New Faculty: Welcome Wenpin Hou, Molei Liu, Zhonghua Liu, and Xiao Wu
We have had a truly outstanding year for faculty recruitment. Thanks to sustained efforts by the Faculty Recruitment Committee, co-chaired by Profs. Zhezhen Jin and Geoff Goldsmith, and exceptionally comprehensive and enthusiastic support from the entire faculty, we are proud to have successfully recruited four exceptionally talented new faculty members. We had the distinct pleasure of welcoming three of them (Drs. Wenpin Hou, Zhonghua Liu and Molei Liu) during Summer 2022 – and we provide a brief synopsis of the many areas of their expertise in this newsletter. The fourth (Dr. Xiao Wu) will be joining us in January, 2023, and his profile will be highlighted in future issues of our newsletter.
Dr. Wenpin Hou, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, received a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Hong Kong in 2017, and was subsequently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Departments of Computer Science and Biostatistics at John Hopkins University. Her research focuses on developing statistical machine learning methods to tackle the challenges at the intersection of statistics and data science (data in single-cell genomics, epigenomics and spatial transcriptomics), mathematical modeling of gene regulatory networks, and ultimately understanding gene regulatory mechanisms. She is particularly interested in developing methods for spatio-temporal patterns in single-cell and spatial genomics and epigenomics data. She is also interested in collaborations in various aspects of cancer, immunology, infectious disease, developmental processes, obesity, maternal and child health, and health disparity. The outcomes here are expected to lead to uncovering the complex mechanisms of various diseases and biological contexts, and to the development of targeted therapies that can benefit the broad community.
Dr. Zhonghua Liu, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, received his doctorate in biostatistics from Harvard University in 2015. He joined our faculty after spending a few years as a faculty member at the University of Hong Kong. His current research interests are in several innovative areas of methodologic research including those in statistical genetics/genomics, epigenetics, various areas at the interface between causal Inference and genomics/genetics, semiparametric efficiency theory, causal mediation analysis for integrative genomics and fairness, missing data problems, measurement error, and machine learning methods. In addition, he has wide-ranging interests in domain area applications beyond genetics/genomics that also include Environmental health, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.
Dr. Molei Liu, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, has a PhD in Biostatistics from Harvard University. He has strong training and early trajectory in several innovative areas of methodologic research including high dimensional statistics, federated learning, distributed learning, transfer learning, semi-supervised learning, semi-parametric statistical methods and theory, and also methods related to electronic health record (EHR) data analysis. He also works on electronic health record and biobank data analysis. He has already established a strong relationship with the relevant units at Columbia University such as the Department of Biomedical Informatics.
Wenpin, Zhonghua, and Molei have already been extremely active. They are contributing to major research projects and have already formed many collaborations in the department. (See the Research section.) They add great strength to our department, and we are proud to have them as colleagues.
Going forward, we are committed to maintaining the vigorous recruitment methods that have produced such exciting results. Our efforts for next year are in full swing.