News
US-Taiwan Next-Generation Statistics Symposium – August 2
Jul. 16, 2025—It is our very great pleasure to bring together leading statisticians from our graduate program, Academia Sinica, National Cheng Kung University, and National Tsing Hua University to the Vanderbilt University campus on Saturday, August 2. The detailed agenda for the morning can be viewed on our symposium page. We hope to see many of you...
Dr. Bob Johnson receives Outstanding Chapter Service award from the ASA
Jul. 9, 2025—We are delighted to announce that the American Statistical Association (ASA) has named Dr. Bob Johnson as a 2025 recipient of its Outstanding Chapter Service Award. His contributions to the Middle Tennessee chapter include serving as secretary since 2022, development of an online election ballot, and assistance in local arrangements for the traveling course. This...
Vanderbilt Biostatistics at JSM 2025
Jun. 21, 2025—The 2025 Joint Statistical Meetings are taking place in Nashville, from August 2 through August 7. They are expected to bring together more than five thousand attendees from fifty-two countries (including more than a thousand students). This year’s theme is “Statistics, Data Science, and AI Enriching Society.” We are proud of the students, alumni, and...
Megan Jones is first author of JAMA Psychiatry paper
Jun. 6, 2025—Congratulations to PhD candidate Megan Taylor Jones on the June 4 publication of “Symptom Provocation and Clinical Response to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” in JAMA Psychiatry, one of the top peer-reviewed journals in the field of psychiatry. Jones shares first-author credit for this paper with Daniel Bello, who graduated from Vanderbilt...
Chris Slaughter elected to Academy for Excellence in Education
Jun. 5, 2025—Congratulations to associate professor Chris Slaughter on his election to the Academy for Excellence in Education. Dr. Slaughter has been teaching at Vanderbilt University since 2007, after earning his doctorate in public health (DrPH) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Initially serving as an instructor in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and the...
Andrew Spieker elected to Society for Causal Inference Board
Jun. 5, 2025—Congratulations to associate professor Andrew Spieker on his election to the board of the Society for Causal Inference (SCI). His methodological research focus is on causal inference methods, with special emphasis on sensitivity analysis, instrumental variable approaches, and longitudinal treatment regimes. Recognition for his methodological research in causal inference has included WNAR student paper honors...
Yan Yan dissertation defense – May 19
May. 6, 2025—PhD candidate Yan Yan will present her dissertation work on Monday, May 19, at 10 a.m. Central Time. Her advisor is Hakmook Kang. All are invited and encouraged to attend. The defense will take place in person at 2525 West End Avenue, in the 10th floor conference room (room 10105). From Risk Genes to Functional...
Siwei Zhang dissertation defense – May 12
May. 6, 2025—PhD candidate Siwei Zhang will present her dissertation work on Monday, May 12, at 12:30 p.m. Central Time. Her advisor is Yaomin Xu. All are invited and encouraged to attend. The defense will take place in person at 2525 West End Avenue, in the 11th floor large conference room (room 11105). Network Analysis and Visualization...
Congratulations to our May 2025 graduates
May. 5, 2025—We are thrilled to celebrate the graduations of three students in our program this week, with Commencement taking place on May 9. Click each individual’s name for more information at their websites. Kaidi Kang, PhD, completed a dissertation titled A unified effect size index and its application to improve replicability in brain-behavior association studies, with...
Editorial by Benjamin French in JAMA Pediatrics
Apr. 21, 2025—Professor of biostatistics and director of graduate studies Benjamin French is senior author of “Type 1 Error Control—Avoiding an Upset,” published online on April 21, 2025, in JAMA Pediatrics. Co-authored by University of Utah statistician John VanBuren, the editorial discusses how “using a common type I error rate across studies allows for ‘consistency, fairness and transparency’ when...
A rankings explainer
Apr. 11, 2025—Q: The Biostatistics Graduate Program at Vanderbilt University appears in some US News and World Report (USNWR) surveys and not others. What’s up with that? A: USNWR employs a variety of criteria and timelines for its “Best Schools” lists. Our program was last included in a survey of best doctoral programs in 2022, which has historically been...
Vanderbilt Biostatistics at ENAR 2025
Mar. 21, 2025—The ENAR 2025 Spring Meeting is taking place in New Orleans from March 23 through March 26. Here are some of the sessions our students, staff, faculty, and alumni are involved with: Sunday, March 23 8:00 pm – Posters: Clinical Trials Max Rohde (PhD 2025): Increasing Statistical Efficiency Using Ordinal Transition Models: A Simulation Study...
Kaidi Kang wins 2025 Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award
Mar. 20, 2025—Kaidi Kang has been named a recipient of Vanderbilt University’s Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award, which “recognizes doctoral students who exhibit exceptional academic excellence in publications, awards, patents, and other forms of national or international distinction.” Kang, who successfully defended his dissertation earlier this month, has delivered ten invited talks to date, first-authored papers in Nature...
Max Rohde dissertation defense – March 20
Mar. 18, 2025—PhD candidate Maximilian Rohde will present his dissertation on Thursday, March 20, at 9 a.m. Central Time. His advisor is Frank Harrell. All are invited and encouraged to attend. The defense will be conducted on Zoom; for access, contact the department at biostatistics[at]vumc[dot]org. Maximizing statistical efficiency in clinical trials: ordinal longitudinal models and two-stage designs...
Kaidi Kang dissertation defense – March 10
Feb. 24, 2025—PhD candidate Kaidi Kang will present his dissertation on Monday, March 10, at 1 p.m. Central Time. His advisor is Simon Vandekar. All are invited and encouraged to attend. The defense will be conducted in Suite 1020, Room 10105 (10th floor conference room) at 2525 West End Avenue. It will also be streamed on Zoom;...