UW Biostatistics community and member contributions and accomplishments during 2021.
Student Achievement
Mexicans in statistics and health make COVID-19 complexities easier to understand
Graduate students with ties to Mexico came together to help people in that country understand its confusing COVID-19 detection program and formed an initiative explaining complex scientific issues in everyday language. Read more
Student summer internship experience refocuses future plans
Niki Petrakos, among other Biostatistics students at UW, gain insight into work and research outside the classroom. Read story
Society for Clinical Trials
Research
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Biostatisticians draft blueprints for COVID-19 vax trials
Fred Hutch News - Hutch research group including UW Biostatistics members Peter Gilbert, Ross Prentice, and Holly Janes apply skills honed during decades of HIV prevention trials to bring about safe and effective vaccines for a new pandemic. Read more
- A panel of scientists weighs in on COVID-19 boosters - Story highlighting work Thomas R. Fleming, professor of biostatistics and statistics
- New Evidence Points To Antibodies As A Reliable Indicator Of Vaccine Protection - National Public Radio coverage highlighting work of Peter Gilbert, research professor of biostatistics and alumni (MS ’94, PhD ’96)
- Researchers pinpoint 'correlates of protection' for Moderna vaccine - Fred Hutch News Public Radio coverage highlighting work of Peter Gilbert
- NEJM special report on SARS-CoV-2 variants and vaccines - Story highlighting work Thomas R. Fleming
- KP biostatisticians help monitor COVID-19 vaccine safety - Story highlighting work of Jennifer Nelson, affiliate professor of biostatistics and alumna (MS ’96, PhD ’99)
MORE IN RESEARCH
Tracking a woolly mammoth
Analysis of a 17,000-year-old fossil has revealed remarkable details about the travel patterns of an Arctic woolly mammoth who, throughout its 28-year life, walked the equivalent of nearly two trips around the world. Assistant Professor of Biostatistics Amy Willis helped develop a sophisticated isotope-guided random walk approach as part of this team. Read more
- New effort to discover genetic causes of single-gene disorders
- Improving disease prediction in diverse populations
- Statistical model developed for UN to estimate subnational variation in under-five mortality
- Harnessing genetic diversity to narrow racial disparities in healthcare
Faculty Leadership, Awards & Recognition
- Daniela Witten elected to Institute of Mathematical Statistics' Council
- Sharon Browning named senior editor for Statistical Genetics and Genomics section of GENETICS
- UW to lead new NSF institute for using artificial intelligence to understand dynamic systems
- Former chair Patrick Heagerty elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021
- Lianne Sheppard to chair EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (Sheppard)
- Bruce Weir elected to Royal Society for contributions to population genetics, forensic science
- Gary Chan to serve as WNAR president-elect for 2021
