Departmental Student Honors and Award Winners

Periodically, the Department honors special achievement in academics, research, or teaching through a Departmental Discretionary Award.

• 2019: Ben Ackerman (outstanding student service)
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• 2010: Vidya Venugopal (outstanding distinction in teaching)
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• 2005: Weiwei Wang (outstanding achievement on the second-year exam)
• 2003: Jing Ning (outstanding achievement on the first-year exam)

This award, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, is intended to encourage interest in the field of biostatistics and honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics student on the first-year comprehensive exam.

• 2011: Yifei Sun
• 2010: Haochang Shou
• 2009: Shanshan Li
• 2008: Russell Shinohara
• 2007: Simina Boca
• 2006: Marco Carone
• 2005: Gary Chan
• 2004: Siobhan Sutcliffe
• 2003: Yun Lu
• 2002: Jennifer Ryea, Yue Yin
• 2001: Brian Egleston
• 2000: Weimin Chen

The Helen Abbey Award, established by friends, faculty, colleagues, and former students of Dr. Abbey, ScD ’51, celebrates her long tenure with the Department of Biostatistics. The award honors a Biostatistics student in the second year or higher who has shown a commitment to teaching after graduation. Award winners are usually announced by the first of May each year.

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  2025: Andrew Chin and Jian (Daniel) Ruan
• 2024: Joe Sartini
• 2023: Haley Grant and Claire Heffernan
• 2022: Emily Scott
• 2021: Sophie Berube, Marta Karas
• 2020: Jacob Fiksel
• 2019: Bonnie Smith
• 2018: Jack Fu
• 2017: Leslie Myint
• 2016: Prasad Patil
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• 2015: Francis Abreu
• 2014: Jenna Krall
• 2013: Kirsten Lum, Therri Usher, George Wu
• 2012: Alyssa Frazee, Hilary Parker
• 2011: Jeffrey Goldsmith, Daniel Obeng, Bruce Swihart
• 2010: Matthew McCall
• 2009: Nicholas Reich
• 2008: Sandrah Eckel
• 2007: Ming-Wen An, Robert Scharpf
• 2006: Kim Fai Kenny Shum
• 2005: Kathryn Ziegler
• 2004: Michelle Shardell
• 2003: Hongfei Guo, Nikhil Gupte
• 2002: Wesley Eddings
• 2001: Michael Griswold
• 2000: Natalie Blades
• 1999: Felicity Boyd, Thomas Travison
• 1998: Elizabeth Garrett
• 1997: Jeffrey Blume
• 1996: Laura Cramer
• 1995: Sterling Hilton

The Jane and Steve Dykacz Award was established by our alumna, Janice Dykacz, PhD ’83, and honors her parents through recognition of an outstanding paper by a Biostatistics student in the area of medical statistics. Award winners are usually announced by the first of May every year.

• 2025: Alyssa Columbus
• 2024: Dongliang Zhang
• 2023: Carly Lupton Brantner
• 2022: Zitong Wang
• 2021: Erjia Cui
• 2020: Athena Chen
• 2019: Lamar Hunt
• 2018: Youjin Lee
• 2017: Jack Fu
• 2016: Prasad Patil and Elizabeth Sweeney
• 2015: Yifei Sun
• 2014: Lei Huang and Elizabeth Sweeney
• 2013: Jiawei Bai
• 2012: Russell (Taki) Shinohara
• 2010: Jeffrey Goldsmith
• 2008: Wenyi Wang
• 2006: Brian Egleston
• 2004: Michelle Shardell

The June B. Culley Award honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics student on his or her Schoolwide examination paper.

• 2024: Yujie (Phyllis) Wei
• 2023: Carly Lupton Brantner
• 2022: Ruzhang Zhao
• 2021: Erija Cui
• 2020: Athena Chen
• 2019: Bonnie Smith
• 2018: Zhicheng (Jason) Ji
• 2017: Junrui Di
• 2016: Yu Du, Claire Ruberman
• 2015: Jean-Philippe Fortin
• 2014: Aaron Fisher
• 2013: Juemin Yang
• 2012: Yingying Wei, Zhenke Wu
• 2011: Shanshan Li
• 2010: Russell Shinohara
• 2009: Haley Hedlin, Bruce Swihart
• 2008: Marco Carone
• 2006: Aristide Achy-Brou
• 2005: Wenyi Wang
• 2004: Elizabeth Johnson
• 2003: Brian Egleston

The Kocherlakota Award honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics master's degree student on the first-year comprehensive examination. It is the analog of our award honoring outstanding achievement on the first-year comprehensive examination for Biostatistics PhD students. We are extremely grateful to our alumna Dr. Kathleen Kocherlakota ScM ’63, ScD ’69, who has established this award in memory of her husband and our alumnus, Dr. Subrahmaniam Kocherlakota, ScD ’64.

• 2025: Guan Gui & Zixu Luo
• 2024: Kedi Le
• 2023: Zhirui Fu
• 2022: Mingyuan Li & Shengtao Wang
• 2021: Chang Chen & Yuehan (Jenny) Zhang
• 2020: Wanlu Chen
• 2019: Zebin Wang
• 2018: Luqin Gan and Xinye Li
• 2017: Hilary Robbins
• 2016: Boyang Zhang and Guoqing Wang
• 2015: Weixiang Fang
• 2014: Zhicheng Ji
• 2013: Yao Lu, Shilu Zhang
• 2012: Bing He
• 2011: Jiehuan Sun
• 2010: Qingfeng Li

Dr. Thomas Dublin, a 1941 graduate of the Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology, established this award in 1999 to honor his father, Dr. Louis Dublin, a distinguished biostatistician who was a forerunner in his field and served as a vice president at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York. Knowing that biostatistics and epidemiology have long been united by a tradition of collaboration, exemplified by the notable partnership of Lowell Reed and Wade Hampton Frost, who investigated the dynamics of epidemics and disease distribution in populations, Dr. Dublin felt strongly about establishing a fund to support students with a joint focus in these two disciplines. Therefore, the Louis I. and Thomas D. Dublin Award for the Advancement of Epidemiology and Biostatistics supports those students whose research focuses on the effective use of statistical reasoning and methods in epidemiology. Award winners are usually announced by the first of May each year.

• 2025: Joe Sartini (Advisor: Scott Zeger) and Katherine Kurgansky (Advisor: Catherine Lesko)
• 2024: Ruzhang Zhao (Advisor: Hongkai Ji; Co Adviser: Nilanjan Chatterjee) and Fangyu Liu (Advisor: Jennifer Schrack; Co-Advisor: John Jackson)
• 2023: Jingning Zhang (Advisor: Nilanjan Chatterjee) and Nel Jason Haw (Advisor: Derek Ng; Co-Advisor: Catherine Lesko)
• 2022: Jiyang Wen (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang; Co-Advisor: Chen Hu ) and Emma Nichols (Advisor: Alden Gross; Co-Advisor: Jennifer Deal)
• 2021: Marta Karas (Advisor: Ciprian Crainiceanu; Co-Advisor: Jacek Urbanek) and Forrest Jones (Advisor: Justin Lessler; Co-Advisor: Andrew Azman)
• 2020: Sophie Berube (Advisor: Tom Louis) and Dylan Duchen (Advisor: Priya Duggal)
• 2019: Haoyu Zhang (Advisor: Nilanjan Chatterjee; Co-Advisor: Ni Zhao) and Pei-Lun (Perry) Luo (Advisor: Jennifer Schrack; Co-Advisor: Alden Gross)
• 2018: Lamar Hunt (Advisor: Daniel Scharfstein); Esther Kim ( Dr. Kunihiro Matsushita)
• 2017: Junrui Di (Advisor: Vadim Zipunnikov); Talia Quandelacy (Advisor: Justin Lessler)
• 2016: Youjin Lee (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang; Co-Advisor: Elizabeth Ogburn); Shan Andrews (Advisor: Christine Ladd-Acosta)
• 2015: Yibing (Oliver) Chen (Advisor: Martin Lindquist); Kathryn Risher (Advisor: Shruti Mehta)
• 2014: Jiawei Bai (Advisor: Vadim Zipunnikov); Kelly Searle (Advisor: William Moss)
• 2013: Jenna Krall (Advisor: Roger Peng); Andrew Azman (Advisor: Justin Lessler)
• 2012: Kirsten Lum (Advisor: Tom Louis); Henrik Salje (Advisor: Derek Cummings)
• 2011: Jennifer Feder Bobb (Advisor: Roger Peng); Andrew Jaffe (Advisor: M. Daniele Fallin)
• 2010: Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer (Advisor: Derek Cummings); Russell Shinohara (Advisor: Constantine Frangakis; Co-Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang)
• 2009: Sandrah Eckel (Advisor: Thomas Louis); Maria Tellez-Plaza (Advisor: Ana Navas-Acien)
• 2008: Marco Carone (Advisor: Daniel Scharfstein); Bryan James (Advisor: Thomas Glass) and Bruce Swihart (Advisor: Brian Caffo)
• 2007: Susan Hutfless (Advisor: Christopher Cox); Sheng Luo (Advisor: Ciprian Crainiceanu)
• 2006: Kelly Benke (Advisor: M. Daniele Fallin); Yun Lu (Advisor: Scott Zeger) and J. Morel Symons (Advisor: Alyson Geyh)
• 2005: Alison Gump (Advisor: Janet Holbrook) and Xiaojun You (Advisor: Ron Brookmeyer)
• 2004: Sonja Berndt (Advisors: Kathy Helzlsouer and M. Daniele Fallin) and Sorina Eftim (Advisor: Francesca Dominici)
• 2003: Betty Doan (Advisor: Yin Yao); Laura Podewils (Advisor: Eliseo Guallar) and Ravi Varadhan (Advisor: Charles Rohde)
• 2002: Jean-Paul Chretien (Advisor: Josef Coresh); Nikhil Gupte (Advisor: Ron Brookmeyer)
• 2001: Felicity Boyd (Advisor: Marie Diener-West)

This award, established in 1995 by the friends, colleagues, and former students of the late faculty member Dr. Merrell, ScD ’30, recognizes outstanding research by a Biostatistics doctoral student over the course of their tenure in the PhD program. Award winners are usually announced by the first of May each year.

