Date October 23, 2024
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Celebrating 30 years of biostatistics at Brown

The School of Public Health welcomed scholars from across the country to celebrate the 30th anniversary of biostatistical research and education at Brown University.

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Biostatistics faculty (left to right) Lorin Crawford, Fenghai Duan and Ying Ma converse at the celebration of 30 years of biostatistics at Brown.

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Biostatistics Operations Manager Jennifer Quiroz and Professor Ani Eloyan celebrate 30 years of biostatistics at Brown.

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Professors Tao Liu and Jon Steingrimsson speak at the event.

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Core faculty of the Department of Biostatistics gather to celebrate of 30 years of biostatistics at Brown.

On Friday, October 18, the Brown University School of Public Health marked 30 years of biostatistics at the University with the symposium “Health Data Science: State of the Art and a Look into the Future.” 

The program brought together leading experts from Brown, Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, the University of Florida, the University of California San Francisco and the Mayo Clinic. In panel discussions throughout the day, speakers addressed critical topics including the future of clinical trial design, analysis of large observational data, and biostatistical research and education in the age of health data science and artificial intelligence. 

“This 30-year milestone is really about reflecting on the growth we’ve achieved,” said Joseph Hogan, Carole and Lawrence Sirovich Professor of Public Health and chair of Brown’s Department of Biostatistics. “It’s also an opportunity to acknowledge the partnerships we’ve developed at Brown and to express our deep gratitude for the support we’ve received over the years.”

“Being here today is like a homecoming for me,” said attendee Yi Zhao, Ph.D. ’17, associate professor of biostatistics & health data sciences at the Indiana School of Medicine, and an alumnus of Brown’s doctoral program in biostatistics. “I cherish my time spent at the school; it means a lot to me both personally and professionally. My experience here gave me the insights and motivation to pursue my goals.” 

During his opening remarks to a crowd of faculty, staff, students and alumni, Dean Ashish K. Jha pointed to the foundational importance of biostatistics in public health, calling the Center for Statistical Sciences (CSS) a “crown jewel” of the school. 

“One of the things I admire about this specific center is that scholars have been willing to engage in some of the most important policy and public health issues of our time,” Jha said. “Certainly the work that is being done on AI, HIV, and the environment and climate change come first to mind. Ultimately, we cannot be an effective public health school, we cannot work on the issues of our time, if we’re not working closely with our colleagues at the center.”

The origins of Brown University’s Department of Biostatistics trace back to 1995, with the formation of the Center for Statistical Sciences, led by Constantine Gatsonis, the Henry Ledyard Goddard Professor of Biostatistics and CSS’s first and current director. Under Gatsonis’ leadership, the center quickly became a hub for biostatistical research and training, advancing scholarly work in cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, HIV, biomarker research, behavioral medicine, cardiology and digital imaging.

“The department has undergone a significant evolution since its inception,” Gatsonis said. “Initially, we began with limited resources and adopted a pragmatic ‘Brown way’ approach, prioritizing project development and research. As we secured projects and developed research initiatives, we also ventured into establishing graduate programs. The department’s ability to thrive was substantially influenced by the availability of research opportunities, collaborations, and our interdisciplinary nature.”

Today, biostatisticians at Brown are engaged in a range of vital work, from forecasting early onset Alzheimer’s disease and enhancing lung cancer detection, to advancing digital imaging tomography and computational capabilities. They are also analyzing electronic health records data, developing methods to discover genetic signatures of disease and engaging in global health collaborations related to HIV and other infectious diseases.

In celebration of these achievements, and with more than a nod to the future, the symposium featured four extensive panel discussions with 19 participating scholars focused around four themes: 

  • Clinical evaluation of AI, the future of clinical trial design
  • Analysis of large observational data
  • Statistical inference of massive data
  • Biostatistics research and education as essential academic units in the era of health data science and AI

Throughout the day, it became clear that a primary goal of CSS and Brown’s Department of Biostatistics is to expand in a manner that aligns with the escalating demands of the field. This involves staying in step with the fast-paced evolution of data science, including methods like machine learning, data fusion and artificial intelligence. “We are acutely aware of the challenges this presents,” Hogan said, “but we have full confidence in our ability to confront them head-on.”

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