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From the Chair
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Dear alumni and friends,
As we near the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, we begin yet another period of transition, where we bid farewell to our graduating students and prepare to welcome another incoming class in the fall. In total, six PhD students and ten master’s students have earned their degrees this year. Our incoming class is currently comprised of 18 students: 12 in the MS or MPH program and six in the PhD program.
Our current newsletter focuses primarily on the 2023-2024 academic year, and features inspiring stories about our faculty, staff, students, and alums that will hopefully be of interest. Our colleague Chris Coffey, Director of the Clinical Trials Statistics and Data Management Center, was one of two faculty invited to give the prestigious annual Presidential Lecture. Chris presented his lecture in February. Dr. Valerie Durkalski-Mauldin of the Medical University of South Carolina presented the annual Woolson Lecture this spring. On April 12th, our department resurrected the Iowa Chapter of the American Statistical Association with the first meeting in over a decade. The meeting included over 60 attendees, and included participants from Iowa State University, Graceland University, Cornell College, Grinnell College, Luther College, Wartburg College, John Deere, and Boehringer Ingelheim. We hope to make the meeting an annual event.
Our newsletter also includes a link to a recently published article about Michael, Nick, and Jacob Seedorff, three brothers who all share a deep connection to UI Biostatistics. Michael received his MS degree in 2014 and his PhD in 2018, and Nick received his MS in 2018 and a PhD in 2021. Jacob, who plans to complete his PhD in 2024, received his MS degree in 2022. Michael currently works for Google and Nick for Meta. Michael and Nick were both outstanding graduate students, and Jacob has been equally exceptional. Needless to say, our department has been incredibly fortunate to have had the Seedorffs as part of our extended academic family.
Our newsletter is curated to compile announcements, stories, and articles about the department. However, we would also like to use it as a means to provide updates on our accomplished alumni! Please send us news and announcements, both professional and personal, at Biostatistics@uiowa.edu. We would love to hear from you!
We hope that you have a pleasant summer!
Sincerely,
Joseph E. Cavanaugh, PhD
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Department News
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University of faculty Christopher Coffey and Cristina Tilley delivered the 41st Annual Presidential Lecture, titled "Pathways to Discovery: Clinical and Legal Trials, Academic Rigor, and Public Perceptions". The event was held at the Voxman Music Building in February.
Watch the recorded presentation...
Biostatistics faculty, students, and alumni attended JSM 2023 in Toronto.
When Emily Roberts was diagnosed with diabetes at age 4, she was enrolled in a clinical trial that sparked her interest in how research can be used to improve people's lives.
Watch video...
Christopher Coffey is a professor of biostatistics and director of the Clinical Trials Statistical & Data Management Center and seemed destined for a career as a statistician at a young age.
Watch video...
The Department of Biostatistics hosted the ASA Iowa Chapter meeting at the University of Iowa College of Public Health in April.
Read more...
Dr. Valerie Durkalski-Mauldin, Medical University of South Carolina, presented the annual Woolson Lecture in April.
Read more...
More Department News
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Alumni News
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Through their academic work in biostatistics at the University of Iowa, three Iowa siblings with a love for numbers and problem-solving have found enriching—and different—career paths. The Seedorff brothers (Michael, Nick, and Jacob) and their paths to a PhD in biostatistics,
read more...
Alums Nan Hu and Melissa (Pugh) Williams gave invited presentations and served on a discussion panel at the 2023 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Amsterdam.
Attention Biostatistics Alums:
Send us your news stories at: biostatistics@uiowa.edu
Join our Alumni Directory
Keep up with your classmates with our College of Public Health Alumni Directory. Use this form to join the directory or to update your existing listing. Alumni are listed by name, degrees earned, town of residence and email address, and have the option of adding employer, job title, employment sector and LinkedIn page.
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Student News
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Tabitha Peter received the prestigious Fulbright Award for 2024-2025
Tabitha plans to integrate a community engagement element to her dissertation work that allows for the centering of the human story, she will be applying statistical methods to study patterns in small sections of DNA called genetic markers.
Read more...
UI's Dare to Discover campaign selected two Biostatistics students this year, Megan McCabe and Eliezer Santos León
The Dare to Discover campaign showcases researchers, scholars, and creators from across the University of Iowa. The campaign is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Megan's research involves improving the design and conduct of clinical trials, Megan participates in this research through her dissertation work and as a graduate research assistant at the Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center (CTSDMC).
Read more about Megan...
Eliezer's research focuses on analyzing COVID-related data, specifically in the hospital and healthcare personnel setting. Elizer is looking at factors that influenced healthcare workers to get vaccinated and boosted. In addition, the research also looks at the effect vaccines and boosters have on symptoms that are present weeks after being affected by COVID.
Read more about Eliezer....
Amy Wu is a podcaster, Amy is part of the award-winning CPH student-run podcast titled From the Front Row
Listen to the podcast with new episodes each week, the team features discussions with public health experts.
Listen to podcast on Spotify, SoundCloud, or iTunes.
Student Awards
Alan Arakkal and Amy Wu both received the Leon F. Burmeister memorial scholarship in December 2023. Eliezer Santos-León received the Kathryn Chaloner memorial scholarship also in December 2023.
Student Fellowships
Ling Zhang received the fall 2023 fellowship, and Hannah Pham received the spring 2024 fellowship.
Student Poster Awards
Megan McCabe and Devin Spolsdoff received poster presentation awards during CPH Research Week.
Read more...
Student Travel Awards
Several students received recent travel awards from the CPH Dr. Carol S. Gleich travel award fund as well as the CPH Advancing Graduate Student Success Awards
Read more...
More about our students
Throughout the school year, the BSO hosts a number of academic, social, and volunteering events. The Biostatistics Student Organization is an American Statistical Association (ASA) Student Chapter. Follow the BSO on Twitter to keep up with their latest events.
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About the Department
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Learn more about our mission, rankings, summer program, resources, faculty areas of expertise, student research positions, center affiliations, and alumni positions.
Biostatistics at a Glance...
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