Post on 19-May-2020
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Curriculum Vitae of Peng Wei
Department of Biostatistics and Human Genetics Center
School of Public Health
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
1200 Pressler Street, RAS E-817
Houston, TX 77030
Phone: (713) 500- 9565 Fax: (713) 500-9530
Email: Peng.Wei@uth.tmc.edu
EDUCATION
2009 PhD, Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2006 MS, Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2004 BS, Statistics, School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, China
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Associate Professor with tenure
September 2015 – present
Department of Biostatistics and Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, University
of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Tenure-track Assistant Professor
July 2009 – August 2015
Department of Biostatistics and Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, University
of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Research Assistant
2005 – 2009
Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
2005 – 2008
Department of Medicine, Medical School, University of Minnesota
2004 – 2005
Coordinating Centers for Biometric Research (CCBR), University of Minnesota
Teaching Assistant
2004 – 2005
Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
Summer Intern, 2007 Amgen, Inc.
HONORS, AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2011 Travel Award to the Fourth IMS (International Institute of Mathematical Statistics)
and ISBA (International Society for Bayesian Analysis) Joint Meeting Park City, Utah
2010 PRIME Award for New Investigators School of Public Health, University of Texas
Health Science Center at Houston
2010 Travel Award to ENAR Workshop for Junior Researchers
2009 Jacob E. Bearman Student Achievement Award Division of Biostatistics, University
of Minnesota
2009 ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award The International Biometric Society
(IBS)/ Eastern North American Region (ENAR)
2008-2009 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship University of Minnesota Graduate School
2006 Outstanding Research Assistant Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota
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2004 New Student Fellowship Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota
2004 Outstanding Graduate Peking University, Beijing, China
PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Wei’s graduate student; *: First or co-first Author; #: Corresponding or co-corresponding author.
1. Cao, Y., Maxwell, T.J., Wei, P.# (2015) A family-based joint test for mean and variance
heterogeneity for quantitative traits. Annals of Human Genetics, 79:46-56. [PMCID:
PMC4275359].
2. Pan, W.#, Kwak, I.Y., Wei, P.# (2015) A powerful pathway-based adaptive test for genetic
association with common or rare variants. American Journal of Human Genetics,
97(1):86-98. [PMCID: PMC4572508].
3. Wei, P.*, Yang, Y.*, Guo, X., Hei, N., Lai, S., Assassi, S., Liu, M., Tan, F., Zhou, X. (2015)
Integrative studies of scleroderma-associated genetic and environmental factors with
fibroblasts identify polymorphisms of TNFAIP3 in association with MMP expression.
Arthritis & Rheumatology (in press).
4. Dong, C.*, Wei, P.*, Jian, X., Gibbs, R.A., Boerwinkle, E., Wang, K., Liu, X. (2015)
Comparison and integration of deleteriousness prediction methods for nonsynonymous SNVs
in whole exome sequencing studies. Human Molecular Genetics, 24:2125-2137. [PMCID:
PMC4375422].
5. Wang, Y., Li, D., Wei, P.# (2015) Powerful Tukey's one-degree-of-freedom test for detecting
gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. Cancer Informatics, 14(Suppl 2):209–218.
[PMCID: PMC4459566].
6. Kim, T., Wei, P.# (2015) Incorporating ENCODE information into association analysis of
whole genome sequencing data. BMC Proceedings (in press).
7. Pan, W.#, Chen, Y.M., Wei, P.# (2015) Testing for polygenic effects in genome-wide
association studies. Genetic Epidemiology, 39:306-316. [PMCID: PMC4406854].
