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Biostatistics and Health Data Science
The Barry P. Katz Lectureship brings internationally recognized experts in biostatistics and health data science to speak at IU School of Medicine.

Barry P. Katz Lectureship in Biostatistics and Health Data Science

The Barry P. Katz Lectureship in Biostatistics and Health Data Science was established to honor and recognize the many contributions of Barry P. Katz, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. The lecture is made possible in large part by the generous support of Barry, his wife May, and his colleagues and friends.

About Barry Katz

portrait of barry katz

Barry P. Katz grew up in the Bronx and Albany, New York. He completed his undergraduate studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics in 1977. He enrolled the graduate program at the University of Michigan and received his MPH in biostatistics in 1979 and worked for two years as the sole biostatistician at an environmental engineering firm in Pearl River, NY. This was actually his second choice for employment after his application to be the statistician for the New York Yankees was unsuccessful. He was clearly ahead of his time as now almost all professional sports teams have an analytics department. Dr. Katz returned to Michigan in 1981 and completed his PhD in biostatistics in 1984. His enthusiasm for sports has never wavered, and his geographic journey has led him to ardently follow the Yankees, University of Michigan football and basketball, the Indiana Pacers, and the Indianapolis Colts.

Contributions to Indiana University

When he arrived at IU School of Medicine in 1984, Barry was one of three biostatisticians in the entire school. They would eventually coalesce into the Biostatistics Group, then a part of the Regenstrief Institute. The group grew into a fledgling division within the Department of Medicine, and Dr. Katz became division head in 1995. Since then, the biostatistics program at IU School of Medicine has grown in leaps and bounds, and when it became a full-fledged department in 2011, Dr. Katz was the natural choice to be chairman. In 2012, his leadership expanded at IU, when the Fairbanks School of Public Health was founded at IUPUI. Dr. Katz became chair of a department shared between the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health. In this capacity, Dr. Katz was involved in creating numerous academic programs, including the Master of Public Health, Master of Science in Biostatistics, BS in Health Data Science, and PhD in Biostatistics (in collaboration with the IUPUI’s Department of Mathematical Science), all currently offered through the Fairbanks School of Public Health.

Research and Collaboration Achievements

Biostatistics is by nature a collaborative field, and Dr. Katz’s career has touched nearly every aspect of medicine and public health. He was the director of the Biostatistics Core for several research centers focused on sexually transmitted infections, most recently both the Midwest STD Research Center and the Mid-America Adolescent STD Research Center, projects with NIH funding that involve researchers from multiple universities. The latter was the only center focused on adolescents ever funded. He also headed the Biostatistics Cores for several iterations of the IU Multipurpose Arthritis Center (MAC) Working closely with the IU School of Dentistry, he has been part of several studies on the development of dental caries, more commonly known as cavities. For 10 years Dr. Katz also directed the Biostatistics Core for the Medical Countermeasures against Radiological Threats (MCART) focused on developing drugs to treat radiation exposure with investigators at multiple universities and the United Kingdom. On a national level, Dr. Katz has made numerous contributions to the CARE Consortium, a massive concussion study stretching across 30 universities with funding from the NCAA and the US Department of Defense. He has over 275 publications. For his contributions to the field, Dr. Katz was in 2016 named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA), the nation’s preeminent professional statistical society.

Endowment

Barry’s contributions to research, collaboration, and education at Indiana University and beyond over the years have been tremendous and impactful. He is a friend to all and a mentor to many. Barry and his wife May, family members, many colleagues past and present, and former students continue to support his desire to facilitate the conduct of consequential research in the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science. Through their generosity, including a substantial donation from the Regenstrief Institute, an endowment was established which brings talented and internationally recognized experts in biostatistics and health data science to Indianapolis, the Indiana University School of Medicine, and the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.

Contribute to the endowment fund for the Barry P. Katz Lectureship.

Barry P. Katz Lecturers

October 23, 2024
john quackenbush portrait

John Quackenbush, PhD

Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics
Harvard University

Dr. Quackenbush is professor of computational biology and bioinformatics and chair of the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His PhD was in Theoretical Physics but a fellowship to work on the Human Genome Project led him through the Salk Institute, Stanford University, and The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), before joining Harvard in 2005. Dr. Quackenbush's research uses massive data to probe how many small effects combine to influence our health and risk of disease. His published work has more than 95,000 citations and among his honors is recognition in 2013 as a White House Open Science Champion of Change. In 2012 he founded Genospace, a precision medicine software company that was sold to Hospital Corporation of America in 2017. In 2022, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Lecture Title
A wolf in sheep's clothing: How theoretical physics prepared me to grapple with biological complexity

October 5, 2023
portrait of lisa lavange

Lisa LaVange, PhD

Professor and Chair Emerita, Department of Biostatistics
Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. LaVange is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, of which she served as the 2018 President. She also served as president of the 2007 Eastern North American Region of the International Biometric Society. A leader in industry, academia, and government, she is recognized for her contributions to statistical methodology utilized in the drug discovery process through clinical trials, and for her expertise on the statistical methodology of drug regulation.

Lecture Title
Statistical Leadership in Practice: Case Studies from FDA, Industry, and Academia

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October 13, 2022
portrait of leslie mcclure

Leslie McClure, PhD

Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Drexel University

Dr. McClure is professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health and also the associate dean for Faculty Affairs. She is a fellow of the American Statistician Association, American Heart Association, Society of Clinical Trials, and the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program. She is the 2023 president of the East North American Region of International Biometrics Society.

Lecture Title
You learn something new every day: the life of a collaborative statistician

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Please contact TA Inskeep with specific questions about a particular lecture and Dr. Susan Perkins for information about the lectureship in general.