Lisa M LaVange, PhD

Lisa LaVange, PhD, is a professor and chair of the Department of Biostatistics. She formerly served as the director of UNC’s Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center (2006-2011; 2018-2021.)

Dr. LaVange has a broad background in the biostatistics field, including leadership roles in industry (RTI, Quintiles, Inspire Pharmaceuticals); academia (UNC/CSCC); and government (Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA). She was also the 2018 president of the American Statistical Association. At the CSCC, she was formerly PI on the NHLBI-funded HCHS/SOL and SPIROMICS studies and, more recently, contact PI for the NICHD-funded Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Intervention (ATN). Currently, she is co-PI of the NHLBI-funded Precision Interventions for Severe and/or Exacerbation-Prone Asthma Network (PrecISE) and the NIAMS-funded Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC Research Consortium, part of the NIH Helping to End Addition Long-Term (HEAL) initiative.

She is co-instructor for BIOS 841: Principle of Statistical Collaboration and Leadership, a required course for MS and PhD students offered yearly in the spring semester. She developed and taught a special topics course on Regulatory Science (BIOS 740-003) in 2020. Previously, she co-developed and co-taught a course in Statistical Leadership (BIOS 844; 2011 and 2018) and co-taught a course in Clinical Trials (BIOS 752; 2007 -2011).

Honors and Awards

Award for Outstanding Contribution to Health in the Americas Region

2020, Drug Information Association

Biosimilar Product Review Training Team

2016, Food and Drug Administration

FDA Group Recognition Award for the Benefit-Risk Research Team in the Office of Biostatistics

2015, Food and Drug Administration

FDA Group Recognition Award for the Antibacterial Drug Development Task Force

2014, Food and Drug Administration

Award for Outstanding Contribution in COPD Research

2011, COPD Foundation

Mary Jane Kugel Award

2008, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Fellow

2004, American Statistical Association

Representative Courses

BIOS 844: Leadership in Biostatistics

Teaching Interests

Statistical Leadership, Regulatory Science, Clinical Trials

Research Interests

• Analysis of Complex Sample Survey Data
• Bayesian Methods
• Clinical Trial Analysis
• Clinical Trial Design
• Missing Data, Estimands, and Sensitivity Analysis
• Regulatory Science

Service Activities

Editorial

• Associate Editor, Statistics in Biopharmaceutical Research, 2007-2010

• Editor-in-Chief, ASA-SIAM Book Series on Statistics and Applied Probability, 2008-2013

• Co-Editor, Pharmaceutical Statistics, 2012-2015

Boards, Committees, and Panels

President

• Eastern North American Region of the International Biometrics Society (IBS), 2007

• American Statistical Association, 2018

Member

• Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN) Precision Promise Clinical Trial’s Data and Safety Monitoring Board (Chair; 2019 to present)

• National Cancer Institute Special Emphasis Panel NCTN Statistics Centers Review, 2013

• Executive Board Member, International Biometric Society, 2013-2014

• Clinical Research Committee, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics, Inc., 2009-2011

• Board Member, North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission, 2008-2013

• NIH Study Section and Special Emphasis Panels (R01, R34, and P50 reviews), NIAMS, 2006-2011

• Medical Science Review Committee, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 2004-2008

• Board of Directors, UNC School of Public Health Foundation, 2002-2008

Staff/Administrative Duties

2021 – Present, Chair of Department of Biostatistics

2020 – 2021, Interim co-Chair of Department of Biostatistics

2018-2021, Professor and Associate Chair of Department of Biostatistics

2006-2011, 2018-2021, Director of the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center

Education

PhD, Biostatistics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

MA, Mathematics, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst

BA, Mathematics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill