Biostatistics News

Ma and Tang plus journal cover
April 12, 2024

Ma and Tang propose smart data augmentation to address imbalances in data

Department of Biostatistics Chair Yan Ma is the corresponding author on “Smart data augmentation: One equation is all you need," recently published in Statistical Analysis and Data Mining: The ASA Data Science Journal. The paper’s co-authors include Lu Tang, vice chair for education in the Department of Biostatistics.
Manqi Cai
January 26, 2024

Cai publishes in Communications Biology

PhD student Manqi Cai’s article “scMD facilitates cell type deconvolution using single-cell DNA methylation references”  was published in the Communications Biology Journal.
George Tseng
January 25, 2024

Tseng publishes in Translational Psychiatry and Computational Biology

Dr. George Tseng has two new recently published papers. The first is titled "Glucose dysregulation in antipsychotic-naïve first episode psychosis: in silico exploration of gene expression signatures." This study investigates the link between first-episode psychosis patients not yet treated with antipsychotics and early metabolic issues like insulin resistance.

Na Bo
January 25, 2024

Bo wins ASA HPSS Student Paper Award

Professor Ying Ding's student Na Bo has been selected as one of the Health Policy Statistics Section Student Paper Competition winners. She will travel to the 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings in Portland, Oregon this summer to present her work titled "A meta-learner-based framework to analyze treatment heterogeneity in survival outcomes: application to pediatric asthma care under COVID-19 disruption".

Gehui Zhang
January 25, 2024

Zhang wins ASA Bayesian Statistical Science Award

PhD student Gehui Zhang has been selected as the winner of the 2024 SBSS student paper competition. Zhang will travel to the 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings in Portland, Oregon to present research titled Stochastic Volatility with Informative Missingness. The paper pioneer's statistical methodology for stochastic volatility models with non-random missing data. Introducing a novel imputation method based on Tukey's representation, combined with conditional particle filtering, the approach overcomes limitations in existing methods.

January 16, 2024

Yusi Fang Receives Early Career Award from ASA

PhD student Yusi Fang was recently selected for the Early Career Award by the American Statistical Association (ASA) Section on Statistics and Epidemiology and has been selected to give a talk at the ASA's Joint Statistical Meetings in 2024 in Portland, Oregon.

Danyang Li
January 8, 2024

Biost's Li selected for ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award

Amongst a record number of submissions this year, PhD Student Danyang Li has been selected to receive one of the International Biometric Society Eastern North American Region’s (ENAR) Distinguished Student Paper Awards for the ENAR 2024 Spring Meeting for the paper, Comparison of Spatial Spline Models and Matching Methods to Adjust for Unmeasured Spatial Confounding for Binary Exposures. Congratulations!

people wearing graduation regalia
December 15, 2023

National Center for Education Statistics rankings for Biostatistics

The Department of Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh has secured prestigious rankings, placing sixth in graduating PhD students (173) and thirteenth in graduating master's students (221) since 2003, according to data sourced from the National Center for Educational Statistics as reported by amstat.org. This recognition highlights the department's commitment to excellence and significant contributions to the field of biostatistics. The rankings reflect the success of the department in nurturing and guiding both master's and PhD students over the years.

Thank you
December 15, 2023

Recognition of faculty and staff for years of service

In a heartwarming celebration of decades-long dedication, the Department of Biostatistics extends warm congratulations to its esteemed faculty and staff for their unwavering commitment. The event, held on December 5th, served as a poignant tribute to the collective expertise and enduring contributions of the team. A special commendation is reserved for Drs. Ada Youk, Gong Tang and George Tseng, who were recognized for their extraordinary commitment, each having served over 20 years in the department.

Jiebiao Wang
November 30, 2023

Assistant Professor Jiebiao Wang to present at 2024 SVC Research Seminar Series

Assistant Professor of Biostatistics Jiebiao Wang will present at the Senior Vice Chancellor’s Research Seminar series on July 12, 2024.

Biostatistics Assistant Professor Jiebiao Wang has been selected to present at the 2024 Senior Vice Chancellor’s Research Seminar series on July 12, 2024. Speakers chosen to present the seminar are also granted $10,000 in research support.

Xue Yang and Liwen Wu
November 16, 2023

Doctoral student and alumna receive biopharmaceutical section poster award

Biostatistics PhD student and alumna win biopharmaceutical section poster awards

Biostatistics PhD student Xue Yang placed third in this year’s Joint Statistical Meeting’s (JSM) Biopharmaceutical Section Poster Award. Her poster was titled “Statistical Inference for Response Adaptive Randomization Designs: A Comparative Study" and co-authored by Yu Cheng and Abdus S. Wahed.

Get to know Biostatistics MPH student Bridget Mayrer.
October 10, 2023

Student Spotlight: Bridget Mayrer

Get to know Biostatistics MS student Bridget Mayrer.

Since moving to Pittsburgh from Columbus, Ohio in 2020, Bridget Mayrer has found her community at Pitt Public Health.

“The overwhelming amount of support I have received from everyone within the Department of Biostatistics and Pitt Public Health has been amazing,” she says. “I feel loved at this school and that is very important to me.”

Short-term use of immunosuppressants not linked to cancer risk in a study conducted by scientists
August 22, 2023

Short-term use of immunosuppressants not linked to cancer risk

New findings discovered by scientists at Pitt Public Health and Mass Eye and Ear provide reassurance to hesitant patients and clinicians.

Pitt honors longtime staff employees at ceremony
June 29, 2023

Pitt honors longtime staff employees at ceremony

30 Pitt Public Health staff with long tenures at the University were honored during the Chancellor's Annual Staff Recognition Ceremony.

Student awards
May 15, 2023

Student accolades and honors

The School of Public Health recognizes awards and achievements made by students during the spring semester.