New biostatistics students gain on-campus experience
By Lin Lofley
The initial cohort of students in a joint Ph.D. program offered through UT Southwestern Medical Center and Southern Methodist University has spent the summer at UT Southwestern engaging in their first research training experience.
The three students - the initial class that will yield doctoral degrees in the field of biostatistics– will take courses at both SMU and UT Southwestern in the coming academic year. Beginning in the summer of 2016 they will return to UT Southwestern for two to three more years of research training, including their dissertation projects. The highly selective program - about 50 people applied for admission to the second cohort, which will enroll this fall – intends to add four new students annually.
Dr. Daniel Heitjan, Professor of Clinical Sciences at UT Southwestern, Professor of Statistical Science at SMU, and Director of the joint doctoral degree program, explained that biostatistics is the mathematical discipline concerned with the collection, organization, analysis, presentation, and interpretation of biological data. The new program was created to respond to the growing importance of quantitative and computational methods across the spectrum of medical research.
Dr. Heitjan, who earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago, said, "One of the best examples of the use of biostatistics is in the design and analysis of clinical trials, but in my career I have worked on applications in many areas - from the modeling of tumor growth curves to the evaluation of the cost effectiveness of smoking cessation methods."
At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Heitjan led the school's Biostatistics Core Facility in the Abramson Cancer Center in addition to directing its doctoral program in biostatistics. He also has held positions at UCLA, Penn State, and Columbia.
The first three members of the UT Southwestern/SMU biostatistics class are:
- Gaoxiang Jia,a graduate of Shandong University who earned a degree in biological science, and a master's in biomedical science at UT Southwestern under Dr. Jerry Shay, Professor of Cell Biology. He spent the summer working with Dr. Linda Hynan, Professor of Clinical Sciences and Psychiatry, on projects in dermatology and psychiatry;
- Zhengyang Zhou, who earned a degree in mathematics from the Beijing Institute of Technology. He was mentored by Dr. Chao Xing, Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences, and in the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development.
- Zhiyun Ge, who has an undergraduate degree in biology from Nanjing University and a master's in biostatistics from Duke University. She worked with Dr. Heitjan on methods for predicting interim outcomes in clinical trials.
"As a biology student, I recognized how useful biostatistics could be in some problems," Ms. Ge said. "So the discipline interested me, but I didn't want to give up biology. This is perfect for me."
Biostatistics graduates have career pathways open to them in academics, industry, and government.
"The pharmaceutical industry is possible," Mr. Zhou said, "and the possibility of moving into a faculty position is also enticing."
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Dr. Shay holds the Southland Financial Corporation Distinguished Chair in Geriatrics.
