We are thrilled to announce two new leadership appointments in our department:
Dandan Liu will become executive director of the Vanderbilt Biostatistics Data Coordinating Center (VBDCC), effective January 1. Previously co-director of the VBDCC’s Design & Analysis Unit, Dr. Liu’s new responsibilities will include leading strategic planning, overseeing infrastructure expansion and project execution, and advocating for both the center and the department in the wider biomedical research community. Her experience includes directing VICTR’s Research Methods Program, chairing our department’s Resource Allocation Committee, and co-chairing the 2024 ICSA Applied Statistics Symposium, which will convene in Nashville this June. She is co-PI of the R01-funded effort to implement the STRATIFY prediction tool in emergency care. She joined the department in 2011 and was promoted to associate professor of biostatistics on the investigator track in 2020.
Fei Ye’s new role as Vice Chair of Collaborative Studies commenced on December 1. Previously co-director of the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Research Center, Dr. Ye’s new responsibilities will include building, maintaining, and expanding collaboration plans with other departments and divisions across Vanderbilt University Medical Center; chairing the Resource Allocation Committee; and providing expert guidance and support to faculty pursuing large grants, especially for multi-center initiatives. Her experience includes co-directing the biostatistics core of VICC’s GI Cancer SPORE and the administrative/biostatistics core of VUMC’s “HDL Function in Human Disease” program, serving as lead biostatistician on collaboration plans for the Section of Surgical Sciences and Department of Neurology, and becoming program chair of the ASA’s Statistics in Epidemiology Section in 2024. She is MPI of the R01-funded “DNA Methylation Markers, Genes and Breast Cancer Risk” study. She joined the department in 2006 and was promoted to professor of biostatistics and medicine on the educator track in 2022.
Congratulations to Dr. Liu and Dr. Ye!