October 15, 2018 – Biostatisticians Francesca Dominici and Xihong Lin of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Membership in the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievements and commitment to service.
Dominici, professor of biostatistics, population, and data science at Harvard Chan School and co-director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI). As HSDI co-director, she is helping to foster collaborations among data scientists at the University and to catalyze research to benefit society and the economy. In her own research, she focuses on developing statistical methods for the analysis of large and complex data sets. She leads several interdisciplinary groups of scientists working to address major questions in environmental health science, climate change, comparative effectiveness research in cancer, and health policy. At Harvard Chan, she has served as associate dean of information technology and senior associate dean for research.
Lin, professor of biostatistics, is globally recognized for her leadership and expertise in statistical genetics and genomics. Her research focuses on the development and application of statistical and computational methods for analysis of high-throughput genetic and genomic data in epidemiological, environmental, and clinical studies, analysis of complex exposure and phenotype data in observational studies, and statistical learning and inference for massive data. She is coordinating director of the Program of Quantitative Genomics at Harvard Chan School, a school-wide interdisciplinary program focused on the development and application of quantitative methods.
At the NAM annual meeting on October 15, 2018, in addition to the announcement of newly elected members, members elected in 2017 were formally inducted. Among that group was Harvard Chan School’s Mary Bassett, director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights and former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, NAM addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy and inspires positive actions across sectors. NAM works alongside the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions.
Read the NAM press release: National Academy of Medicine Elects 85 New Members
Read a Harvard Gazette article: National Academy of Medicine honors 12 faculty