8. Ware, R.R., Davis, B.R., Schultz, W.H., Brown, R.C., Aygun, B., Sarnaik, S., Odam, I., Fuh,
B., George, A., Owen, W., Luchtman-Jones, L., Rogers, Z.R., Hilliard, L., Gauger, C.,
Piccone, C., Lee, M.T., Kwiatkowski, J.L., Jackson, S., Miller, S.T., Roberts, C., Heeney,
M.M., Kalfa, T.A., Nelson, S., Imran, H., Nottage, K., Alvarez, O., Rhodes, M., Thompson,
A.A., Rothman, J.A., Helton, K.J., Roberts, D., Coleman, J., Bonner, M.J., Kutlar, A., Patel,
N., Wood, J., Piller, L., Wei, P., Luden, J., Mortier, N.A., Stuber, S.E., Luban, N.L.C., Cohen,
A.R., Pressel, S., Adams, R.J. (2015) Hydroxycarbamide versus chronic transfusion for
maintenance of transcranial doppler flow velocities in children with sickle cell
anaemia—TCD With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (TWiTCH): a multicentre,
open-label, phase 3, non-inferiority trial. The Lancet (in press).
9. Yu, B., Li, A.H., Muzny, D., Veeraraghavan, N., de Vries, P., Bis, J.C., Alexander, D.,
Morrison, A.C., Dehghan, A., Psaty, B.M., Gibbs, R., Wei, P.*, Boerwinkle, E. (2015)
Association of Rare Loss-Of-Function Alleles in HAL, Serum Histidine Levels and Incident
Coronary Heart Disease. Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics, 8:351-355. (*senior author).
[PMCID: PMC4406800].
10. Xu, L., Tang, H., Chen, D.W., El-Naggar, A.K., Wei, P.*, Sturgis, E.M. (2015)
Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Common Genetic Variants Associated with
Salivary Gland Carcinoma and its Subtypes. Cancer, 121(14):2367-74. (*senior author).
[PMC in process].
11. Xu, L., Tang, H., El-Naggar, A.K., Wei, P.*, Sturgis, E.M. (2015) Genetic variants in DNA
double-strand break repair genes and susceptibility to salivary gland carcinoma: a
case-control study. PLoS ONE, 10(6):e0128753. (*senior author). [PMCID: PMC4452711].
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12. Schick, U.M., Auer, P.L., Bis, J.C., Lin, H., Wei, P., Pankratz, N., Lange, L.A., Brody, J.,
Stitziel, N.O, Kim, D.S., Carlson, C.S., Fornage, M., Haessler, J., Hsu, L., Jackson, R.D.,
Kooperberg, C., Leal, S.M., Psaty, B.M., Boerwinkle, E., Tracy, R., Ardissino, D., Shah, S.,
Willer, C., Loos, R., Melander, O., McPherson, R., Hovingh, K., Reilly, M., Watkins, H.,
Direlli, D., Fontanillas, F., Chaseman, D.I., Gabriel, S.B., Gibbs, R., Nickerson, D.A.,
Kathiresan, S., Peters, U., Dupuis, J., Wilson, J.G., Rich, S.S., Morrison, A.C., Benjamin,
E.J., Gross, M.D., Reiner, A.P. (2015) Association of Exome Sequences with Plasma
C-reactive Protein levels in >9,000 Participants. Human Molecular Genetics, 24:559-571.
[PMCID: PMC4334838].
13. Liu, X., White, S., Peng, B., Johnson, A., Brody, J., Li, A., Huang, Z., Carroll, A., Wei, P.,
Gibbs, R., Klein, R., Boerwinkle, E. (2015) WGSA: an annotation pipeline for human
genome sequencing studies. Journal of Medical Genetics (in press).
14. Wei, P.#, Tang, H., Li, D. (2014) Functional logistic regression approach to detecting gene by
longitudinal environmental exposure interaction in a case-control study. Genetic
Epidemiology, 38(7):638-651. [PMCID: PMC4189963].
15. Cao, Y.*, Wei, P.*, Bailey, M., Kauwe, J.S.K., Maxwell, T.J. (2014) A versatile omnibus
test for detecting mean and variance heterogeneity. Genetic Epidemiology, 38:51-59.
[PMCID: PMC4019404].
