Veera Baladandayuthapani named chair of Department of Biostatistics at Michigan Public Health
Veera Baladandayuthapani has been named chair of the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, nationally recognized as one of the top biostatistics programs in the US. His appointment, effective July 1, 2024, was approved by the University of Michigan Board of Regents today.
“Veera is highly visible within the biostatistics community, with a demonstrated reputation for research excellence,” said Dean F. DuBois Bowman, who is also the Roderick J. Little Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics at Michigan Public Health. “He is known to be a thoughtful, inclusive, and responsible leader with a broad understanding of the future of both the field and the department. His excellent scholarship and rich leadership experiences provide him with a clear vision for the department’s advancement.”
Baladandayuthapani has been a professor of biostatistics at Michigan Public Health since 2018, after spending 13 years in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research interests are focused on statistical and machine learning modeling of high-dimensional biomedical data, especially genomics and imaging. His work has resulted in more than 150 papers published in top statistical, biostatistical, machine learning, bioinformatics, biomedical, and oncology journals. He has also co-authored a book on Bayesian analysis of gene expression data. He has served as principal investigator on multiple NIH and NSF grants to develop innovative and advanced biostatistical and bioinformatics methods for large datasets in cancer. He currently serves as Director of the Cancer Data Science Shared Resource at the University of Michigan’s Rogel Cancer Center.
“I am deeply honored to carry forward the legacy of strong leadership at Michigan Biostatistics,” Baladandayuthapani said. “In my six years here, I’ve realized what a uniquely special community this is. I’ve been inspired by the groundbreaking work of our faculty, the energy and potential of our students, and the generosity of our staff. This is an exciting time for biostatistics, and I am enthusiastic about what lies ahead for all of us.”
Baladandayuthapani is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and has received several prestigious awards. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Rochester and a PhD in Statistics from Texas A&M University.
Learn more about Baladandayuthapani on our website.
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