Vanderbilt Department of Biostatistics

Please visit our blog for announcements of appointments, promotions, and other milestones. See also the graduate program news feed, where we celebrate our students' dissertation defenses, publications, conference presentations, and more.


The department hosts seminars by visiting experts on biostatistical topics most weeks during the school year. Seminars are from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Central Time unless otherwise noted. The final presentation this semester is "New Developments of Proper Accuracy Metrics in Biomarker Evaluation" by University at Buffalo's Lili Tian on Wednesday, December 11 (online).

A recording of Dr. David Dunson's December 4 talk, "Interpretable AI in scientific applications: Bayesian pyramids," is now available (click the title to play). To review the abstract and access links to background reading, see the seminar page. Our apologies and thanks to those who encountered the livestream's network connection issues.


On Thursday, December 12, principal application developer Cole Beck presents "What I look for in a code review" at 2:30 p.m. on Teams as part of our Statistical Computing Series. View the announcement on our blog to learn more about this webinar.


Applications for Fall 2025 entry into our graduate program are due on Wednesday, January 1, 2025


Since 2005, our department has offered free consulting to Vanderbilt and Meharry investigators who have methodological questions about their research projects or published articles. These sessions are the only time that we are able to assist researchers without a standing collaboration. To learn about our clinics and to make an appointment, visit our Biostatistics Clinics page.


Our department members (including students) and alumni organize and present lectures and workshops around the world. See our upcoming presentations page for a glimpse of what's on deck, including Yu Shyr in Taiwan; Bryan Blette, Amber Hackstadt, Hakmook Kang, Dandan Liu, Bryan Shepherd, Andrew Spieker, Simon Vandekar, and Panpan Zhang at CMStatistics 2024 (London and online); Bryan Shepherd in Atlanta and Spain; Andrew Spieker in Philadelphia; numerous department members in New Orleans; Panpan Zhang in Brooklyn; and more! 


Welcome to our website! We hope you’ll find it informative and inspiring, and we encourage you to contact us if we can be of further assistance. 
 
As our department heads into its 21st year, we remain dedicated to developing cutting-edge statistical methods and tools, providing collaborative support and educational resources for biomedical researchers, and training new biostatisticians to join us in addressing the questions and issues raised by the explosive growth in information technology. 
 
We are at the forefront of an amazing era for statisticians and biomedical researchers. Our innovative and enthusiastic faculty, staff, and students are deeply engaged with Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s vision of advancing personalized health in the era of smart data. Our efforts are reflected in the hundreds of peer-reviewed papers we co-author each year, our leadership in data management and coordination, and the many workshops and seminars we design, deliver, and facilitate around the world.
 
We very much look forward to connecting with you as we work toward a healthier and more inclusive society for all.

Yu Shyr, PhD, Dr(hc), FASA, FAAAS, FAACR
Professor and Chair

 

Photo: Dr. Shyr teaching in the 2023 CQS Summer Institute