16. Tang, H., Wei, P., Duell, E.J., Risch, H.A., Olson, S.H., Bueno-de-Mesquita, H.B., Gallinger,
S., Holly, E.A., Petersen, G., Bracci, P.M., McWilliams, R.R., Jenab, M., Riboli, E.,
Tjønneland, A., Boutron-Ruault, M.C., Kaaks, R., Trichopoulos, D., Panico, S., Sund, M.,
Peeters, P.H., Khaw, K., Amos, C.I., Li, D. (2014) Genes-environment interactions in
obesity- and diabetes-associated pancreatic cancer risk: A GWAS data analysis. Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 23:98-106. [PMCID: PMC3947145].
17. Tang, H., Wei, P., Duell, E.J., Risch, H.A., Olson, S.H., Bueno-de-Mesquita, H.B., Gallinger,
S., Holly, E.A., Petersen, G., Bracci, P.M., McWilliams, R.R., Jenab, M., Riboli, E.,
Tjønneland, A., Boutron-Ruault, M.C., Kaaks, R., Trichopoulos, D., Panico, S., Sund, M.,
Peeters, P.H., Khaw, K., Amos, C.I., Li, D. (2014) Axonal guidance signaling pathway
interacting with smoking in modifying the risk of pancreatic cancer: A gene and
pathway-based interaction analysis of GWAS data. Carcinogenesis, 35:1039-1045. [PMCID:
PMC4004205].
18. Pan, W.#, Kim, J., Zhang, Y., Shen, X. Wei, P.# (2014) A powerful and adaptive association
test for rare variants. Genetics, 197:1081-1095. [PMCID: PMC4125385].
19. Zhang, C., Sturgis, E., Zheng, H., Song, X., Wei, P., Jin, L., Li, C., Wei, Q., Li, G. (2014)
Genetic variants in TNF-α promoter are predictors of recurrence in patients with squamous
cell carcinoma of oropharynx after definitive radiotherapy. International Journal of Cancer,
134(8):1907-1915. [PMCID: PMC3947426].
20. Yang, Y.*, Wei, P.*, Guo, X., Zhou, D., Assassi, S., Zhou, X. (2013) Impact of age and
autoantibody status on the gene expression of scleroderma fibroblasts in response to silica
stimulation. European Journal of Inflammation, 11:631-639. [PMCID: PMC4244759].
21. Grimes, C., Hwang, L.Y., Wei, P., Shah, D., Volcik, K., Brown, E.L. (2013) Differentially
regulated gene expression associated with Hepatitis C viral clearance. Journal of General
Virology, 94:534-542. [PMCID: PMC3709607].
22. Jin, L., Sturgis, E., Zhang, Y., Huang, Z., Wei, P., Guo, W., Wang, Z., Wei, Q., Song, X, Li, G.
(2013) Genetic variants in p53-related genes confer susceptibility to second primary
malignancy in patients with index squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck.
Carcinogenesis, 34(7):1551-1557. [PMCID: PMC3697893].
23. Chen, Y., Luo, S., Chu, H, Wei, P. (2013) Bayesian inference on risk differences: an
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application to multivariate meta-analysis of adverse events in clinical trials. Statistics in
Biopharmaceutical Research, 5:142-155. [PMCID: PMC3706106].
24. Johnsen, J.M., Auer, P.L., Morrison, A.C., Jiao, S., Wei, P., Fox, K., Carlson, C.S, Smith, N.,
Boerwinkle, E., Kooperberg, C., Nickerson, D., Rich, S.S., Green, D., Peters, U., Cushman,
M., Reiner, A. (2013) Common and rare VWF coding variants, von Willebrand factor levels,
and factor VIII levels in African Americans: the NHLBI exome sequencing project. Blood,
122:590-597. [PMCID: PMC3724194].
25. Nischal, H., Sun, H., Wang, Y., Ford, D.A., Cao, Y., Wei, P., Teng, B.B. (2013) Long-term
expression of apolipoprotein B mRNA-specific hammerhead ribozyme via scAAV8.2 vector
inhibits atherosclerosis in mice. Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids, 2, e125. [PMCID:
PMC4027429].
