Statistics Review Committee

The goal of the Statistics Review Committee (SRC) is to advance understanding and dissemination of statistical methods and testing in the public health field and to help practitioners use this statistical knowledge in decreasing chronic disease and improving health across the life span. PCD’s SRC members are volunteers with training and expertise in statistics and biostatistics who assist the journal with assessing peer-reviewed articles to determine the appropriateness of the research and evaluation questions; selection of the study sample; statistical tests used; and analysis of data based on research design, distribution of data, and type of variable under examination.

Prince Afriyie, PhD, MS

Associate Professor
School of Data Science
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia

Dr Afriyie is an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science (SDS). He is also the director of the Master of Data Science at the University of Virginia (UVA). He received his PhD in Statistics at Temple University. Dr Afriyie’s research includes multiple comparisons, survival analysis as well as statistics and data science education. His research in multiple comparisons is focused on developing new and powerful methodologies when testing multiple hypotheses simultaneously, including its application on high-throughput genomic data in detecting differentially expressed genes between two groups — cancer and no cancer. Currently, in collaboration with the cardiology department at UVA Health, Dr Afriyie helps with statistical risk analysis pertaining to heart failure. His research has been published in statistics, agriculture, business, and medical journals.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

Veronica Berrocal, PhD, MsC

Department of Statistics
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington

Dr Berrocal receive a PhD in statistics from the University of Washington and an MsC in statistics from Michigan State University. Dr Berrocal’s research is focused on developing and applying statistical methods to analyze data collected over space and time (eg, spatio-temporal data, geostatistical data), with a particular emphasis on characterizing environmental exposure and its effect on health, the role of environmental factors, spatial movement and human behavior in the spread and transmission of infectious diseases, and antibiotic resistance. Dr Berrocal has also contributed to the clinical literature on rheumatology through her participation in multiple clinical trials for the management of systemic sclerosis as well as her involvement in the development of a composite response index for systemic sclerosis. Dr Berrocal is a 2022 Fellow of the American Statistical Association and since 2021, a member of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Appointment Term: 2020–2025

B. Rey de Castro, ScD

Mathematical Statistician
Quantitative Sciences & Data Management Branch
Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, & TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr de Castro is a mathematical statistician examining the efficacy of tuberculosis testing and clinical treatment. His broad expertise encompasses HIV/AIDS treatment, environmental epidemiology, and human exposure to environmental pollutants. Dr de Castro also serves on CDC’s Statistical Advisory Group and is the founder and chair of the newly reincarnated CDC SAS Users Group. During November 2014–January 2015, Dr de Castro was deployed to Sierra Leone as part of CDC’s West Africa Ebola response. Dr de Castro has a doctor of science degree in environmental health.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Jenine K. Harris, PhD

Professor
George Warren Brown School of Social Work
Washington University in St Louis
St Louis, Missouri

Dr Harris teaches biostatistics in the public health program at Washington University in St Louis. Her research interests focus on improving the quality of research in public health by using reproducible research practices throughout the research process. She received a doctoral degree in public health studies with a concentration in biostatistics from the Saint Louis University School of Public Health.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Tao He, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, California

Dr He is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at San Francisco State University. Her research interests include statistical genetics/genomics and bioinformatics. She also serves as vice president of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American Statistical Association. She has a dual doctoral degree in statistics and quantitative biology from Michigan State University.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Dylan Jester, PhD, MPH

Biostatistician
Women’s Operational and Military Exposure Network
War Related Illness and Injury Study Center
Veterans Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Health Care System
Palo Alto, California

Dr Jester is a biostatistician with the Women’s Operational Military Exposure Network (WOMEN) and War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. His research is focused on how social determinants of health and structural inequities affect cognition and mental health in older adults, with an emphasis on Alzheimer disease and related dementias. Other facets of his work include the examination of staffing deficits in nursing homes, quality-of-care disparities in long-term care settings, and adverse health outcomes among nursing home residents exposed to natural disasters. Dr Jester completed a doctorate in aging studies and master of public health in epidemiology at the University of South Florida and a T32 postdoctoral fellowship in geriatric mental health at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. Although he was formally trained as a gerontologist and social epidemiologist, Dr Jester’s background in statistics draws from biostatistics, computer science, econometrics, health services research, and psychology.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

Yu (Joyce) Jiang, PhD

Associate Professor
Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health
School of Public Health, University of Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee

Dr Jiang’s general research interests include Bayesian data analysis, clinical trial studies, cancer epidemiology, and cancer genomics. As a biostatistician, she has broad interests in collaborating with researchers in biological science, medicine, public health, and all other related fields. She has two PhDs: in Biostatistics from the University of Kansas Medical Center and in Human Nutrition from Kansas State University.

