Blog

The final 2023 issue of International Journal of Statistics and Probability included "The Vanderbilt Nigeria Biostatistics Training Program (VN-BioStat): Results from a Skills Workshop." Professor and principal investigator Bryan Shepherd is first author of this paper, written in collaboration with Vanderbilt colleagues in the Institute for Global Health, the Division of Infectious Diseases, the Department of Health Policy, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, as well as collaborators at Bayero University and the University of Southern California.

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Simon Vandekar (left, with VN-Biostat fellows Rukayya Alkassim and Safiya Sada Sani and perhaps a future biostatistician) to associate professor of biostatistics (investigator track, with tenure), effective as of February 1. A graduate of Penn State (BS, psychology) and the University of Pennsylvania (PhD, biostatistics), Dr. Vandekar joined our department in 2018. He is best known for his methodological research in the analysis of neuroimaging data. He has developed robust intermodal and group-level inference procedures for neuroimaging and more recently has focused on the development and inference of a robust effect size index (RESI). Upon joining VUMC, he also began developing statistical methods for analyzing multiplexed immunofluorescence (mIF) imaging. His methodological research is supported by a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) R01 grant and an internal Gastrointestinal Specialized Program of Research Excellence (GI SPORE) career enhancement award.

As of this writing, Dr. Vandekar has published nearly 70 papers in top-tier journals (with at least 12 as first or senior author), including Journal of the American Statistical Association, Biostatistics, Biometrics, Journal of Neuroscience, NeuroImage, Bioinformatics, Cell, and Science. He has given more than 20 invited talks nationally and at international biostatistics conferences. His primary area of collaboration is in psychiatry, with a particular emphasis on neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Vandekar serves as director of graduate recruitment and was named Outstanding Faculty Mentor in 2021. His extramural activities include program chair responsibilities for the Section on Statistics in Imaging of the American Statistical Association (ASA; 2020–2022), organizing the Statistical Methods in Imaging Conference (2022), and leading the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the ASA as its president (2021–2023).

Congratulations to research assistant professor Chih-Yuan Hsu, visiting PhD candidate Chia-Jung "Charlene" Chang, and professors Qi Liu and Yu Shyr on the publication of scKWARN: Kernel-weighted-average robust normalization for single-cell RNA-seq data in Bioinformatics, with Liu and Shyr as corresponding authors. 

Congratulations to data scientist assistant Hua-Chang Chen, research assistant professor Jing Wang, and professors Yu Shyr and Qi Liu on the January 22 publication of FindAdapt: A python package for fast and accurate adapter detection in small RNA sequencing, in PLoS Computational Biology.

Congratulations to senior associate Daniel W. Byrne, lead biostatistician Henry J. Domenico, and senior biostatistician Ryan P. Moore (a graduate of our MS program) on the publication of "Artificial Intelligence for Improved Patient Outcomes—The Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial is the Secret Sauce" in the Korean Journal of Radiology.

Featuring research assistant professor Jing Yang and professors Qi Liu and Yu Shyr, with their Cancer-Immu portal.

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Ran Tao (pictured here at left, on the first day of the Fall 2023 semester, with professor Frank Harrell and assistant professor Bryan Blette) to associate professor of biostatistics (investigator track, with tenure), effective as of January 1. A graduate of Tsinghua University (Beijing, BS in mathematics) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (PhD in biostatistics, 2016), Dr. Tao joined our department in 2016. He is a sought-after collaborator in human genetics research, active in service to our department and the wider scientific community, widely recognized for his work in developing new statistical methods (particularly for the design and analysis of two-phase data), and a mentor to rising stars in the field. Click his name to learn more about his scholarly activities.

We are thrilled to announce two new leadership appointments in our department:

Dandan Liu will become executive director of the Vanderbilt Biostatistics Data Coordinating Center (VBDCC), effective January 1. Previously co-director of the VBDCC’s Design & Analysis Unit, Dr. Liu’s new responsibilities will include leading strategic planning, overseeing infrastructure expansion and project execution, and advocating for both the center and the department in the wider biomedical research community. Her experience includes directing VICTR’s Research Methods Program, chairing our department’s Resource Allocation Committee, and co-chairing the 2024 ICSA Applied Statistics Symposium, which will convene in Nashville this June. She is co-PI of the R01-funded effort to implement the STRATIFY prediction tool in emergency care. She joined the department in 2011 and was promoted to associate professor of biostatistics on the investigator track in 2020. 

Fei Ye’s new role as Vice Chair of Collaborative Studies commenced on December 1. Previously co-director of the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Research Center, Dr. Ye’s new responsibilities will include building, maintaining, and expanding collaboration plans with other departments and divisions across Vanderbilt University Medical Center; chairing the Resource Allocation Committee; and providing expert guidance and support to faculty pursuing large grants, especially for multi-center initiatives. Her experience includes co-directing the biostatistics core of VICC’s GI Cancer SPORE and the administrative/biostatistics core of VUMC’s “HDL Function in Human Disease” program, serving as lead biostatistician on collaboration plans for the Section of Surgical Sciences and Department of Neurology, and becoming program chair of the ASA’s Statistics in Epidemiology Section in 2024. She is MPI of the R01-funded “DNA Methylation Markers, Genes and Breast Cancer Risk” study. She joined the department in 2006 and was promoted to professor of biostatistics and medicine on the educator track in 2022.

Congratulations to Dr. Liu and Dr. Ye!