26. Wei, P.*, Tang, H*, Li, D. (2012) Insights into pancreatic cancer etiology from pathway
analysis of genome-wide association study data. PLoS ONE, 7:e46887. [PMCID:
PMC3464266].
27. Wei, P.#, Pan, W. (2012) Bayesian joint modeling of multiple gene networks and diverse
genomic data to identify target genes of a transcription factor. The Annals of Applied
Statistics, 6:334-355. [PMCID:PMC3298193]
28. Wei, P.#, Liu, X. Fu,Y.X. (2011) Incorporating predicted functions of nonsynonymous
variants into gene-based analysis of exome sequencing data: a comparative study. BMC
Proceedings, 5:S20. [PMCID: PMC3287855]
29. Chen, G.K.*, Wei, P.*, DeStefano, A.L. (2011) Incorporating biological information into
association studies of sequencing data. Genetic Epidemiology, 35:S29-S34. [PMCID:
PMC3635488].
30. Wei, P.*, Milbauer, L.C.*, Enenstein, J.*, Nguyen, J., Pan, W., Hebbel, R.P. (2011)
Differential endothelial cell gene expression by African Americans versus Caucasian
Americans: a possible contribution to health disparity in vascular disease and cancer. BMC
Medicine, 9:2. [PMCID: PMC3029215].
31. Wei, P.#, Pan, W. (2010) Network-based genomic discovery: application and comparison of
Markov random field models. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C (Applied
Statistics), 59:105-125. [PMCID: PMC3046412].
32. Enenstein, J., Milbauer, L., Domingo, E., Wells, A., Roney, M., Kiley, J., Wei, P., Hebbel,
R.P. (2010) Proinflammatory phenotype with imbalance of KLF2 and RELA: risk of
childhood stroke with sickle cell anemia. American Journal of Hematology, 85:18-23.
33. John, R., Panch, S., Harbe, J., Wei, P., Solovey, A., Hebbel, R. (2009) Activation of
endothelial and coagulation systems in left ventricular assist device recipients. The Annals of
Thoracic Surgery, 88:1171-1179.
34. Wei, P., Pan, W. (2008) Incorporating gene networks into statistical tests for genomic data
via a spatially correlated mixture model. Bioinformatics, 24(3):404-411.
35. Wei, P., Pan, W. (2008) Incorporating gene functions into regression analysis of
DNA-protein binding data and gene expression data to construct transcriptional networks.
IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, 5(3):401-415.
36. Milbauer, L.C.*, Wei, P.*, Enenstein, J.*, Jiang, A.*, Hillery, C.A., Scott, J.P., Nelson, S.C.,
Bodempudi, V., Topper, J.N., Yang, R.B., Hirsch, B., Pan, W., Hebbel, R.P. (2008) Genetic
endothelial systems biology of sickle stroke risk. Blood, 111(7):3872-3879. (*contributed
equally). [PMCID: PMC2275038].
37. Pan, W., Wei, P., Khodursky, A. (2008) A parametric joint model of DNA-Protein binding,
gene expression and DNA sequence data to detect target genes of a transcription factor.
Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB) 2008:465-476.
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38. Li, N., Wu, B., Wei, P., Xie, B., Xie, Y., Xiao, G., Pan, W. (2007) Functional group-based
linkage analysis of gene expression trait loci. BMC Proceedings 2007, 1(Suppl 1):S117.
39. Huang, D., Wei, P., Pan,W. (2006) Combining gene annotations and gene expression data in
model-based clustering: weighted method. OMICS: A journal of Integrative Biology,
10(1):28-39.
SELECTED MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW/REVISION
Wei’s graduate student; *: First or co-first Author; #: Corresponding or co-corresponding author.
40. Cao, Y., Rajan, S.S., Wei, P.# (2015) Mendelian randomization analysis of a time-varying
exposure for binary disease outcomes using functional data analysis methods. Under review.
41. Xu, G., Lin, L., Wei, P., Pan, W. (2015) An adaptive two-sample test for high-dimensional
means. Revision under review.
