Sihai "Dave" Zhao, Jessica Minnier, Lauren Hund, and Jamie Choi.  Missing from photo: Brian Claggett, Lei Shen, and Jennifer Uyanik.

You may view a set of pictures of the incoming class taken from the 2007-2008 Photo Directory here when they are made available.

Lixia Pei Wins Research Excellence Award

Doctoral student Lixia Pei received the 2007 Thomas C. Chalmers Student Scholar Award for Research Excellence presented by the Society for Clinical Trials at its 28th annual meeting held in Montreal, Canada this past May. The award was presented for Lixia's paper on "A nonparametric framework for quantile equivalence trials with application to bridging studies from HIV-infected adults to children,” co-authored with her thesis adviser Dr. Michael D. Hughes.

Dr. Gelber Receives Prestigious Award

Richard Gelber was cited in the March/April 2007 issue of Science Watch as one of 8 "Hot" researchers who had co-authored 6 or more of the top 40 referenced scientific papers published during 2005/2006 (Source: Thomson Scientific Hot Papers Database). The papers co-authored by Dr. Gelber report results from ground breaking clinical trials and meta-analyses describing advances in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. He also received the prestigious Prix Mois du Cancer Sein, awarded by the Association Le Cancer du Sein, Parlons-en. The cash award, recognizing Dr. Gelber's contributions to advancing treatments for women with breast cancer, was underwritten by the Estee Lauder Foundation and was presented in a ceremony at the Paris City Hall on October 5, 2006.

2007 Harvard Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The Department of Biostatistics is delighted to announce that Dr. Tom Ten Have, Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania, is this year's recipient of the Harvard Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The award recognizes Dr. Ten Have’s outstanding contributions that have significantly advanced the field of Psychiatric Biostatistics. Dr. Ten Have will present the award lecture at the Harvard School of Public Health on December 12, 2007.

Dr. Lin Elected Fellow of IMS

Dr. Xihong Lin was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics at the recent 2007 Joint Statistical Meetings in Salt Lake City, Utah. Fellowship in the IMS recognizes distinction in research in statistics or probability by publication of independent work of merit. Dr. Lin was honored for her outstanding contributions in the areas of non- and semiparametric regression models; random effects models; measurement errors; analysis for correlated, clustered, longitudinal, and spatial data; and multivariate survival analysis; for outstanding collaborative research; and for stellar service to the profession. Congratulations Xihong!

Kristin Javaras and Lu Wang Given Awards at JSM

Dr. Kristin Javaras, research fellow, and Ms. Lu Wang, doctoral student, are the recipients of Travel Awards from the American Statistical Association's Section on Statistics in Epidemiology (SIE). The awards were given at a session of the 2007 Joint Statistical Meetings recently held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kristin submitted a paper entitled "Estimating the Prevalence of Disease from Case-Control Family Data," and Lu's submission paper was "Nonparametric Regression with Missing Outcomes Using Weighted Kernel Estimating Equations". Congratulations Kristin and Lu!

2007 Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lectureship Announcement

The Department is delighted to announce that Dr. Francesca Dominici, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, will be this year's recipient of the Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lectureship. Professor Dominici will present this lecture at the Department of Biostatistics on September 6, 2007. The lecture will be followed by a reception.

Dr. Zelen Received Recognition with R.A. Fisher Lectureship

Professor Marvin Zelen was selected to give the Fisher Lecture at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Salt Lake City this year. The Lectureship was established in 1963 by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) to honor both the contributions of Sir Ronald Fisher and a modern day statistician whose work has had highly significant impact on scientific investigations. Professor Zelen spoke to a packed audience on the statistical challenges of evaluating the effectiveness of chronic disease screening programs. Being selected to deliver the Fisher Lecture is among the most highly prestigious awards of the profession. In the words of Professor Joseph Ibrahim who was responsible for the nomination, "…Marvin is a true scholar and intellect, leader, mentor, and visionary. His lifelong achievements in the profession are extraordinary." Congratulations Professor Zelen!

Dr. Cai Wins Prestigious Fellowship

Dr. Tianxi Cai has won a prestigious fellowship to spend a year at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard (http://www.radcliffe.edu). The fellowships are designed "to support scholars, scientists, artists, and writers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishments who wish to pursue work in academic and professional fields and in the creative arts". For the 2007/2008 academic year, fifty-one fellows were chosen from a pool of 750 to pursue varied interests in the areas of art, music, humanities, social science and science. Tianxi, representing one of the 13 scientists selected for the program this year, proposes to work on the development and evaluation of diagnostic and prognostic rules with biological and genomic markers. Congratulations Tianxi!

Congratulations Graduates!

