First-authored paper in Journal of Biomedical Informatics by Andrew Guide
Congratulations to senior biostatistician Andrew Guide on the publication of "Identifying erroneous height and weight values from adult electronic health records in the All of Us research program." This paper was published online ahead of print on May 23 in the Journal of Biomedical Informatics and is scheduled to appear in the July 2024 print issue. Co-authors include assistant in biostatistics Shawn Garbett and professor Paul Harris, with professor Qingxia "Cindy" Chen as corresponding author, plus colleagues in Vanderbilt's Department of Biomedical Informatics, at The Ohio State University, and at Columbia University. Here is the graphical abstract of the paper:
Registration is open for the 2024 Summer Institute
Registration is now open for the 2024 CQS Summer Institute. This year's offerings include three in-person courses at 2525 West End Avenue, and one virtual course on Zoom.
The morning course (9 a.m.–noon) the first week of the Summer Institute (July 22–26) will feature "Big Data in Biomedical Research," taught by Qi Liu, PhD, professor of biostatistics and biomedical informatics, and Yu Shyr, PhD, professor of biostatistics, biomedical informatics, and health policy. "Introduction to the All of Us Research Program," with course directors Paul Harris, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics, biomedical engineering, and biostatistics, and Qingxia "Cindy" Chen, PhD, professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics and vice chair of education for the Department of Biostatistics, will be in the afternoon (1–4 p.m.) over Zoom.
The second week (July 29–August 2) will feature "Regression and Modeling in R," taught by Gustavo Amorim, PhD, assistant professor of biostatistics in the morning, and "Introduction to Causal Inference," taught by Andrew Spieker, PhD, assistant professor of biostatistics in the afternoon.
Tuition for each course is $700 for VU/VUMC faculty and staff, and $450 for VU/VUMC students, trainees, and postdocs, with a 20% discount on registrations received before June 5. Parking and food are included for in-person courses, with breakfast for morning course participants and boxed lunches for all. The All of Us course is limited to 40 participants. To learn more about each course and to enroll, visit the Summer Institute webpage.
Fei Ye selected as 2024 Fellow of the American Statistical Association
We are thrilled to share the news that Fei Ye, professor of biostatistics and medicine on the Basic Science Educator track, has been selected as a 2024 Fellow of the American Statistical Association. The designation of ASA Fellow honors members of the association who have made outstanding contributions to statistical science. The process of being considered for ASA fellowship is exceptionally competitive, with very few honorees chosen among many highly qualified nominees. Dr. Ye, whose induction will take place during the Joint Statistical Meetings in Portland, Oregon, this August, is being recognized "for pioneering contributions to biomedical research, including statistical and bioinformatic methods, innovations in clinical trial design and analysis, and a deeper understanding of biomarkers, plus impactful collaborations and mentoring."
Dr. Ye earned her MSPH and PhD from the University of South Carolina and joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a staff biostatistician in 2006. Her current roles include serving as vice chair of collaborative studies for the department of biostatistics, and assistant editor for statistics with JAMA Oncology. Her statistical prowess has been a game-changer for dozens of research programs, both in terms of securing large grants and providing predictive models, diagnostic algorithms, and sophisticated data analyses to the investigations in question. In the words of Dr. Vivian Weiss, head of the high-impact translational research Weiss Lab, Dr. Ye's contributions "are paving the way for dramatic changes in the way we take care of thyroid cancer patients"; these include validating a commercial molecular diagnostic assay for children, developing a molecular assay for outcome prediction in adults, and setting in motion other novel strategies for assessing malignancies and their potential origins. Dr. Ye has also been at the forefront of discussions on liver allocation, with an eye toward addressing health inequity concerns in organ transplant policy and practice, as well as a go-to collaborator for a wide range of topics and conditions, from original research on atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, diverticulitis, multiple sclerosis, and more, to observations on surgical practice and ethics. She is also a trusted expert on statistical considerations for the design and implementation of clinical trials.
With Vanderbilt epidemiologist Dr. Jirong Long, Dr. Ye is Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI) of a pioneering investigation—the first large multi-racial methylation-wide association study (MeWAS)—that combines integrative bioinformatics, functional experiments, and high statistical power to expand and refine our understanding of the role DNA methylation plays in cancer development. Dr. Ye has also designed advanced modules for Vanderbilt’s Epidemiology PhD program, and she is on the faculty of the Vanderbilt Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer (MAGEC) Training Program. International initiatives that have called on Dr. Ye’s experience include the Vietnam National Cancer Institute (VNCI) and Vinmec International Hospital, as well as the Vanderbilt-Zambia Cancer Research Training Program. A past president of the ASA's Middle Tennessee chapter, Dr. Ye is currently program chair of the ASA's Statistics in Epidemiology Section and poster chair for the 2024 International Chinese Statistical Association's Applied Statistics Symposium, which will convene in Nashville this June.
Fei Ye (center), flanked by lead biostatistician Amy Perkins and application developer Hui Wu at the department's January 2024 winter celebration.
First-authored paper in Journal of Molecular Biology by Hua-Chang Chen
Congratulations to data scientist assistant Hua-Chang Chen on the publication of "EVPsort: An atlas of small ncRNA profiling and sorting in extracellular vesicles and particles." The pre-proof was published online in the Journal of Molecular Biology on April 10, with research assistant professor Jing Wang as a co-author, and professors Yu Shyr and Qi Liu as corresponding authors, along with colleagues in Vanderbilt's Departments of Cell and Developmental Biology, Medicine, Biological Sciences, and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. EVP stands for "extracellular vesicles and particles." The EVPsort database "not only provides an extensive overview of ncRNA [non-coding RNAs] profiling in 3,162 samples across various biofluids, cell lines, and disease contexts but also seamlessly integrates 19 external databases and tools" and is freely accessible at bioinfo.vanderbilt.edu/evpsort.
