Why Biostatistics at Minnesota?

A highly ranked program

In the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education ranking of Biostatistics units, University of Minnesota was the 2nd ranked biostatistics program in the nation among state-supported institutions and No. 5 overall. 

A very productive faculty

Division of Biostatistics faculty, staff, and students have published more than 400 papers in peer-reviewed journals.  Active areas of research in our division include Bayesian methods, survival analysis, spatial statistics, statistical genetics, clinical trials, diagnostic testing, brain imaging, and causal inference. The Division is home to:

• Two winners of the Mortimer Spiegelman Award: Brad Carlin and Sudipto Banerjee. The Spiegelman Award is presented to the nation's most outstanding public health statistician under the age of 40.
• Five Fellows of the American Statistical Association: Brad Carlin, Patricia Grambsch, Jim Neaton, Jim Hodges, and Wei Pan.

A wide variety of collaborative research opportunities

Biostatistics faculty and students actively contribute to applied research in projects such as

• Clinical trials in HIV/AIDS,
• Prevention of lung disease in smokers,
• Pathogenesis and treatment of otitis media (ear infection) in children,
• Prevention and treatment of colon cancer,
• Spatial clustering of disease, and
• Effects of risk factor intervention on death rate from coronary heart disease.

A strong record of training and placing students

One of our goals is to train students in the kind of work that we do. Our program combines rigorous training in statistical theory and methodology with applied research experience, producing students who are prepared for careers in academia, government, or private industry. Recent graduates have been hired at publicly funded research institutions (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, St. Jude Medical, University of Texas, Stanford University, Food and Drug Administration)  and at private companies (Eli Lilly, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Merck, 3M, Affymetrix).

A strong record of student achievement in the PhD program

University of Minnesota Biostatistics students have been recognized for their outstanding research. In 2010, three students won ENAR Distinguished Student Paper awards. One of these students, Brian Hobbs, was awarded the 2010 John Van Ryzin Prize for the best student paper submitted to this major conference.

Recent graduates from our PhD program have obtained faculty positions at institutions including Harvard University, North Carolina State University, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Univesrity of Texas School of Public Health.