Lue Ping Zhao, PhD

Professor and Full Member, University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Dr. Lue Ping Zhao has received his training from Biostatistics, Computer Science, and Public Health Sciences, and has engaged himself in basic and clinical researches with high dimensional data, the field of which now is often referred to as a Data Science. During his research career, he has been actively developing statistical methods and applications for translational bioinformatics and genomic-based biomedical researches. In particular, he has been researching estimating equation-based methods for analyzing correlated data arising from large clinical and epidemiological studies, including clinical trials, large case-control or cohort studies, genomic experiments with multiple omics technologies, longitudinal studies with repeatedly measured phenotypes, and family studies with complex traits. Among many of his works, he has developed innovative study designs and methods that enable interdisciplinary researches, bridging the gap between genetic and epidemiologic researches, as well as facilitating researches on pharmacogenomics and gene-environment interactions. Another important work is to introduce statistical rigor into genomic-based clinical researches, by revising statistical principle and applying them to genome medicine. Among them is the development of a statistical framework for building predictive models and for validating predictive models, facilitating translational researches from bench side to bedside. Zhao's prolific developments have profited from his work at the finest research institutions, i.e., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington and Harvard University, and also from collaborating with best geneticists, biologists, physicians and epidemiologists. Currently, he devoted most of his energy to Big Data researches, encompassing large omics data from clinical translational researches as well as rich clinical and health data from Electronic Medical Records and Administrative Databases of Population Health. His objective is to accelerate the translation of Big Data technologies and findings to clinical practice as well as to preventative medicine. He earned his Bachelor degree in Computer Science, Master degree in Health Statistics, and Ph.D. in Biostatistics. Currently, he is a full member at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and is an affiliated Professor at University of Washington. Besides drilling into academic research topics, Dr. Zhao is also actively participating in many national and international studies and in research committees. Additionally, he has been consulting on Data Sciences, Biostatistics, Genetics and Clinical studies, for various non-profit and for-profit organizations.