BMI Students Areli Valencia, Derek Jow and Rosie Sowers attend 2019 BMI Retreat

Our History

The Department of Biomedical Data Science opened on October 1, 2015. It is the first Stanford department to be built from the ground up since 2003, and it is essential to the School of Medicine's mission of Precision Health.

Stanford's Biostatistics Division (with its Ph.D. degree program, Biostats Workshop program, and Data Coordinating Center) has already been fully integrated into the Department. Shortly after the School of Medicine moved to Palo Alto in 1959, Biostatistics became a division of what was the Department of Community Medicine. The division’s founder, Lincoln Moses, was soon joined by division leaders, Rupert G. Miller, Jr. and Byron Wm. (Bill) Brown, Jr. In 1988, the Division of Biostatistics became one of three divisions of the new Department of Health Research and Policy (HRP), the other two being Epidemiology and Health Services Research. From its inception, Biostatistics at Stanford has been involved in the research activities of every clinical division in the School, many basic science departments, the Schools of Education, Humanities and Sciences and Law, and in many national efforts that involved biostatistics. 

Mission Statement

The Department of Biomedical Data Science (DBDS) is an academic research community, comprised of faculty, students, and staff, whose mission is to advance precision health by leveraging large, complex, multi-scale real-world data through the development and implementation of novel analytical tools and methods.

Resources

DBDS on Diversity

We are committed to our historical and ongoing mission to use biomedical data science to improve human health. A cornerstone of this mission is diversity, reflected in embracing a breadth of complementary research interests, research styles, and a diverse and inclusive community. DBDS recognizes that we have significant work to do in shaping our future as we work towards achieving justice, equity, diversity and inclusion throughout our work and operations, our research and activities, and our professional relationships and partnerships.

Stanford's Land Acknowledgment Statement

Stanford sits on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Ohlone people. Consistent with our values of community and inclusion, we have a responsibility to acknowledge, honor, and make visible the University’s relationship to Native peoples.

This acknowledgment has been developed in collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe.