Graduate Program: PhD in Biostatistics (2020)
Title & Institution: Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Harvard University
Location: Boston, MA
Rui Duan, PhD is a 2020 graduate of the PhD in Biostatistics program, administered by the Graduate Group in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (GGEB) at the University of Pennsylvania. Before entering the program, Dr. Duan earned her BS in Mathematics (2013) at Fudan University and MS in Biostatistics (2015) at Duke University. During her time as a doctoral student, Dr. Duan was advised by Yong Chen, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics.
Today, Dr. Duan serves as an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University. She is also a faculty affiliate in the Department of Epidemiology. Her is focused on statistical and computational methods for integrating evidence from diverse data sources, identifying signals from high dimensional data, and accounting for sub-optimality of real-world data, such as missing data and measurement errors. Her research is supported by the Harvard Chan School of Public Health Dean’s Fund for Scientific Achievements, Harvard Data Science Initiative Competitive Research Fund, Google Research Scholar Award, and the National Institutes of Health.
We reached out to Dr. Duan to learn more about her current work and to invite her to reflect on her time as a PhD student in the Graduate Group in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (GGEB) at the University of Pennsylvania.
What is a typical day like in your current role as a faculty member at Harvard University?
I’ve become a morning person out of necessity, avoiding Boston’s infamous rush-hour traffic. My day kicks off promptly at 7 AM with a quick breakfast (always coffee!) before heading into work. Mornings are reserved for deep, focused research. Throughout the day, I transition into lecturer mode, meeting with students, postdocs and collaborators. Evenings are reserved for the quieter tasks: diving into literature or editing papers.
What do you value most about your current role?
One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is collaborating with experts across various fields and mentoring bright students and trainees. I constantly learn from my collaborators, and there’s immense satisfaction in tackling research problems, generating exciting new ideas, and developing tools that address real-world challenges effectively.
Why did you choose the Graduate Group in Epidemiology & Biostatistics program?
I chose GGEB because of my deep interest in biomedical and health-related research. When I applied for PhD programs in biostatistics, GGEB stood out because they have a large number of faculty members compared to students, offering a wide range of research areas to explore. What really appealed to me is their approach of requiring three lab rotations before choosing a dissertation advisor and direction. It’s a practical and attractive feature that allows me to explore different options before committing.
What was the most meaningful part of your experience in the program?
There were many! During my first year, I was mostly taking courses and spent a whole summer gearing up for the qualifying exam, which really set a strong foundation for my work today. Figuring out my dissertation topic and finishing three papers in three years was a big part of it too. Having so many meetings with my advisor and committee members really helped shape my research skills, taught me to think independently, and improved my ability to mentor others.
What faculty member, mentor, or course was most influential for you and why?
My dissertation advisor, Yong Chen, was incredibly supportive. He encouraged me to explore new research directions, sponsored my travel to various conferences, and consistently guided me towards relevant literature that helped solve my research challenges. Even after graduation, I make a point to catch up with him occasionally, and I’ve received invaluable career advice from our conversations.
What is one piece of advice that you would offer current or aspiring students?
Never hesitate to seek guidance or explore new opportunities.
What is on the horizon for you in terms of your career goals or research path?
My current research mainly focuses on: 1) Developing algorithms that are more generalizable and transferable across diverse healthcare systems, and more robust to distributional shifts; 2) methods for mitigating biases due to underrepresentation of minority and disadvantaged groups within biomedical datasets and evaluating health disparities; and 3) methods to facilitate multi-institutional collaborative research through efficient data-sharing strategies and analytical techniques that prioritize privacy and communication efficiency across institutions. My career goals are to advance the fields of biomedical science and public health through the development and implementation of statistical methods that generate evidence from experimental and real-world data, become an insightful and supportive mentor for students and trainees, and promote diversity at all levels.