Honors and Awards
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Biostatistics faculty and students have been recipients of the following awards:
- The Helen Abbey Award
- Advising, Mentoring, and Teaching Recognition Awards
- American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows
- American Statistical Association Fellows
- The June B. Culley Award
- Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society, Alpha Chapter
- Departmental Discretionary Award
- The Louis I. and Thomas D. Dublin Award
- The Jane and Steve Dykacz Award
- The Glaxo SmithKline Award
- The Golden Apple Award
- The Kocherlakota Award
- The Margaret Merrell Award
- PhD Examination Award
- Royal Statistical Society Fellows
- The George Snedecor Award
- The Mortimer Spiegelman Award
- Staff Recognition Award
- The Ernest Lyman Stebbins Medal
- Teaching Assistant Recognition Awards
- External Awards
The Helen Abbey Award
The Helen Abbey Award, established by friends, faculty, colleagues, and former students of Dr. Abbey (ScD, 1951), celebrates her long tenure with the Department of Biostatistics. The award honors a Biostatistics student in the second year or higher who has shown a commitment to teaching after graduation.
Award winners are usually announced by the first of May each year.
2019 recipient Bonnie Smith (middle), with Department Chair, Karen Bandeen-Roche and Honors and Awards Committee Chair, Martin Lindquist
Recipients:
- 2019: Bonnie Smith
- 2018: Jack Fu
- 2017: Leslie Myint
- 2016: Prasad Patil
- 2015: Francis Abreu
- 2014: Jenna Krall
- 2013: Kirsten Lum, Therri Usher, George Wu
- 2012: Alyssa Frazee and Hilary Parker
- 2011: Jeffrey Goldsmith, Daniel Obeng, Bruce Swihart
- 2010: Matthew McCall
- 2009: Nicholas Reich
- 2008: Sandrah Eckel
- 2007: Ming-Wen An, Robert Scharpf
- 2006: Kim Fai Kenny Shum
- 2005: Kathryn Ziegler
- 2004: Michelle Shardell
- 2003: Hongfei Guo, Nikhil Gupte
- 2002: Wesley Eddings
- 2001: Michael Griswold
- 2000: Natalie Blades
- 1999: Felicity Boyd, Thomas Travison
- 1998: Elizabeth Garrett
- 1997: Jeffrey Blume
- 1996: Laura Cramer
- 1995: Sterling Hilton
For more information, please contact Mary Joy Argo, Academic Administrator (phone: 410-614-4454; fax: 410-955-0958; email: margo1@jhu.edu).
Advising, Mentoring, and Teaching Recognition Awards
Since 1993, these awards have been given annually by the students of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in recognition of outstanding educational contributions to the School by various faculty and students. Biostatistics faculty and students who have been so honored are listed below:
- 2017: Marie Diener-West
- 2015: Elizabeth Stuart
- 2010: Karen Bandeen-Roche, Elizabeth Stuart
- 2008: Ciprian Crainiceanu
- 2007: Ingo Ruczinski
- 2006: Brian Caffo
- 2005: Karen Bandeen-Roche, Constantine Frangakis
- 2004: Frank Curriero, Mei-Cheng Wang
- 2003: Aidan McDermott, Daniel Scharfstein
- 2002: Giovanni Parmigiani
- 2001: Karen Bandeen-Roche
- 2000: Daniel Scharfstein
- 1999: Charles Rohde, Richard Royall
- 1997: Jeffrey Blume, Kung-Yee Liang
- 1996: Marie Diener-West
- 1995: Helen Abbey, Marie Diener-West, Richard Royall, Scott Zeger
- 1994: Helen Abbey, Judith Cuthie, Marie Diener-West, Scott Zeger
- 1993: Judith Cuthie, Marie Diener-West, Richard Royall
American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows
- Ron Brookmeyer
- Tom Louis
- Scott Zeger
American Statistical Association Fellows
- Karen Bandeen-Roche
- Ron Brookmeyer
- Marie Diener-West
- Francesca Dominici
- Rafael Irizarry
- Allyn Kimball
- Kung-Yee Liang
- Tom Louis
- Giovanni Parmigiani
- Charles Rohde
- Richard Royall
- Daniel Scharfstein
- Mei-Cheng Wang
- Scott Zeger
The June B. Culley Award
The June B. Culley Award honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics student on his or her schoolwide examination paper.

2018 recipient Jason Ji (middle), with Department Chair, Karen Bandeen-Roche and Honors and Awards Committee Chair, Martin Lindquist
Recipients:
- 2019: Bonnie Smith
- 2018: Zhicheng (Jason) Ji
- 2017: Junrui Di
- 2016: Yu Du, Claire Ruberman
- 2015: Jean-Philippe Fortin
- 2014: Aaron Fisher
- 2013: Juemin Yang
- 2012: Yingying Wei, Zhenke Wu
- 2011: Shanshan Li
- 2010: Russell Shinohara
- 2009: Haley Hedlin, Bruce Swihart
- 2008: Marco Carone
- 2006: Aristide Achy-Brou
- 2005: Wenyi Wang
- 2004: Elizabeth Johnson
- 2003: Brian Egleston
Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society, Alpha Chapter
The Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society is the national public health honor society. It aims to recognize and promote excellence in public health research, scholarship, and service for improvement of health of all people, worldwide. It is similar to Phi Beta Kappa, the honorary society for letters and sciences. Candidates for graduate degrees are selected in recognition of merit and excellence in their studies. A more limited number of faculty and alumni of public health graduate schools also can be nominated for membership. Nomination is on the basis of distinguished achievements in research, scholarship, and work that promotes the public's health.
Biostatistics faculty, students, and alumni to have been so honored are listed below:
Faculty Members:
- Karen Bandeen-Roche
- Brian Caffo
- Marie Diener-West
- Alan Gittelsohn
- Allyn Kimball
- Lucy Meoni
- Charles Rohde
- Alan Ross
- Richard Royall
- James Tonascia
- Mei-Cheng Wang
- Scott Zeger
Students/Alumni:
- Agbessi Amouzou
- Yutaka Aoki
- Larry Brant
- Qing Cai
- Marco Carone
- Kwun Chuen Gary Chan
- Howard Chilcoat
- Ted Colton
- Paul Densen
- Michele Donithan
- Yu Du
- Michal Engelman
- Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer
- Jonathan Gellar
- Sarah Gray
- Charles Hall
- Hali Hambridge
- John Hanfelt
- Patrick Heagerty
- Chanelle Howe
- Ruthe Huang
- William Huster
- Young Kim
- Morton Kramer
- Justin Lessler
- Jiangang Liao
- Tianjing Li
- Xin-Hua Liu
- Yun Lu
- Ellen MacKenzie
- Laurence Magder
- Diana Miglioretti
- Lawrence Moulton
- Edmond A. Murphy
- Muzi Na
- Bahjat Qaqish
- Tianchen Qian
- Rowland Rider
- Mark Schactman
- Jessica Schue
- Russell Shinohara
- Alice Sternberg
- Matthew Tayback
- Marie Thoma
- Susan Tonascia
- Chi Wang
- Nae-Yuh Wang
- Wenyi Wang
- Brian Weir
- Aozhou Wu
- Yutaka Yasui
Departmental Discretionary Award

2019 recipient Ben Ackerman (middle), with Dept. Chair Karen Bandeen-Roche and Leah Jager
Periodically, the Department honors special achievement in academics, research, or teaching through a Departmental Discretionary Award.
Recipients:
- 2010: Vidya Venugopal (outstanding distinction in teaching)
- 2005: Weiwei Wang (outstanding achievement on the second-year exam)
- 2003: Jing Ning (outstanding achievement on the first-year exam)
The Louis I. and Thomas D. Dublin Award
Dr. Thomas Dublin, a 1941 graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Department of Epidemiology, established this award in 1999 to honor his father, Dr. Louis Dublin, a distinguished biostatistician who was a forerunner in his field and served as a vice president at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York. Knowing that biostatistics and epidemiology have long been united by a tradition of collaboration, exemplified by the notable partnership of Lowell Reed and Wade Hampton Frost, who investigated the dynamics of epidemics and disease distribution in populations, Dr. Dublin felt strongly about establishing a fund to support students with a joint focus in these two disciplines. Therefore, the Louis I. and Thomas D. Dublin Award for the Advancement of Epidemiology and Biostatistics supports those students whose research focuses on the effective use of statistical reasoning and methods in epidemiology.
Award winners are usually announced by the first of May each year.