42. Li, D., Tang, H., Wei, P., Wolff, R., Hassan, M.M. (2015) Heterocyclic Amine Exposure and
Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: A Large Case-Control Study. Under review.
43. Li, G., Sun, Y., Sturgis, E., Wei, P., Song, X., Lei, D., Wei, Q., Zheng, H. (2015) Site
disparities in apoptotic variants as predictors of risk for second primary malignancy in
patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Under review.
44. Pankratz, N., Wei, P., Brody, J.A., Chen, M.H., de Vries, P.S., Huffman, J.E., Auer, P.L.,
Boerwinkle, E., Cushman, M., de Maat, M.P.M., Folsom, A.R., Franco, O.H., Gibbs, R.A.,
Haagenson K.K., Hofman, A., Johnsen, J.M., Kovar, C.L., Kraaij, R., McKnight, B., Metcalf,
G.A., Muzny, D., Psaty, B.M., Tang, W., Uitterlinden, A.G., van Rooij, J.G.J., Veeraraghavan,
N., Dehghan, A., O’Donnell, C.J., Reiner, A.P., Smith, N.L., and Morrison, A.C. (2015)
Whole exome sequencing of 14,000 individuals identifies novel rare variation associated
with hemostatic factors. Under revision.
GRANT SUPPORT
Current Grant Support
Title: Genetic Susceptibility and Risk Model for Pancreatic Cancer
Funding Source: NIH/NCI (R01 CA169122)
Role: Principal Investigator (30% effort)
Duration: 9/17/2013 – 5/31/2017
Total direct cost: $ 858,148 + indirect cost
Title: Association Analysis of Rare Variants with Sequencing Data
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (R01 HL116720)
Role: Principal Investigator (25% effort)
Multiple PI: Peng Wei/Wei Pan
Duration: 9/1/2013 – 5/31/2016
Total direct cost: $ 842,220 + indirect cost
Title: Genome-wide Gene-by-Smoking Interaction Analysis of Pulmonary Function
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (R21 HL126032)
Role: Principal Investigator (20% effort)
Multiple PI: Peng Wei/Alanna C. Morrison
Duration: 12/15/2014-11/30/2017
Total direct cost: $300,000 + indirect cost
Title: Using Biomedical Knowledge to Identify Plausible Signals for Pharmacovigilance
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Funding Source: NIH/NLM (R01 LM011563)
Role: Co-Investigator (5% effort)
Principal Investigator: Trevor Cohen
Duration: 9/1/2013 – 8/31/2016
Title: An Integrated Genetic and Epigenetic Approach to Cerebral Small Vessel Disease
Funding Source: NIH/NINDS (R01 NS087541)
Role: Co-Investigator (5% effort)
Multiple PI: Myriam Fornage/Eric Boerwinkle
Duration: 4/1/2014-3/31/2018
Title: Impact of Amino Acid Variants and Interactions on Lipid Profiles and Incident CHD
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (R01 HL105502)
Role: Co-Investigator (5% effort)
Principal Investigator: Taylor Maxwell
Duration: 6/1/2012-12/31/2015
Title: Inflammatory Response miRNAs Predict HPV-associated Oropharyngeal Cancer
Outcome
Funding Source: NIH/NCI (R03CA186261)
Role: Subcontract PI
Principal Investigator: Guojun Li (UT MD Anderson Cancer Center)
Duration: 4/1/2015 – 3/31/2017
Completed Grant Support
Title: Systems Biology and Network Approaches to Dissecting Complex Diseases
Funding Source: University of Texas School of Public Health (PRIME award)
Role: Principal Investigator
Duration: 9/1/2010 – 8/31/2011
Total cost: $24,852
Title: Statistical Methods for Finding Missing Heritability
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (R01 HL106034)
Role: Co-investigator (5% effort)
Principal Investigator: Momiao Xiong
Duration: 1/10/2011 – 12/31/2014
Title: Building on GWAS for NHLBI-Disease: The CHARGE Consortium
Funding Source: NIH (RC2 HL102419)
Role: Co-Investigator (40% effort)
Principal Investigator: Eric Boerwinkle
Duration: 10/1/2011 – 9/30/2012
Title: Genetics of Hypertensive Associated Treatments (GENHAT)
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (R01 HL083600)
Role: Co-Investigator (20% effort)
Principal Investigator: Charles E .Ford
Duration: 7/1/2010 – 8/31/2012
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Title: TCD with Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (TWiTCH) Phase III Clinical Trial