• 2024-25: Wentao Zhan (Adviser: Hongkai Ji; Co-Adviser: Abhi Datta)
• 2023-24: Claire Heffernan (Adviser: Abhi Datta; Co-Adviser: Roger Peng)
• 2022-23: Bohao Tang (Adviser: Brian Caffo)
• 2021-22: Athena Chen (Adviser: Ingo Ruczinski)
• 2020-21: Arkajyoti Saha (Adviser: Nilanjan Chatterjee; Co-Adviser: Abhirup Datta) and Bingkai Wang (Advisor: Michael Rosenblum; Co-Adviser: Brian Caffo)
• 2019-20: Guanghao Qi (Adviser: Nilanjan Chatterjee)
• 2018-19: Zhicheng (Jason) Ji (Adviser: Hongkai Ji)
• 2017-18: Yu Du (Adviser: Michael Rosenblum; Co-Advisors: Vadim Zipunnikov and Ravi Varadhan) and Youjin Lee (Adviser: Elizabeth Ogburn)
• 2016-17: Jiawei Bai (Adviser: Ciprian Crainiceanu; Co-Adviser: Vadim Zipunnikov) and Tianchen Qian (Advisor: Constantine Frangakis; Ce-Advisor: Michael Rosenblum)
• 2015-16: Aaron Fisher (Adviser: Vadim Zipunnikov; Co-Advisor: Brian Caffo) and Amanda Mejia (Adviser: Martin Lindquist; Co-Adviser: Brian Caffo)
• 2014-15: Fang Han (Advisor: Han Liu; Co-Adviser: Brian Caffo)
• 2013-14: Yingying Wei (Adviser: Hongkai Ji)
• 2012-13: Shanshan Li (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang; Co-Adviser: Brian Caffo)
• 2011-12: Jeff Goldsmith (Adviser: Ciprian Crainiceanu; Co-Adviser: Brian Caffo) and Russell Shinohara (Advisor: Constantine Frangakis; Co-Adviser: Mei-Cheng Wang)
• 2011: Simina Boca (Adviser: Giovanni Parmigiani; Co-Adviser: Jeffrey Leek)
• 2010: Yong Chen (Adviser: Kung-Yee Liang; Co-Advisor: Charles Rohde) and Hao Wu (Adviser: Rafael Irizarry; Co-Advisor: Hongkai Ji)
• 2009: Chongzhi Di (Adviser: Kung-Yee Liang; Co-Adviser: Ciprian Crainiceanu)
• 2008: Gary Chan (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang) and Yue Yin (Adviser: Thomas Louis)
• 2007: Robert Scharpf (Adviser: Giovanni Parmigiani; Co-Adviser: Ingo Ruczinski)
• 2006: Hormuzd Katki (Adviser: Giovanni Parmigiani)
• 2005: Zhijin Wu (Adviser: Rafael Irizarry)
• 2004: Weimin Chen (Adviser: Karl Broman) and Ravi Varadhan (Adviser: Constantine Frangakis)
• 2003: Natalie Blades (Adviser: Giovanni Parmigiani)
• 2002: Chiung-Yu Huang (Adviser: Mei-Cheng Wang) and Thomas Travison (Adviser: Ron Brookmeyer)
• 2000: Guan-Hua Huang (Adviser: Karen Bandeen-Roche) and Diana Miglioretti (Adviser: Scott Zeger)
• 1999: Yingqing Chen (Adviser: Mei-Cheng Wang)
• 1998: Wenzheng Huang (Adviser: Richard Royall)
• 1997: Sarah Gray (Adviser: Ron Brookmeyer)
• 1996: Paul Rathouz (Adviser: Kung-Yee Liang)
• 1995: Patrick Heagerty (Adviser: Scott Zeger)

This departmental award honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics PhD student on the first-year comprehensive examination.

• 2025: Yuzi Li
• 2024: Wenxuan Lu
• 2023: Shuai Li
• 2022: Jiuyao Lu
• 2021: Yuzheng Dun
• 2020: Claire Heffernan
• 2019: Jingning Zhang
• 2018: Bohao Tang
• 2017: Weixiang Fang and Arkajyoti Saha
• 2016: Guanghao Qi
• 2015: Lu Li, Sheng Xu
• 2014: Yu Du
• 2013: Jean-Philippe Fortin
• 2012: Lei Huang
• 2011: Yifei Sun
• 2010: Haochang Shou
• 2009: Shanshan Li
• 2008: Russell Shinohara
• 2007: Simina Boca
• 2006: Marco Carone
• 2005: Gary Chan
• 2004: Siobhan Sutcliffe
• 2003: Yun Lu, Jing Ning