Dr. Michele Guindani named interim chair of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics

Dr. Michele Guindani, professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics, will serve as interim chair of the department beginning on July 1, 2026.

Guindani internationally renowned for his work in Bayesian statistics, biostatistics, and data science. His research focuses on the analysis of complex, high-dimensional biomedical data, with particular emphasis on neuroimaging, radiomics, integrative genomics, microbiome data, clustering, and Bayesian nonparametric modeling. Guindani will succeed Dr. Damla Senturk, who has decided to step down as chair and transition full-time to her role as professor of biostatistics. 

“Reflecting on the past three years, it has been a profound privilege to serve our Department of Biostatistics and the Fielding School,” Senturk said. “I am deeply grateful for such a rewarding experience and am thrilled that Dr. Michele Guindani will be leading the department forward as interim chair.”

Guindani joined UCLA in 2022 after holding faculty positions at University of California, Irvine; the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; and the University of New Mexico, His work includes developing statistically rigorous methodology for understanding complex biological and behavioral processes and for advancing data-driven research in health and medicine.

“It is an honor and a privilege to succeed Dr. Senturk, who is a great colleague and has done, and continues to do, so much for the department and for our school,” Guindani said. “It is my hope to build on her excellent work, and that of our department’s previous chairs, as we move farther into the eras of ‘big data’ and artificial intelligence.”

Along with his academic and teaching work, Guindani served as editor-in-chief of the research journal Bayesian Analysis from 2018 to 2021 and currently serves in several editorial roles, including as a chief statistical advisor for Nature Medicine, founding co-editor of the journal Statistics and Data Science in Imaging, and incoming co-editor of Computational Statistics & Data Analysis.

“Dr. Guindani’s exceptional accomplishments in his research and service roles position him well for this new role. I’m confident that he will excel in leading the department,” said Dr. Ron Brookmeyer, dean and distinguished professor of biostatistics at UCLA Fielding.

Guindani has also held leadership roles in professional organizations, including service as the president of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis. A 2005 doctoral graduate of the Università Bocconi, in Milan, Italy, Guindani was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas before his academic positions at the universities of New Mexico and Texas and UC Irvine.