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (R01 HL095511)
Role: Co-Investigator (5% effort)
Principal Investigator: Barry Davis
Duration: 9/1/2011-03/31/2015
Title: Statistical Methods for Genomic and Proteomic Data
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (R01 HL065462)
Role: Research Assistant
Principal Investigator: Wei Pan
Duration: 1/10/2005 – 6/30/2009
Title: Genetic Heterogeneity in Endothelial Gene Expression
Funding Source: NIH/NHLBI (P01 HL076540-050004)
Role: Research Assistant
Principal Investigator: Robert P Hebbel
Duration: 8/31/2005 -8/29/2008
PRESENTATIONS
Invited Presentations
1. “Network-based Mixture Models for Genomic Data”. Department of Biostatistics seminar
series, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. September 9, 2008.
2. “Network-based Mixture Models for Genomic Discovery” Department of Biostatistics
seminar series, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. February 9, 2009.
3. “Network-based Mixture Models for Genomic Discovery” Division of Biostatistics seminar
series, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Minneapolis, MN. February 18, 2009.
4. “Network-based Mixture Models for Genomic Discovery” Department of Global
Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Amgen, Inc., Seattle, WA. February 26, 2009.
5. “Network-based Mixture Models for Genomic Discovery” Division of Biostatistics seminar
series, University of Texas School of Public Health. Houston, TX. March 6, 2009.
6. “Statistical Methods for Systems Biology and Network Analysis” Human Genetics Center
seminar series, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX. March 29, 2010.
7. “Bayesian Joint Modeling of Multiple Gene Networks and Diverse Genomic Data to Identify
Target Genes a Transcription Factor” The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2010, Vancouver,
BC, Canada. July 31-August 5, 2010.
8. “Bayesian Joint Modeling of Multiple Gene Networks and Diverse Genomic Data” Division
of Quantitative Sciences seminar series, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer
Center, Houston, TX. September 22, 2010.
9. “Network-Based Bayesian Variable Selection Approach to Genome-Wide Association
Studies Data” SRCOS (Southern Regional Council on Statistics) Summer Research
Conference, McCormick, SC. June 7, 2011
10. “Network-based Bayesian Variable Selection Approach to Genome-wide Association Studies
Data” The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2011, Miami, FL. July 31-August 4, 2011.
11. “Network-Based Bayesian Variable Selection Approach to Genome-Wide Association
Studies Data” Department of Statistics seminar series, Texas A&M University (TAMU),
College Station. November 10, 2011.
12. “Bayesian Joint Modeling of Multiple Gene Networks and Diverse Genomic Data” Division
8
of Biostatistics seminar series, University of Texas School of Public Health. Houston, TX.
March 20, 2012.
13. “Statistical methods for genome-wide evaluation of gene expression regulation mechanisms
using TCGA data” The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2012, San Diego, CA. July
28-August 2, 2012.
14. “Some New Statistical Methods for Detecting Gene by Environment Interactions” Human
Genetics Center seminar series, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX.
November 26, 2012.
15. “A Versatile Omnibus Test for Detecting Mean and Variance Heterogeneity for Quantitative
Traits”- invited session on “Statistical Methods in Dissecting Complex Traits”. ICSA
Applied Statistics Symposium/ISBS International Symposium on Biopharmaceutical
Statistics Joint Meeting, Bethesda, MD. June 9-12, 2013.
16. “Paradigm of genetic risk prediction: variable selection or mixed model” The Joint Statistical
Meetings (JSM) 2013, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. August 3-8, 2013.