Recipients:
- 2019: Haoyu Zhang (Advisor: Nilanjan Chatterjee; Co-Advisor: Ni Zhao) and Pei-Lun (Perry) Luo (Advisor: Jennifer Schrack; Co-Advisor: Alden Gross)
- 2018: Lamar Hunt (Advisor: Daniel Scharfstein); Esther Kim ( Dr. Kunihiro Matsushita)
- 2017: Junrui Di (Advisor: Vadim Zipunnikov); Talia Quandelacy (Advisor: Justin Lessler)
- 2016: Youjin Lee (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang; Co-Advisor: Elizabeth Ogburn); Shan Andrews (Advisor: Christine Ladd-Acosta)
- 2015: Yibing (Oliver) Chen (Advisor: Martin Lindquist); Kathryn Risher (Advisor: Shruti Mehta)
- 2014: Jiawei Bai (Advisor: Vadim Zipunnikov); Kelly Searle (Advisor: William Moss)
- 2013: Jenna Krall (Advisor: Roger Peng); Andrew Azman (Advisor: Justin Lessler)
- 2012: Kirsten Lum (Advisor: Tom Louis); Henrik Salje (Advisor: Derek Cummings)
- 2011: Jennifer Feder Bobb (Advisor: Roger Peng); Andrew Jaffe (Advisor: M. Daniele Fallin)
- 2010: Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer (Advisor: Derek Cummings); Russell Shinohara (Advisor: Constantine Frangakis; Co-Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang)
- 2009: Sandrah Eckel (Advisor: Thomas Louis); Maria Tellez-Plaza (Advisor: Ana Navas-Acien)
- 2008: Marco Carone (Advisor: Daniel Scharfstein); Bryan James (Advisor: Thomas Glass) and Bruce Swihart (Advisor: Brian Caffo)
- 2007: Susan Hutfless (Advisor: Christopher Cox); Sheng Luo (Advisor: Ciprian Crainiceanu)
- 2006: Kelly Benke (Advisor: M. Daniele Fallin); Yun Lu (Advisor: Scott Zeger) and J. Morel Symons (Advisor: Alyson Geyh)
- 2005: Alison Gump (Advisor: Janet Holbrook) and Xiaojun You (Advisor: Ron Brookmeyer)
- 2004: Sonja Berndt (Advisors: Kathy Helzlsouer and M. Daniele Fallin) and Sorina Eftim (Advisor: Francesca Dominici)
- 2003: Betty Doan (Advisor: Yin Yao); Laura Podewils (Advisor: Eliseo Guallar) and Ravi Varadhan (Advisor: Charles Rohde)
- 2002: Jean-Paul Chretien (Advisor: Josef Coresh); Nikhil Gupte (Advisor: Ron Brookmeyer)
- 2001: Felicity Boyd (Advisor: Marie Diener-West)
For more information, please contact Mary Joy Argo, Academic Administrator (phone: 410-614-4454; fax: 410-955-0958; email: margo1@jhu.edu).
The Jane and Steve Dykacz Award
The Jane and Steve Dykacz Award was established by our alumna, Janice Dykacz (PhD 1982-83), and honors her parents through recognition of an outstanding paper by a Biostatistics student in the area of medical statistics
Award winners are usually announced by the first of May every year.
2019 recipient Lamar Hunt (middle), with Department Chair, Karen Bandeen-Roche and Honors and Awards Committee Chair, Martin Lindquist
Recipients:
- 2019: Lamar Hunt
- 2018:Youjin Lee
- 2017: Jack Fu
- 2016: Prasad Patil and Elizabeth Sweeney
- 2015: Yifei Sun
- 2014: Lei Huang and Elizabeth Sweeney
- 2013: Jiawei Bai
- 2012: Russell (Taki) Shinohara
- 2010: Jeffrey Goldsmith
- 2008: Wenyi Wang
- 2006: Brian Egleston
- 2004: Michelle Shardell
For more information, please contact Mary Joy Argo, Academic Administrator (phone: 410-614-4454; fax: 410-955-0958; email: margo1@jhu.edu).
The Glaxo SmithKline Award

2011 recipient Yifei Sun(left), with Glaxo SmithKline representative Dr. Feng Liu (right)
This award, sponsored by Glaxo SmithKline, is intended to encourage interest in the field of biostatistics and honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics student on the first-year comprehensive exam.
Recipients:
- 2011: Yifei Sun
- 2010: Haochang Shou
- 2009: Shanshan Li
- 2008: Russell Shinohara
- 2007: Simina Boca
- 2006: Marco Carone
- 2005: Gary Chan
- 2004: Siobhan Sutcliffe
- 2003: Yun Lu
- 2002: Jennifer Ryea, Yue Yin
- 2001: Brian Egleston
- 2000: Weimin Chen
For more information, please contact Mary Joy Argo, Academic Administrator (phone: 410-614-4454; fax: 410-955-0958; email: margo1@jhu.edu).
The Golden Apple Award
Since 1971, this award has been given annually by the students of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in recognition of excellence in teaching. Biostatistics faculty members who have been so honored are listed below.
Recipients:
- 2017: Marie Diener-West
- 2016: John McGready
- 2013: Marie Diener-West
- 2012: John McGready
- 2010: Karen Bandeen-Roche, Elizabeth Stuart
- 2009: Marie Diener-West
- 2008: John McGready, Brian Caffo
- 2006: Scott Zeger
- 2005: Marie Diener-West
- 2004: John McGready and Ron Brookmeyer
- 2003: James Tonascia
- 2002: Scott Zeger
- 2001: Marie Diener-West, John McGready
- 2000: Bill Rising
- 1999: Ron Brookmeyer
- 1998: Marie Diener-West
- 1997: Marie Diener-West
- 1995: James Tonascia
- 1994: Charles Rohde
- 1991: Marie Diener-West
- 1990: Judith Cuthie
- 1989: Alan Ross
- 1988: Scott Zeger
- 1987: James Tonascia
- 1985: Ron Brookmeyer
- 1984: Helen Abbey
- 1983: Alan Ross
- 1979: Allyn Kimball
- 1977: Helen Abbey
- 1976: James Tonascia
- 1975: Alan Ross
- 1971: Helen Abbey
The Kocherlakota Award

Dr. Subrahmaniam Kocherlakota,whose life was dedicated to his family, teaching and research. To his friends and colleagues, he was known as Subu. (1935-2009)

2019 recipient Zebin Wang with Department Chair, Karen Bandeen-Roche and Honors and Awards Committee Chair, Martin Lindquist
The Kocherlakota Award honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics master's degree student on the first-year comprehensive examination. It is the analog of our award honoring outstanding achievement on the first-year comprehensive examination for Biostatistics PhD students. We are extremely grateful to our alumna Dr. Kathleen Kocherlakota (ScM 1963, ScD 1969), who has established this award in memory of her husband and our alumnus, Dr. Subrahmaniam Kocherlakota (ScD 1964).
Recipients:
- 2019: Zebin Wang
- 2018: Luqin Gan and Xinye Li
- 2017: Hilary Robbins
- 2016: Boyang Zhang and Guoqing Wang
- 2015: Weixiang Fang
- 2014: Zhicheng Ji
- 2013: Yao Lu, Shilu Zhang
- 2012: Bing He
- 2011: Jiehuan Sun
- 2010: Qingfeng Li
For more information, please contact Mary Joy Argo, Academic Administrator (phone: 410-614-4454; fax: 410-955-0958; email:margo1@jhu.edu).
The Margaret Merrell Award
This award, established in 1995 by the friends, colleagues, and former students of the late faculty member Dr. Margaret Merrell (ScD, 1930), recognizes outstanding research by a Biostatistics doctoral student.
Award winners are usually announced by the first of May each year.

Recipients:
- 2018-19: Zhicheng (Jason) Ji (Advisor: Hongkai Ji)
- 2017-18: Yu Du (Advisor: Michael Rosenblum; Co-Advisors: Vadim Zipunnikov and Ravi Varadhan) and Youjin Lee (Advisor: Elizabeth Ogburn)
- 2016-17: Jiawei Bai (Advisor: Ciprian Crainiceanu; Co-Advisor: Vadim Zipunnikov) and Tianchen Qian (Advisor: Constantine Frangakis; Co-Advisor: Michael Rosenblum)
- 2015-16: Aaron Fisher (Advisor: Vadim Zipunnikov; Co-Advisor: Brian Caffo) and Amanda Mejia (Advisor: Martin Lindquist; Co-Advisor: Brian Caffo)
- 2014-15: Fang Han (Advisor: Han Liu; Co-Advisor: Brian Caffo)
- 2013-14: Yingying Wei (Advisor: Hongkai Ji)
- 2012-13: Shanshan Li (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang; Co-Advisor: Brian Caffo)
- 2011-12: Jeff Goldsmith (Advisor: Ciprian Crainiceanu; Co-Advisor: Brian Caffo) and Russell Shinohara (Advisor: Constantine Frangakis; Co-Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang)
- 2011: Simina Boca (Advisor: Giovanni Parmigiani; Co-Advisor: Jeffrey Leek)
- 2010: Yong Chen (Advisor: Kung-Yee Liang; Co-Advisor: Charles Rohde) and Hao Wu (Advisor: Rafael Irizarry; Co-Advisor: Hongkai Ji)
