Biostatistics News
School of Public Health staff honored at annual award and recognition celebration
Members of Pitt Public Health’s staff were honored at the 2026 Staff Awards & Recognition Ceremony on Aug. 11. Staff milestones recognizing five to 40 years of service were also celebrated.
Ding receives R35 grant to advance statistical and machine learning methodology for biomedical and public health research
Ying Ding, PhD, a professor of biostatistics and health data science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, has received a Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35 MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Rebecca Deek receives ASA Biometrics Section Early Career Paper Award
Rebecca Deek, PhD, assistant professor of biostatistics and health data science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, is one of four winners of the American Statistical Association (ASA) Biometrics Section Early Career Paper Award.
Student wins WNAR award for veterans study
Feier Chang, a PhD student in Pitt Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, has received the Outstanding Oral Presentation Award in the Student Paper Competition at the Western North American Region (WNAR) of the International Biometric Society’s annual conference.
Youk named ASA Outstanding Teacher of the year
Ada Youk, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics and associate dean of undergraduate academic affairs at Pitt Public Health, has been named the 2026 Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the American Statistical Association Section on Teaching Statistics in the Health Sciences.
Data, dissertations and diapers: Balancing research and family at Pitt Public Health
Before Xue Yang (PhD ‘26) and Jinhong Li (PhD ‘25) started their doctoral journeys within the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science at Pitt Public Health, they were total strangers. By May 2026, their lives looked much different. The couple crossed the commencement stage together to celebrate their new futures in biostatistics—this time with their one-year-old son, Jason, cheering them on from the audience.
Ding named ASA Pittsburgh statistician of the year
Ying Ding, PhD, a professor of biostatistics and health data science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, has been named the 2026 Statistician of the Year by the American Statistical Association’s Pittsburgh Chapter
From engineering to oncology: Greg Yothers’ career path
Recently retired from the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Greg Yothers followed an unconventional path to becoming a leading biostatistician in colorectal cancer research. After starting in engineering at Penn State, he shifted to mathematics, built a career in quality assurance and ultimately earned a PhD in statistics from the University of Pittsburgh— experiences that shaped his approach to research.
Pitt Public Health rises in latest U.S. News rankings
The University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health continues to be recognized among the nation’s top programs in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. The school rose to No. 14 overall, advancing two spots from last year.
Biostatistics and Health Data Science ranks among best programs in the country
The Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science is holding strong at #13 among the best biostatistics programs in the nation, according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report. We are also ranked #16 for 2026 among Best Science Schools.
From Physics to Public Health: The Career Path of Barbara Hanusa
Barbara Hanusa's (MsHyg ’90) career journey is a testament to intellectual curiosity and adaptability. With a bachelor's degree in physics from Carnegie Mellon—then called (at the time it was known as Carnegie Tech—and a PhD in experimental social psychology also from CMU, she seemed destined for academia. But life often has other plans.
Meet Calvin_412
Calvin Dziewulski (Jeh-voo-LSKI) works weekdays at Pitt’s School of Public Health as executive assistant to Biostatistics and Health Data Science Chair Yan Ma. A Greensburg native and Pitt alum, he also reaches more than 60,000 Instagram followers as Calvin_412, spending evenings and weekends exploring the city’s streets, alleys and overlooked buildings, showing its history and character through his photography.
Biostatistics team wins inaugural ENAR award
A collaborative research group led by the University of Pittsburgh will receive the inaugural ENAR Team Science Award in Biostatistics at the 2026 Spring Meeting in March, recognizing their work integrating advanced biostatistics and machine learning with clinical and biomedical research to advance understanding of childhood asthma and pediatric scleroderma.
The distinguished team includes Wei Chen, Juan C. Celedón, Molin Yue, Erick Forno, Kathryn S. Torok and Zhao Ren.