The Department of Biostatistics would like to offer their congratulations and best wishes to our students who graduated in the 2007 Spring Commencement ceremony. Receiving a Doctorate of Philosophy degree were Amy Carey Cinhar, Stacia DeSantis, David Engler, Brian Healy, Evan Johnson, Lingling Li, Cyril Rakovski, Brisa Sanchez Loya, Ronnie Sebro, James Signorovitch, Armando Teixeira-Pinto, Elizabeth Whalen, and Peng Zhang. Doctor of Science degrees were awarded to Natasa Rajicic and Mikhail Salganik. Receiving a Master of Science degree were Ashley Buchanan, James Dunyak, Sonju Harris, Huan Huang, Hongyu Jeanne Jiang, Roland Matsouaka, Casey Olives, and Massimo Stafoggia. Matthew Austin, Rain Cui, Hortensia Moreno Macias, Loni Philip, Shannon Stock, Lu Wang, and Alfa Yansane received Master of Arts degrees. We wish our graduates much success in the future!

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Recognition of Our Students

The Department of Biostatistics would like to congratulate our students who have been singled out for special recognition or awards. Megan Othus received the 2007 HSPH Teaching Assistant Award. This award is given to the student voted by his or her fellow students to have been the best teaching assistant of the year. Roland Matsouaka, a Goldsmith Fellow, was highlighted in an article in the Harvard Public Health Review Spring/Summer 2007 edition.

2007 Distinguished Alum Award

The Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health has named Dr. Masahiro Takeuchi, Professor, Division of Biostatistics, Center for Pharmacy and Clinical Sciences, Kitasato University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Alum Award. Dr. Takeuchi earned his DSc in our Department in 1991 under the direction of Drs. Nan Laird and Jim Ware. After working at the US FDA, Dr. Takeuchi returned to Japan and developed a Japanese "FDA" for drug regulation. He went on to create a Biostatistics program at Kitasato University. He has been selected to receive the 2007 Distinguished Alum Award for his exceptional leadership in both the government and academic settings. Dr. Takeuchi will deliver a lecture at 2:30-3:30 pm in Kresge G2 on June 1, 2007 at Harvard School of Public Health. The lecture title is "The Role of Biostatistics in Japan: Regulatory and Academic Perspectives".

October 2007 Conference on Emerging Design and Analysis Issues in Genomic Studies in Population Sciences

The Department of Biostatistics of Harvard School of Public Health and the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will host a two-day conference workshop on October 11-12, 2007, entitled "Emerging Design and Analysis Issues in Genomic Studies in Population Sciences". The goal is to examine the interplay between emerging genomic technologies, population-based studies, and developing statistical and computational methods.

Professor Lin Wins MERIT Award

Xihong Lin has won a prestigious MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award from the National Cancer Institute. MERIT Awards provide long-term support to investigators who have demonstrated superior competence and outstanding productivity in research. Less than 5 percent of NIH-funded investigators receive the awards. See http://www.cancer.gov/researchfunding/MERIT for more detail. Xihong is one of only two statisticians with NCI MERIT Awards, her colleague Ray Carroll being the other one. Congratulations, Xihong!

Department Alumnus Wins Greek Statistical Institute Lefkopoulou Award

The Greek Statistical Institute announced that Department of Biostatistics alumnus, Alexandros Gryparis, is the Lefkopoulou Award winner for the best PhD thesis in 2005-06. The award is given to a thesis that was defended within the interval 1/1/2005-12/31/06, in Greece or abroad, in the field of Statistics (preferably in Biostatistics).

The award will be given during the conference of the Greek Statistical Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus, April 11-15, 2007. The prize includes an invited presentation of the thesis at the Greek Statistical Institute in Nicosia, a small monetary amount and a 2 year subscription at the Greek Statistical Institute.

IGES Conference in April 2007

On April 20, we will host the first North East Local Chapter meeting of the International Genetic Epidemiology Society here at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. The idea of the meeting is to provide an informal platform for people in the field to discuss new trends and analysis ideas. See the attached flyer for more information.

2007 Zelen Leadership Award Announced

The Department is delighted to announce that Dr. Scott L. Zeger, Frank Hurley and Catharine Dorrier Professor in Biostatistics and Chair, has been named as the recipient of the 2007 Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science. Dr. Zeger will speak at the Department of Biostatistics Schering-Plough Workshop on June 1, 2007.

April 2007 Conference on Statistical and Epidemiologic Issues in Multiple Sclerosis

This one-day conference will focus on statistical and epidemiological methods for the study of Multiple Sclerosis. The goals for the conference are:

• To provide a forum in which statisticians, epidemiologists, and neurologic researchers engage in in-depth discussions of the current methodologic and analytic challenges in Multiple Sclerosis.
• To promote and foster collaborations between statisticians and epidemiologists and neurologic researchers to address the methodologic and analytic challenges in Multiple Sclerosis.
• To encourage students and junior investigators in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Neurology to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration to advance the study of MS to ultimately benefit current and future MS patients.

The conference will be held from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, April 27, 2007. Please confirm your attendance by April 1, 2007 by registering at http://www.hcnr.med.harvard.edu/MSstats.php.

An announcement flyer, and a conference schedule with abstracts are available in PDF format.

Zelen honored with Special Symposium

On January 23, 2007, the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the International Biometric Society held a special Symposium to honor Professor Marvin Zelen on the occasion of his (upcoming) 80th birthday. The symposium was held in conjunction with the biannual EMR meeting, which this year was held in Eliat, Israel. Pictures will be forthcoming. For more details about the symposium, see http://www.danknassim.co.il/emr-ibs2007/index.asp.