- 2009: Chongzhi Di (Advisor: Kung-Yee Liang; Co-Advisor: Ciprian Crainiceanu)
- 2008: Gary Chan (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang) and Yue Yin (advisor: Thomas Louis)
- 2007: Robert Scharpf (Advisor: Giovanni Parmigiani; co-advisor: Ingo Ruczinski)
- 2006: Hormuzd Katki (Advisor: Giovanni Parmigiani)
- 2005: Zhijin Wu (Advisor: Rafael Irizarry)
- 2004: Weimin Chen (Advisor: Karl Broman) and Ravi Varadhan (Advisor: Constantine Frangakis)
- 2003: Natalie Blades (Advisor: Giovanni Parmigiani)
- 2002: Chiung-Yu Huang (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang) and Thomas Travison (Advisor: Ron Brookmeyer)
- 2000: Guan-Hua Huang (Advisor: Karen Bandeen-Roche) and Diana Miglioretti (Advisor: Scott Zeger)
- 1999: Yingqing Chen (Advisor: Mei-Cheng Wang)
- 1998: Wenzheng Huang (Advisor: Richard Royall)
- 1997: Sarah Gray (Advisor: Ron Brookmeyer)
- 1996: Paul Rathouz (Advisor: Kung-Yee Liang)
- 1995: Patrick Heagerty (Advisor: Scott Zeger)
PhD Examination Award

2019 recipient, Jingning Zhang with Department Chair, Karen Bandeen-Roche and Honors and Awards Committee Chair, Martin Lindquist
This departmental award honors outstanding achievement by a Biostatistics PhD student on the first-year comprehensive examination.
Recipients:
- 2019: Jingning Zhang
- 2018: Bohao Tang
- 2017: Weixiang Fang and Arkajyoti Saha
- 2016: Guanghao Qi
- 2015: Lu Li, Sheng Xu
- 2014: Yu Du
- 2013: Jean-Philippe Fortin
- 2012: Lei Huang
- 2011: Yifei Sun
- 2010: Haochang Shou
- 2009: Shanshan Li
- 2008: Russell Shinohara
- 2007: Simina Boca
- 2006: Marco Carone
- 2005: Gary Chan
- 2004: Siobhan Sutcliffe
- 2003: Yun Lu, Jing Ning
Royal Statistical Society Fellows
- Kung-Yee Liang
- Charles Rohde
- James Tonascia
- Scott Zeger
The George Snedecor Award
This award, given annually by the American Statistical Association, is in recognition of the best publication in biometry. Biostatistics faculty members who have been so honored are listed below.
- 1997-98: Daniel Scharfstein
- 1986-87: Kung-Yee Liang and Scott Zeger (co-winners)
The Mortimer Spiegelman Award
This award, given annually by the Statistics Section of the American Public Health Association, recognizes outstanding contributions to public health statistics by a statistician under the age of 40. Biostatistics faculty members who have been so honored are listed below.
- 2009: Rafael Irizarry
- 2006: Francesca Dominici
- 1992: Ron Brookmeyer
- 1991: Scott Zeger
- 1990: Kung-Yee Liang
Staff Recognition Award
This award is given annually by the students of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in recognition of outstanding contributions to the School by various staff members. Biostatistics staff who have been so honored are listed below.
- 2008: Patty Hubbard
- 1999: Mark Chiveral
The Ernest Lyman Stebbins Medal
This award is given annually by the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in recognition of outstanding contributions to the School. Biostatistics faculty members who have been so honored are listed below.
- 2009: Ron Brookmeyer
- 2007: Marie Diener-West
- 1996: Scott Zeger
- 1993: Alan Ross
- 1986: Allyn Kimball
- 1985: Helen Abbey
- 1981: James Tonascia
Teaching Assistant Recognition Awards
Since 2000, these awards have been given annually by the students of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in recognition of outstanding educational contributions to the School by various teaching assistants. Biostatistics department members who have been so honored are listed below.
- 2015: Prasad Patil
- 2011: Jeff Goldsmith
- 2008: Brian Whitcomb
- 2007: Ming An
- 2005: Sorina Eftim and Elizabeth (Johnson) Colantuoni
- 2003: Felicity (Boyd) Enders
- 2000: John McGready