BIOS scores six ASA fellowships in two years: Wright, Zeng and Zhu selected

Dr. Fred Wright

Dr. Donglin Zeng

Dr. Hongtu Zhu

Three biostatistics faculty members at UNC Gillings School of Global Health were selected recently as fellows of the American Statistical Association (ASA). Fred Wright, PhD, professor, and associate professors Donglin Zeng, PhD, and Hongtu Zhu, PhD, will be inducted into fellowship in August at the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami.

Three other members of the biostatistics faculty – Drs. Amy Herring, John Preisser and Haibo Zhou – were selected in 2010. Sixteen additional biostatistics faculty members, including four adjunct faculty members, became ASA fellows prior to 2010.

Dr. Michael Kosorok

“As far as we are aware, no other biostatistics or statistics department has ever had this many individuals selected within a two-year period for this prestigious designation,” said Michael Kosorok, PhD, professor and chair of the department and himself an ASA fellow. “We know of one other department in the past two decades that had three new ASA Fellows in one year, but definitely not for two years in a row. We are fortunate to have so many strong faculty in the department with the national and international reputation required for ASA Fellowship.”

ASA members of established reputation who have made outstanding contributions in some aspect of statistical work may be nominated by their peers for fellowship in the association. Fellowship awards are given annually but are limited to no more than one-third of one percent of ASA membership. There are currently 18,000 members worldwide.

ASA was founded in 1839 and is the second-oldest continuously operating professional association in the country. The organization promotes excellence in statistics in its application to the frontiers of science, from biological to socio-economic to the physical sciences.

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.