Get to Know Our New PhD Students!

Over the next few weeks we’ll be introducing you to our first year doctoral students.

Linshanshan Wang

Hi! My name is Linshanshan Wang and I usually go by Lin. I grew up in Jinan, a beautiful small city in Eastern China, and the snowy city of Toronto, Canada. I recently graduated from UC Berkeley with majors in data science (applied math and modeling track) and Biology (neurobiology track).
During my time at Berkeley, I developed deep interests in the intersection of data science and biological/health sciences. I was fortunate to work with Dr. Aaron Fields and Dr. Ann Lazar at UCSF to investigate the clinical utility of a novel imaging technique for studying the etiology of lower back pain. There I developed a deep-learning based algorithm for automatic image segmentation and biomarkers extrapolation. I’ve also worked with Dr. Andrew Bishara and UCSF IT department on the development of an anesthesia informatics system integrated with EHR. There I designed and implemented an interactive data visualization dashboard which incorporated dimension reduction and missing data imputation methods, as well as machine learning models to predict the incidence of postoperative complications.
While at Harvard, I’m hoping to further develop my research interest in precision medicine. I’m particularly excited to broaden my skill set to explore problems in individualized risk assessment and clinical decision support.

Outside of academics, I enjoy playing my flute and trying new food with friends. I also love all sorts of outdoor activities- I was on the Cal lightweight rowing team during undergrad, and I’m also an avid hiker, usually spending the weekends exploring different hiking trails around the city.


Max WangHello, my name is Max Wang, and I am incredibly excited to be joining the Harvard Biostatistics Department this year. I come from Los Angeles, California, where I graduated from UCLA as an Electrical Engineering major. During my time as an undergraduate, my work focused primarily on solving various engineering problems using simulations. Some of my projects included an analysis of mode-generated localized heating in a microresonator, the creation of a numerical solver used to characterize quantum cascade laser material systems, and the simulation- aided design of a semiconductor fabrication process. I have also gained some software development experience during two internships at Apple, where I developed a Perl-based regression-testing suite for the ECO verification process. I first became interested in the intersection between electrical engineering, biology, and health while designing wearable sensors as part of an undergraduate course. As an incoming PhD student, I hope to apply my previous experience in simulations and software development to issues in public health. My current research interests include the forecasting and prevention of transmissible disease outbreaks, the modeling of chronic disease progression, and the evaluation of public health programs.

Outside of academics, I enjoy spicy food, sad novels, PC games, and long road trips. I also love hiking, especially at the awesome national parks in the American Southwest.