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INFORMATION FOR

    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

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

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    Locations

    • 300 George Street

      Academic Office

      Ste 503

      New Haven, CT 06511

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