Department of
Biostatistics

With health-related data being generated at an exponentially increasing pace by an ever-widening variety of sources, and amid rapid advances in high-powered computing, biostatistical methods, and machine learning, biostatisticians are needed more than ever to help collect and analyze this explosion of data to identify new public health interventions and novel medical treatments. The growing number of rich data sources hold insights for improving healthcare, advancing medical science, identifying better treatments for disease, developing better health policies, creating educational interventions, and providing guidance on the most efficient use of resources to meet public health goals. Turning complex datasets into scientifically sound, actionable findings requires expertise in state-of-the-art biostatistical modeling and practice, data analysis, data science, and computational tools, as well as in the foundations of public health. It requires asking the right questions and reaching evidence-based conclusions. This is the purview of biostatisticians. 

Biostatisticians apply their expertise in data analysis and statistical modeling and methods to public health issues. In academia, government, private industry, nonprofits, and beyond, they team with subject-matter experts on a wide range of health topics — drug development, clinical trials, infectious disease outbreaks, community health interventions, and more — ensuring that meaningful information is captured and that conclusions follow from the data. 

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics features national and international leaders in Bayesian methods, big data, causal inference, statistical computing, data science, functional data analysis, statistical genetics, hierarchical models, HIV/AIDS, image analysis, longitudinal data analysis, multivariate data, phylogeny, spatial statistics, survival analysis, and optimal design. The school’s biostatisticians have received many of the most prestigious national and international awards in the field — in some cases, multiple times — and the department has a well-earned reputation for its collegial, warm environment.  

Few fields are as collaborative as public health — and within public health, biostatisticians are particularly agile collaborators. UCLA Fielding biostatistics faculty are regularly called on by departments and schools across the UCLA campus to collaborate with experts on wide-ranging public health-related topics such as cancer, HIV, aging, brain imaging, child and family health, dentistry, ophthalmology, and prisoner reintegration programs. Biostatisticians strengthen the work of their collaborators by bringing rigor to study design, data collection, and data analysis. Given the breadth and depth of scholarship and a culture that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, UCLA is the ideal setting for biostatistics faculty. In turn, the department’s active and varied research portfolio provides limitless opportunities for students in the MPH, MS, MDSH, and PhD programs. With such an enriching research, teaching, and training environment, it’s not surprising that UCLA Fielding Department of Biostatistics graduates are in great demand, with many going on to hold leadership roles in academia, as well as in the public and private sectors.