2014 Symposium

Pipelines into Biostatistics Annual Symposium

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Smith Building, Room 308/309
Thursday, July 24, 2014

AGENDA

2014 Symposium Schedule
8:30 – 9:00am Registration & Breakfast

Session I – Opening Remarks and Introductions

9:00 – 9:20am Welcome & Introductions

Rebecca Betensky, Professor of Biostatistics & Principal Investigator, Harvard School of Public Health
Meredith Rosenthal, Associate Dean for Diversity & Professor of Health Economics and Policy, Harvard School of Public Health

Session II – Keynote Speaker
9:20 – 10:05am You Want to Quantify That?! Developing Quantitative Measures for Community Engagement in Research, Multi-Environment Life Course Segregation & White Privilege

Melody S. Goodman, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Session III – Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences Research Project Presentations
10:10 – 10:30am Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Stress and Childhood Wheeze in an Urban Boston Cohort | Project Summary and Slides

Lilyana Gross, California State University, Montery Bay ’15
Taylor Mahoney, Simmons College ’15
Christine Ulysse, Cornell University ’14
Faculty Mentor: Brent Coull, Professor of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
Graduate Mentor: Mark Meyer, Harvard School of Public Health

10:35 – 10:55am Comparing Subtypes of Breast Cancer Using a Message-Passing Network | Project Summary and Slides

Kamrine Poels, SPQS Post-Bac Intern, University of Arizona ’14
Faculty Mentor: John Quackenbush, Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Harvard School of Public Health & Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

11:00-11:15am Break & Refreshments


Session III – Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences Research Project Presentations

11:15 – 11:35am Protective Effects of Propranolol in Adults Following Severe Burn Injury: A Safety and Efficacy Trial |  Project Summary and Slides

Avery Yuan, SPQS Post-Bac Intern, Suffolk University ’13
Faculty Mentor: David Schoenfeld, Professor of Biostatistics, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard School of Public Health

11:40 – 12:00pm Quantifying RNA Levels from RTPCR Curves: A New Method for Single Cell Analysis |  Project Summary and Slides

Esther Fevrier, Amherst College ’13
Havell Markus, Arizona State University ’17
Savion Smith, Arizona State University ’13
Faculty Mentor: Rafael Irizarry, Professor of Biostatistics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Graduate Mentor: Stephanie Chan, Harvard School of Public Health

12:05 – 12:25pm A Study of Social Networks in Karnataka India | Project Summary  and Slides

Lisbeth Acosta, UMass Amherst ’14
Jamaris Burns, Johnson C. Smith University ’15
Emmie Roman Melendez, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez ’15
Faculty Mentor: Jukka-Pekka Onnela, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
Graduate Mentor: Patrick Staples, Harvard School of Public Health

12:30 – 12:50pm Evaluation of Gene-Environment Interaction for Ovarian Cancer Sequencing and Complex Traits: Beyond 1000 Genomes | Project Summary and Slides

Grace Choi, University of Maryland Baltimore County ’16
Jake Conway, UMass Lowell ’16
Nicholas Escanilla, Lake Forest College ’16
Faculty Mentor: Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen, Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiologic Methods, Harvard School of Public Health
Graduate Mentor: Caleb Miles, Harvard School of Public Health

12:50-1:50pm Lunch

Session IV – Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences Alumni Panel

1:50 – 2:50pm Journeys in Biostatistics after the Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences

Panel Participants

Binta Beard, Principal, Podesta Group
Felicia Browne, HSPH Social and Behavioral Sciences Doctoral Candidate
E. Andres Houseman, Associate Professor in Biostatistics, Oregon State University
Cassandra Johnson, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Washington University
Portia Parker, Sr. Associate Analytical Software Tester, SAS
Ronnie Sebro, Radiologist, Massachusetts General Hospital

Session V – Pipelines, Mentoring and Strategies
2:50 – 3:20pm Lessons Learned in Building Diversity in STEM PhD Programs

Ulrica Wilson, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Morehouse College | Slides

3:20 – 3:40pm Break & Refreshments

3:40 – 4:10pm Mentoring: Changing Students’ Career Paths

William Velez, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, The University of Arizona

4:10 – 4:40pm Diversity Efforts at Harvard

Sheila Thomas, Director of Diversity and Minority Affairs, Harvard Medical School

4:40 – 5:00pm Discussion and Closing Remarks