"When we have positive results, we tend to believe them whether or not we understand the mechanism. If we have a negative result, then we say it's by chance. It's an easy way out," said UW Professor of Biostatistics Susanne May, one of the dissenting votes on the FDA panel.

Read about the new Hans Rosling Center for Population Health which will house Biostatistics faculty, students and administrative staff when it opens in fall 2020.

A new mathematical model developed at North Carolina State University in partnership with Assistant Professor of Biostatistics Amy Willis from the University of Washington is profile in this story. Their work highlights a new calibration tool they developed that shows how bias distorts results when measuring bacterial communities through metagenomic sequencing.

A new study conducted by researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that women who follow diets that are low in fat can yield serious health benefits over time, including preventing the onset of serious diseases. “The [Women’s Health Initiative’s] Dietary Modification Trial has provided women with nutrition and disease prevention insights for some years,” said Dr. Ross Prentice, Fred Hutch researcher and UW Professor of Biostatistics.

UW Professor of Biostatistics Ross Prentice is among the team of Fred Hutch researchers that identified several women's health benefits from a low-fat diet. The findings found a low-fat diet commensurate with an increase in fruit, vegetable and grain servings reduced death following breast cancer, slowed diabetes progression and prevented coronary heart disease.

Five new faculty and two students who were named to the Population Health Initiative Executive Council by President Ana Mari Cauce includes Biostatistics Department Chair Patrick Heagerty.

Mauricio Sadinle, an assistant professor of biostatistics from the University of Washington School of Public Health, received a two-year, $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop tools to identify and link information on individuals who appear in different datasets.

UW Biostatistics faculty members Lianne Sheppard and Adam Szpiro are co-authors of this recent study linking air pollution to the progression of emphysema.