Appointment Term: 2022–2026

Yi-An Ko, PhD

Assistant Research Professor
Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
Rollins School of Public Health
Lead Biostatistician
Division of Cardiology
School of Medicine
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr Ko is an assistant research professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. She is also the lead statistician of the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute, supporting the development and application of statistical methods in biomedical and cardiology research. She has a doctoral degree in biostatistics from the University of Michigan.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Christoph Lange, PhD, MSc

Professor of Biostatistics
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts

Dr Lange’s research interests are at the intersection of biostatistical methodology, numerical analysis, and computer science. Formally trained in all 3 areas, Dr Lange headed the analysis of the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) for complex diseases, the longitudinal analysis of BMI in the Framingham Heart Study. To address the challenges of this first wave of “big data” in genetics, Dr Lange’s group developed statistical methodology to maximize power in studies that minimize the effects of the multiple testing problem in GWAS and developed massively parallel software implementations for the analysis that also efficiently scale with the study size (PBAT software package). Currently, Dr Lange focuses on the statistical and computational challenges posed by whole-genome sequencing studies, such as powerful analysis methodology, clustering approaches of the genome, approaches to permutation testing, causal inference, Mendelian randomization, and storage algorithm. Dr Lange is also involved in collaborative research in Asthma Genetics, COPD Genetics, and Alzheimer Genetics.

Appointment Term: 2022–2026

Lihua Li, PhD

Associate Professor, Institute for Healthcare Delivery Science
Department of Population Health Science and Policy
Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, New York

Dr Li is an associate professor in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy and the Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is an experienced biostatistician and health services researcher, with a focus on the development and application of innovative statistical and economic methods to study chronic diseases. Dr Li has experience in panel data analysis, time series, and health economics. Her current research centers on patient health outcomes, health care utilization, and associated health care costs, such as assessing the impact of health policies and health care initiatives, identifying key determinants of end-of-life health care costs, and examining patterns of health care spending among patients with high levels of health care needs and costs.

Appointment Term: 2023–2027

Shelley H. Liu, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Population Health Sciences and Policy
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, New York

Dr Liu is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research interests include neurodevelopment issues in children and environmental health. She received a doctoral degree in biostatistics from Harvard University.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Zhen-Qiang Ma, MD, MPH, MS

Division Director
Division of Community Epidemiology
Bureau of Epidemiology
Pennsylvania Department of Health
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Public Health
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Dr Ma has extensive experience in epidemiological investigations at the local and state health departments. He is a senior epidemiologist at the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the division director of community epidemiology. In this role, he oversees maternal–child health, childhood lead exposure, opioid overdose, and chronic disease prevention program epidemiologic support. He obtained his medical degree from Nanjing Medical University and has master’s degrees in public health and applied statistics. He is an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests are to link various existing data sources — vital records, cancer registry, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and hospital discharge data using personal and geographical identifiers — and use these linked data to design and evaluate public health programs. He is also interested in using appropriate epidemiological study design and statistical methods applied in public health practice.

Appointment Term: 2021-2025

Lohuwa Mamudu, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Public Health
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, California

Dr Lohuwa Mamudu is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). He is a statistician, data analyst, data scientist, epidemiologist, and research consultant. His data-driven and interdisciplinary research focuses on statistical and analytical modeling and applications of qualitative and quantitative statistical and machine-learning methods and algorithms. He collaborates with the National Institutes of Health and Tennessee Cancer Registry as a freelance data analyst and researcher, working on cancer disease outcomes and disparities (breast, lung cancer, and others), infectious disease, chronic disease, and immigration health disparities (depression, anxiety, and psychological distress) in the US. He a co-investigator of the multiyear National Institutes of Health–funded Neurocognitive Aging and Analytics Research Education program at CSUF. He is also a statistical fellow at the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Center at CSUF and a mentor and advisor in several mentorship and advisory programs. He organizes, facilitates, and instructs in academic and research workshops. His long-term research goal and interest focus on big data analytics and artificial intelligence in public health research.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

Lazarous Mbulo, PhD

Health Scientist
Office on Smoking and Health
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr Mbulo is a health scientist in the Office on Smoking and Health in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He provides technical assistance to countries implementing the Global Adult Tobacco Survey. He has a doctoral degree in health education and a master’s degree in survey research and methodology from the University of Nebraska.

