Biostatistician who focuses on genetics and molecular biology named Hiscock Professor

Hongyu Zhao, Ph.D., a biostatistician whose work is focused on developing mathematical, statistical, computational, and visualization tools needed to address scientific problems in molecular biology and genetics, has been appointed the Ira V. Hiscock Professor of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health.

Zhao, also professor of genetics and of statistics, is a leader in statistical genetics, computational biology, genetic epidemiology, and human genetics, and has developed novel statistical methods and showed how they can be applied to the study of many diseases, including cancer, obesity, hypertension, mental retardation, HIV/AIDS, substance dependence, and immunological disorders.

He has also contributed to genomic and proteomic analysis through the development of powerful statistical methods for pathway reconstructions using different types of genomic data, network analysis, protein-protein interaction network inference, DNA copy number analysis, and pathway-based analysis.

Zhao’s accomplishments and professional service have been recognized with many distinguished honors, including election as a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Zhao is editor or associate editor of many statistical and biological journals, and is a past recipient of the Mortimer Spiegelman Award, given by the American Public Health Association to a top statistician in public health under the age of 40.

He received his B.S. from Peking University in Beijing, China, and his doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley.