The Center for Health Statistics (CHS) was established in 2001 at the University of Illinois at Chicago to provide a statistical research environment that would lead to advances in the design and analysis of investigations in a wide variety of areas in the health sciences. In 2010 the CHS and its founder Robert D. Gibbons moved to the University of Chicago, where he is the Blum-Riese Professor of Biostatistics, and the Center quickly grew to include a faculty of 32 distinguished members covering statistical expertise in almost all areas of science. Focus has extended to the social, behavioral and physical sciences in addition to problems in our nation’s health.
Key statistical themes in our work include: (a) generalized mixed-effects regression models for the analysis of clustered and longitudinal data; (b) item response theory and adaptive testing for large-scale educational testing and mental health screening and monitoring; (c) environmental statistics, both regulatory and health related; and (d) drug safety.
Overall, we are committed to working on statistical features of any interesting scientific problem, and our excellent faculty provide the depth of resources to accomplish this goal. The CHS applauds several accomplishments of its faculty members, including: (a) founding of the American Statistical Association (ASA) section on Mental Health Statistics by Naihua Duan and Robert D. Gibbons; (b) establishment of the new Harvard Data Science Review journal with Xiao-Li Meng as editor; (c) Susan Murphy becoming the first woman to become a full professor of statistics at Harvard University; (d) and the creation of the University of Chicago Qualitative Methods workshop and committee by Hong, Raudenbush, Hedeker, Thisted, and Gibbons.
We live in an era of data explosion. The availability of large data sets and high frequency sampling of individuals has become the norm. The mission of the CHS is to bridge the gap between problems of statistical prediction which are the primary focus of data scientists, and experimental design and interface which are the purview of statisticians. We are uniquely suited as a group to provide a leadership role in these new and exciting scientific explorations.
To keep up to date with the Center, you may click here to sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter.