We are delighted to share that Nandita Mitra, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics, has been recognized with two 2025 Penn Medicine Awards of Excellence: the Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Research Award and the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.
The Samuel Martin Award, established in 1996 to honor the late Dr. Samuel P. Martin, III, recognizes a faculty member whose research has made significant contributions to health services and health evaluation sciences. Dr. Mitra is an internationally recognized leader whose trailblazing work in causal inference has transformed health services research and advanced equity-driven policy evaluation. Her innovative statistical methods have been applied to pressing societal issues ranging from beverage taxes and SNAP policies to exposing systemic racial bias in capital punishment trials—work that directly led to the vacating of a death sentence and is now shaping legal reform nationwide. Through her scholarship, she bridges rigorous statistical innovation with urgent demands for justice and public health impact.
The Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, established in 1961 by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, recognizes faculty who demonstrate exceptional dedication to education and the intellectual and personal growth of their students. Dr. Mitra’s teaching excellence, mentorship, and leadership have profoundly influenced generations of scholars and contributed to a vibrant, supportive learning community at Penn.
These two honors recognize Dr. Mitra’s remarkable impact across research and teaching—celebrating her as both a pioneering scholar advancing causal inference approaches to public health and equity, and a dedicated mentor who inspires and supports the next generation of scientists.