Appointment Term: 2019–2025

Katherine McLaughlin, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Statistics
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon

In addition to her work as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at Oregon State University, Dr McLaughlin also has an adjunct appointment in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences (also at OSU). She received her PhD in Statistics in 2016 from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests focus broadly on sampling methodology, social network analysis, and social science applications of statistics, particularly for hidden populations. Dr McLaughlin is a member of the Hard-to-Reach Population Methods Research Group and consults on design and analysis for several sampling-related projects, including for trafficked populations, populations at high risk for HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19 prevalence studies.

Appointment Term: 2022–2026

Chris McKennan, PhD

Assistant Professor of Statistics
Department of Statistics
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Dr McKennan’s research involves developing statistical methods to better analyze high-throughput and high-dimensional biological and medical data. He has extensive experience collaborating with scientist and clinicians in the fields of asthma and allergy, virology, aging, and cardiology, among others. Dr McKennan received his doctorate of philosophy in statistics from the University of Chicago.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

Michael J. Monsour, PhD

Women’s Health and Fertility Branch
Division of Reproductive Health
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr Monsour is a mathematical statistician in the Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading the analytic methods team that provides statistical, programming, and data management support for women’s health and fertility studies. He has also provided statistical support for studies of HIV/AIDS, oral health, and several national health care surveys, and has extensive experience with statistical software packages. He has a doctoral degree in mathematical statistics from the University of Maryland.

Appointment Term: 2019-2025

Karen E. Nielsen, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biostatistics
Department of Population Health Sciences
School of Public Health
Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia

As an assistant professor of biostatistics in the Department of Population Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, Dr Nielsen’s research interests include multilevel modeling and techniques for dimension reduction and modeling time-intensive longitudinal data, including data resulting from physiological sensors and wearable technology. She received her doctoral degree in statistics from the University of Michigan.

Appointment Term: 2022–2026

Ryan A. Peterson, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics & Informatics
Colorado School of Public Health
Biostatistics Core Leader, Pulmonary Translational Core (PTraC)
Colorado School of Medicine
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado

An assistant professor of Biostatistics and Informatics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Dr Peterson also works jointly with the Center for Innovative Design and Analysis (CIDA) and the Pulmonary Translational Core (PTraC). His applied research experience includes pulmonary topics including COVID-19, asthma, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), as well as forecasting the flu, investigating seasonality and environmental exposure associations of infectious diseases, and applications in emergency medicine. He received his PhD from the University of Iowa.

Appointment Term: 2022–2026

Donald Richards, PhD, BSc (Hons.)

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Statistics
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania

Dr Richards’ research interests include mathematical statistics, probability theory, and mathematical analysis. After receiving his formal training in those three fields, Dr Richards conducted research in those fields in areas including multivariate statistical analysis, probability inequalities, limit theorems, and goodness-of-fit testing. In addition, Dr Richards has made applications to a variety of fields including infectious disease spread, actuarial science, astronomy and astrophysics, engineering reliability theory, value investing, financial derivatives, and electronic medical reports. Currently, Dr Richards is involved in collaborative research in high-dimensional signal modulation, shrinkage estimation, mathematical analysis, and statistical inference with incomplete multivariate data.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

LaTonia Richardson, PhD, MS

Statistician
Analytics Team
Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch
Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr Richardson is a statistician with more than 10 years of experience in managing federal data systems. Her expertise includes statistical programming, data visualization, data quality evaluation, and probabilistic record linkage. She has a doctoral degree in epidemiology from Walden University and a master’s degree in biostatistics from Georgia State University. Dr Richardson is a member of CDC’s Statistical Advisory Group (SAG), recently serving as the 2016–2018 National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases SAG representative and currently serving as SAG’s liaison for the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Jordan Rodu, PhD

Assistant Professor of Statistics
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia

Dr Rodu’s research interests lie at the intersection of statistics and machine learning. He is interested in both developing principled methodology for incorporating machine learning into the scientific pipeline through a theoretical understanding of how and when it is safe to do so, and leveraging statistical principles to fortify our understanding of machine learning algorithms. In addition, Dr Rodu studies methods related to high-dimensional time series, with a focus on applications in health and in the environmental sciences.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

Sanjay Shete, PhD

Betty B. Marcus Chair in Cancer Prevention
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Biostatistics
Houston, Texas

Dr Shete is a population health scientist, quantitative statistician, and behavioral and genetic epidemiologist with interests in developing statistical methods for genetic, population, and behavioral data. He has served as the principal investigator for several National Institutes of Health R01 grants. He received a PhD in statistics from the University of Georgia.

Appointment Term: 2020–2024

Ruben A. Smith, PhD, MS

Senior Statistician
Women’s Health and Fertility Branch
Division of Reproductive Health
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr Smith is a senior statistician in the Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has more than 20 years of research and consulting experience. His current work focuses on the application, adaptation, and development of statistical methods for maternal and child health studies. Dr Smith has a doctoral degree in statistics from Oregon State University.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Tyler C. Smith, PhD

Chair and Professor
Department of Community Health
School of Health and Human Services
National University
San Diego, California

Dr Smith is a statistical epidemiologist and professor in the Department of Community Health at National University. He conducts longitudinal studies and research focusing on military and veteran health. He has authored nearly 150 peer-reviewed journal publications and 300 presentations. He has a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Kentucky and a doctoral degree in epidemiology from the University of California, San Diego.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Bhaskar Thakur, PhD, MPS

Assistant Professor
Departments of Family & Community Medicine
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Emergency Medicine
Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX

Dr Thakur is a faculty biostatistician and population health scientist. His research interests focus on epidemiologic and statistical practices, such as study design and sample size, time-to-event, and longitudinal data analyses, multilevel modeling, model building strategies, categorical data analysis, and systematic review, and meta-analysis with collaborative research including areas related to health disparities, social determinants of health, adverse childhood experiences, neuro-psychiatric epidemiology, sleep health, cardiovascular disease and risk factors, brain injury health assessment and rehabilitation, health informatics, and implementation sciences. He also enjoys mentoring and advising residents and graduate students on their research projects. He is a regular member of American Statistical Association, Indian Society of Medical Statistics, and the North American Primary Care Research Group. He received his doctorate in Biostatistics at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, and his master’s degree in population studies at the International Institute of Population Sciences in Mumbai, India.

Appointment Term: 2024–2027

Machell Town, PhD

Branch Chief
Population Health Surveillance Branch
Division of Population Health
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr Town serves as the branch chief for the Population Health Surveillance Branch in the Division of Population Health in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She has expertise in the oversampling of special populations and local communities for the administration of CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys. She has a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Georgia and a doctoral degree in epidemiology from Walden University.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Calvin Tribby, PhD, MPH

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analyst
Department of Population Sciences
Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope
Duarte, California

Dr Calvin Tribby is a GIS analyst in the Department of Population Sciences at the Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope at the Duarte, California location. His research examines geospatial and contextual factors associated with cancer prevention behaviors. This includes research in active transportation, such as walking, bicycling, and public transit; and in sun exposure, physical activity, and the school context. Dr Tribby earned his master’s degree in public health, concentrating in biostatistics from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He earned his doctorate in geography from The Ohio State University. Dr Tribby also holds an a master’s degree in geography and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, both from the University of New Mexico.

Appointment Term: 2024–2027

Kristina Vatcheva, PhD, MS

Associate Professor
School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Edinburg, Texas

Dr Vatcheva is an assistant professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her research interest is in biostatistical methods applied in epidemiologic and medical research. Dr Vatcheva’s research focus is on statistical modeling to evaluate the contribution of biomarkers and sociodemographic factors to high prevalence of metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver diseases, anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline that disproportionately burden the communities of Rio Grande Valley. Dr Vatcheva has a master of science degree in mathematics from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria, and a doctorate in epidemiology, with a concentration in biostatistics, from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

Ming Wang, PhD

Associate Professor
Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio

Dr Wang is an associate professor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), School of Medicine. Before coming to CWRU, Dr Wang spent nine years as faculty in the Department of Public Health Sciences in College of Medicine at Pennsylvania State University. She received a PhD in biostatistics from Emory University, and has expertise in longitudinal data analysis, survival analysis, missing data, spatial statistics, causal inference, and other areas related to biomedical and human health research.

Appointment Term: 2019–2026

Eun-Hye Enki Yoo, PhD

Associate Professor
Department of Geography
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York

Dr Yoo is a GIScientist with expertise in spatial statistics and its application to environmental science and public health. Her primary research focuses on spatial scale issues and error/uncertainty in geographic data, environmental exposure modeling and health risk assessment, and the impact of human mobility on health. Dr Yoo received a doctorate in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Appointment Term: 2023–2026

Ying Zhang, MD, PhD, MS

Associate Professor of Biostatistics
Director, Center for American Indian Health Research
Department of of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Hudson College of Public Health
The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Dr Zhang’s research interests include time-to-event and longitudinal data analyses for independent or correlated outcomes, categorical data analysis, model building, study design and sample size, genetic epidemiology and pathophysiology of cardiometabolic diseases, including diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, especially among American Indians. Dr Zhang completed postdoctoral training in biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She received MS and PhD degrees in health statistics and an MD degree from the West China University of Medical Sciences.

Appointment Term: 2020–2024