Three professors in the Yale School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics have been chosen to lead major national and international biostatistics organizations—a rare distinction that underscores the department’s standing as a global leader in pioneering research and statistical science.
Biostatistics Department Chair Shuangge Steven Ma, an expert in developing new statistical and bioinformatics methods to analyze cancer and other diseases, is currently president-elect of the New England Statistical Society (NESS). Previous department chair and Ira V. Hiscock Professor of Biostatistics Hongyu Zhao, whose research focuses on statistical methods for the study of genetics, molecular biology, and other areas, is president-elect of the International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA). And Bhramar Mukherjee, who joined the department in August as the inaugural Senior Associate Dean of Public Health Data Science and Data Equity, is president-elect of the Eastern North American Region (ENAR) of the International Biometrics Society, one of the world’s biggest and most prominent biostatistics societies.
The three societies are “among the largest, most impactful statistics and biostatistics societies, and rising to be the president of any of them is a very big deal,” said Ma. “But having three presidents in the same department is extremely rare and reflects our strong impact in the field.”
NESS is a fast-growing but relatively new society compared with the other two, Ma said. As its incoming president, he plans to focus on building the society’s infrastructure by organizing more meetings and building bridges between academia, industry, and government agencies. He also plans to emphasize greater student engagement to prepare the next generation of statisticians and biostatisticians.
Having three presidents in the same department is extremely rare and reflects our strong impact in the field.
Dr. Shuangge Steven Ma, Biostatistics Department Chair
ICSA, which Zhao will lead, promotes interactions and exchanges between Chinese and non-Chinese statistical associations globally. His goals as incoming president are to use more online and social media platforms and webinars to build a stronger community and encourage interactions between academia—including students—and industry, and with other international professional statistics societies.
ENAR advances biological science by developing and promoting quantitative theories and effective mathematical and statistical techniques. As its incoming president, Mukherjee’s goals include leading efforts to promote and support the careers of the next generation of ENAR members and early career scholars, making sure artificial intelligence advancements are integrated into biostatistical research, creating partnerships with global organizations to develop joint programs, and supporting research that promotes health equity and data equity.
Ethics, equity, and humanism
Mukherjee came to YSPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where she was chair of the biostatistics department from 2018 to 2024. She developed a prediction model for SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics for India during the COVID-19 pandemic. This experience made her acutely aware of the differences in the availability and quality of data in the U.S. compared with India.
“There is persistent data capitalism in the world, probably 90% of the world's data comes from 30% of its people,” she said. “How do we tell the stories of those who are unseen in our data sets, including historically marginalized, disabled, and incarcerated populations?”
At YSPH, Mukherjee is working to blend data science with “ethics, equity, and humanism,” she said. As a part of this initiative, interested quantitatively skilled students will be connected with community partners to help meet those organizations’ data needs as a part of a new program called Statistics in the Community. Mukherjee is also proposing a course on data equity for next year that will include scholars outside mathematics and statistics. The course will consider topics such as fairness, transparency, generalizability, causality, critical data studies, and data sovereignty.
Mukherjee may be one of the very few statisticians in the country underscoring the importance of data equity, Ma said, and she is a critical addition to the department as it moves forward.
“The kind of research methods we have developed are heavily influenced by new developments in biomedicine, in genetics, in public health,” he said. “We intend to keep driving development of new biostatistical methods as an independent field, and we will continue to contribute to the most leading-edge public health and medical research.”
Shaping the future
Shaping the future of public health data science and artificial intelligence is one of six strategic priorities the Yale School of Public Health is pursuing into the coming decade. The four-part initiative includes:
- creating robust national and international partnerships centered on public health data science and artificial intelligence;
- developing innovative strategies to enhance health data privacy, security, ethics, and equity;
- strengthening the school’s educational programming in data science, artificial intelligence, and data equity;
- creating a shared infrastructure for public health data science and AI by connecting resources across Yale University.
“We are committed to not just conducting groundbreaking science on public health data science and AI, but also to making sure our graduates and colleagues have the skills to shepherd this field into its future,” said YSPH Dean Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH. “YSPH faculty members’ leadership role in international biostatistical societies will help empower those far beyond the geographic limits of Yale.”
The biostatistics department has a long history of leadership in statistical genomics and bioinformatics. Mukherjee’s arrival is part of Ma and Zhao’s ongoing work to expand the department’s expertise in data science. Zhao, who led the department’s recent search to recruit data science researchers, noted that the data now available from electronic health records, genomics research, wearable devices, and medical imaging are vast and complex.
Traditional statistical tools can’t make adequate sense of all this information, Zhao said. Tools that use new technologies, including deep learning and artificial intelligence, are needed to make accurate causal inferences from these data, which are crucial to designing health interventions. And data can include biases despite this large volume, which is part of why Mukherjee’s work in data equity is so important, he said.
Training tomorrow’s leaders
In addition to developing new research methods, keeping the department at the leading edge of public health research also means developing the next generation of leaders, Ma said.
That includes faculty such as Associate Professor of Biostatistics Yize Zhao. Zhao, who came to Yale in 2019, is developing advanced analytical methods for medical imaging data and new ways to integrate these data with other kinds of biomedical data for use in mental health, psychiatry, and aging research. Zhao is already a leader within the biostatistics community, having co-chaired ENAR’s 2021 spring conference.
Zhao said she joined the department because of its prestige, scholars, and the robust resources available within the school itself. She also appreciated the Yale School of Public Health’s connection to the medical school, which let her expand her research scope.
As she has spent more years in the department, she has found additional benefits. “Senior faculty have been incredibly supportive, fostering an environment that enables junior and mid-career faculty to grow and advance effectively,” she said.