Letter from the Chair
Significant Moments, 2023 Issue
With warm greetings from all of us at Columbia Biostatistics, it is my great pleasure and honor to share the new issue of our newsletter highlighting major events and the many stellar achievements by members of our department during 2023. I am proud to say that the department has continued to thrive with groundbreaking new initiatives and high level of productivity as well as enhanced impact and visibility within Columbia, nationally and globally. This issue highlights selected and notable accomplishments by the department’s faculty, trainees, and dedicated staff members.
Several departmental initiatives have been undertaken during 2023 with far reaching implications for our future growth. During September 26-27, 2023, we held the inaugural Columbia Biostatistics Annual Research Symposium (CBARS), with several interlinked goals and objectives; namely, to highlight the cutting-edge methodologic research being conducted by departmental faculty and trainees, to promote collaboration and synergy on key thematic areas of strength, to showcase the research being conducted by trainees (Masters, Pre-doctoral and Post-doctoral), to recognize excellence within the department (and broadly in fields of Biostatistics and Health Data Science), to invigorate our educational programs through partnerships, to engage key partners from across Columbia for deliberations and strategic planning on enhancing our educational programs and maximizing research resources and infrastructures, and to meaningfully engage departmental alumni (as was evidenced by their participation in-person and via remote access). Two keynote speakers from academia and industry gave well received lectures, and we had the opportunity to recognize the generosity and stellar career of the late Dr. Sanford Bolton (a distinguished member of our alumni) and his late wife Mrs. Phyllis Bolton.
On the research front, our department has continued to produce high-quality peer reviewed publications in innovative new methodologic approaches and state-of-the-art collaborative interdisciplinary research. Our research activities are funded by an ever-increasing federally funded portfolio. Its reach continues to cover every corner of CUIMC’s research enterprise and beyond. The department has been taking significant bold steps towards asserting leadership in public health data science at Columbia and beyond, most recently manifested through the appointment of department faculty member, Jeff Goldsmith, as Associate Dean for Data Science, and the establishment of the TRAIL (Translational AI Lab) with school level reach – building on the AI/ML Lab that has been in place through departmental resources, led by Dr. Ying Wei and including several departmental faculty as key members. A second Public Health Data Science Summit was held successfully at the school level during January 12-13, 2023, with critical leadership and input from our department. Both Dr. Jeff Goldsmith and I are worked with Vice Dean Gary Miller to organize the summit, and several members of our faculty led and participated in key panels. This summit was particularly important as it was held during our MSPH Centennial Celebration year at a time when the future of our field continues to be reshaped and remolded with the infusion of data science innovations and principles. The third successful summit was just held a few weeks ago, with the same organizational structure and extensive participation by departmental faculty.
Our educational offerings cover the entire spectrum of training activities ranging from various in-house graduate degree programs at the masters and doctoral levels to NIH funded training programs including two pipeline programs for undergraduate programs and an international training program on data science for health. Our pioneering Biostatistics and Epidemiology Summer Training (BEST) program, which focuses exclusively on trainees from underrepresented groups, by increasing the number of trainees and additionally prioritizing health data science. This year, this program had a cohort of 13 students from across the nation participated in the program. The second NIH funded pipeline program, Summer Institute for Biostatistics and Data Science at Columbia [“SIBDS@Columbia”], which I have the pleasure of co-directing with colleague Dr. Christine Mauro, had a cohort of 10 students from around the country for training on various aspects of data science for health and research immersion with world class biomedical research scientists from across Columbia University. The professional development of our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows continues to be enhanced via vibrant student programs such as the Computing Club and Graduate Student research Seminars. Our graduating MS and MPH students participated in a day-long Practicum Symposium for the third year in a row with sessions chaired by our PhD students. As part of our NIH-Fogarty funded APHREA-DST grant that I lead as a Principal Investigator, we had the privilege of hosting six visitors (two fellow principal investigators and the second cohort of four Faculty Scholars) from our partner institutions, University of Nairobi (Kenya) and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia). Our educational leadership team was restructured to welcome Dr. Qixuan Chen as new PhD Program Director, replacing Dr. Jeff Goldsmith after he assumed the position of Associate Dean for Data Science at the school level. Dr. Christine Mauro became the new Director of MS programs, with Dr. Bin Cheng becoming the new Director for the Pharmaceutical Track in the MS program, replacing Dr. Ken Cheung. After a long distinguished service in departmental leadership, Dr. Todd Ogden has stepped down as Vice Chair of Education – but continues to be a key member of our newly formed Educational Leadership Team.
This year, we had the pleasure of welcoming three new faculty members to our growing faculty. Dr. Xiao Wu, part of last year’s hire of four new faculty, joined us in January 2023 after completing his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. Dr. Tian Gu and Dr Xin Ma were two additional new faculty that joined us after completing their postdoctoral fellowships from Harvard University and Florida State University, respectively. Collectively, the three new faculty members additional strengths in critical and forward-looking areas of expertise. In line with our commitment to strengthening multi-disciplinary research, Dr. Ma was hired jointly with the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) [see the proper section on new faculty for more details]. We are currently in the process of recruiting additional faculty at the junior and senior levels – one of the position jointly the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center.
We hope that this issue will give you a good sense of how the department is continuing to fulfil its academic mission and also planning for its even brighter future. Throughout, you will find notable and selected examples of departmental activities (by our outstanding staff, world renowned faculty and talented trainees), snippets of research work by our trailblazing faculty and trainees, as well as details on activities by our award-winning talented students and distinguished alumni who are making significant contributions to biomedical research and education through their quantitative skills.
I feel very proud and privileged to continue leading such a world-class department. I gratefully acknowledge the superb support from MSPH and CUIMC leadership, and the collegiality within the department that assures a cultivating, nurturing, and inviting environment for all its members. Finally, I want to express deep appreciation and gratefulness to the many devoted and passionate supporters of our mission – including the Sanford Bolton Estate, the family of Roslyn and Leslie Goldstein, and the family of Cynthia and Robert Citrone. As always, I close by inviting all of you to remain engaged with the department. We hope to have the privilege of hosting you as visitors to share your knowledge and wisdom and, hopefully, as potential collaborators, new colleagues and/or future trainees at all levels.