Assistant Professor David Vock has been named a McKnight Presidential Fellow, a three-year award given to promising faculty members based on their research, scholarship, leadership, and ability to advance University of Minnesota priorities. The fellowship is reserved for faculty who will be granted both tenure and promotion to associate professor in an academic year.

“I am so very pleased that David has been honored in this way,” says School of Public Health Dean John Finnegan. “He is pushing the boundaries of biostatistics methodology and forming key collaborations across the University to advance both population health and personalized treatment strategies. We are fortunate to have David as part of our school.”

Vock is a biostatistician with expertise in causal inference — a set of statistical tools using observational data to determine the effect of an intervention. He is currently developing methodology for a study funded by the NIH and FDA Center for Tobacco Products to analyze the impact of reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes to curb smoking.

Vock is also an expert in dynamic treatment regimes, which are used to evaluate and advance personalized treatment strategies.

“I am incredibly honored to receive the McKnight Presidential Fellowship,” says Vock. “I want to especially thank the students who have worked in my group over the years; their curiosity, diligence, and brilliance is the driving force behind my research. Additionally, my success would not have been possible without the outstanding mentors and colleagues in the Division of Biostatistics and School of Public Health, and across the University.”