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Hongyu Zhao, PhD

Ira V. Hiscock Professor of Biostatistics, Professor of Genetics and Professor of Statistics and Data Science
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About

Titles

Ira V. Hiscock Professor of Biostatistics, Professor of Genetics and Professor of Statistics and Data Science

Biography

Dr. Hongyu Zhao is the Ira V. Hiscock Professor of Biostatistics and Professor of Statistics and Data Science and Genetics. He received his B.S. in Probability and Statistics from Peking University in 1990 and his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1995. His research interests include the development and application of novel statistical methods to address scientific questions in genetics, molecular biology, drug development, and precision medicine.

Some of his recent projects include large-scale genome-wide studies to identify genetic variants underlying complex diseases, genetic risk prediction, single-cell analysis, biological network modeling and analysis, disease biomarker identification, genome annotation, cancer genomics, microbiome analysis, image analysis, and wearable device data analysis. He has published over 750 articles in statistics, human genetics, bioinformatics, genomics, and proteomics, and edited three books on human genetics analysis and statistical genomics. He has trained over 110 doctoral and postdoctoral students, many of whom hold tenured or tenure-track positions at major universities in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Zhao has served as an editor and/or associate editor of leading statistical and genetics journals, including as a Co-Editor of the Journal of the American Statistical Association Theory and Methods and a co-Editor of Statistics in Biosciences. He was the recipient of the Mortimer Spiegelman Award for a top statistician in health statistics under the age of 40, awarded by the American Public Health Association, and the Pao-Lu Hsu Award from the International Chinese Statistical Association. His research has also been recognized by the Evelyn Fix Memorial Medal and Citation by UC Berkeley, a Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award by the March of Dimes Foundation, election to the fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the International Society of Computational Biology, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.

Last Updated on September 30, 2025.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

PhD
University of California at Berkeley (1995)
BS
Peking University (1990)

Research

Overview

  • Genome-Wide Association Studies: We are developing statistical methods to integrate diverse data types and prior biological knowledge to identify genes and variants associated with common and rare diseases, as well as to inform risk prediction models. We also develop methods to infer the genetic architecture of complex diseases and for risk predictions.
  • Single Cell Analysis: We are developing statistically robust and computationally efficient methods for single-cell data, with the objectives of inferring genetic regulation and signaling at the single-cell level, and identifying cellular changes across different conditions.
  • Network Modeling: We are developing statistical methods to model biological networks under the general framework of Gaussian and other graphical models. Specific networks we are working on include gene expression regulatory networks, signaling networks, and eQTL networks.
  • Cancer Genomics: We are developing statistical and computational methods to analyze cancer genomics data, including spatial multi-omic data, to identify cancer subtypes, driver mutations, the microenvironment, biomarkers, and personalized treatments for cancer patients.

Medical Research Interests

Biostatistics; Computational Biology; Genetics; Genomics; Microbiota; Proteomics; Public Health; Single-Cell Analysis; Statistics; Wearable Electronic Devices

Public Health Interests

Aging; Bioinformatics; Biomarkers; Cancer; Cardiovascular Diseases; Chronic Diseases; Genetics, Genomics, Epigenetics; Infectious Diseases; Mental Health; e-Health; Microbiome; Network Analysis

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Hongyu Zhao's published research.

Publications

Featured Publications

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Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

Honors

  • honor

    Fellow

    07/01/2025International AwardInternational Society of Computational Biology
  • honor

    Distinguished Achievement Award

    08/01/2023International AwardInternational Chinese Statistical Association
  • honor

    Best Paper Award

    08/01/2023International AwardStatistics in Biosciences
  • honor

    Medallion Lecture

    03/22/2023International AwardInstitute of Mathematical Statistics
  • honor

    Elected Fellow

    03/01/2023National AwardAmerican Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
View full list of honors

Get In Touch

Contacts

Email
Academic Office Number
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Locations

  • 300 George Street

    Academic Office

    Ste 503

    New Haven, CT 06511

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