17. “Functional Data Analysis Approach to Detecting Gene-Environment Interactions” Division
of Biostatistics seminar series, University of Texas School of Public Health. Houston, TX.
October 18, 2013.
18. “Novel Statistical Method for Detecting Gene by Longitudinal Environmental Exposure
Interaction with Application to Pancreatic Center” NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Division of Cancer Control and Populations Sciences 2014 New Grantee Workshop.
Rockville, MD. January 6-7, 2014.
19. “Novel Statistical Methods for Gene-Environment Interactions with Application to
Pancreatic Center” (Invited Lecture) Pancreatic Cancer Case Control Consortium (PanC4)
Investigator Meeting, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. March 20, 2014.
20. “Novel Statistical Methods for Gene-Environment Interactions with Application to
Pancreatic Center” Division of Biostatistics seminar series, Department of Clinical Sciences,
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. April 17, 2014.
21. “Novel Statistical Methods for Gene-Environment Interactions with Application to
Pancreatic Center” Statistics Colloquium, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University
of Texas at Dallas, TX. April 18, 2014.
22. Discussant in the session “Recent advances in Big Data analysis using cloud computing”
(sponsored by the ASA Biometrics Section) The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2014,
Boston, MA, August 2 - 7, 2014.
23. “Functional Logistic Regression Approach to Detecting Gene by Longitudinal
Environmental Exposure Interaction” Department of Statistical Science seminar series,
Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, TX, September 19th, 2014.
24. “Using longitudinal exposures and phenotypes in GxE studies” Invited speaker at NIH
workshop “Continuing Challenges and New Opportunities for Gene-Environment Interaction
Studies of Complex Diseases”, San Diego, CA, October 17-18, 2014.
25. “Testing for polygenic effects in genome-wide association studies: a case study of Big Data
problem in genetics” Department of Biostatistics seminar series, University of Texas School
of Public Health. Houston, TX. February 6th, 2015.
26. “Novel statistical methods for detecting gene-environment interactions” Dartmouth College,
Hanover, NH, March 9th, 2015.
27. “Novel statistical methods for detecting gene-environment interactions” Department of
Biostatistics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, March
23rd, 2015.
28. “Functional data analysis approaches to detecting gene-environment interactions” The Joint
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Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2015, Seattle, WA, August 9 - 13, 2015.
29. “Leveraging longitudinal and biological information in genetic epidemiology research”
Human Genetics Center seminar series, University of Texas School of Public Health,
Houston, TX. October 26, 2015.
30. “Functional data analysis approaches to causal inference in observational studies” Statistics
Seminar, University of Houston, Houston, Texas. November 6, 2015.
31. “Statistical methods for leveraging longitudinal data in genetic epidemiology research”
Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. December 9th, 2015.
Contributed Presentations
32. “Incorporating gene functions into regression analysis of DNA-protein binding data and
gene expression data to construct transcriptional networks”. The International Biometric
Society Eastern North American Region (ENAR) 2007 Spring Meeting, Atlanta, GA. March
11-14, 2007.
33. “Incorporating gene networks into statistical tests for genomic data via a spatially correlated
mixture model”. The International Biometric Society Eastern North American Region
(ENAR) 2008 Spring Meeting, Arlington, VA. March 16-19, 2008.
34. “Incorporating gene networks into statistical tests for genomic data”. The Joint Statistical
Meetings (JSM) 2008, Denver, CO. August 3-7, 2008.
35. “Network-based genomic discovery: application and comparison of Markov random field
models”. (Distinguished Student Paper Award) The International Biometric Society Eastern
North American Region (ENAR) 2009 Spring Meeting, San Antonio, TX. March 15-18,
2009.
36. “Bayesian Joint Modeling of Multiple Gene Networks and Diverse Genomic Data to Identify
Target Genes a Transcription Factor” The International Biometric Society Eastern North
American Region (ENAR) 2010 Spring Meeting, New Orleans, LA. March 21-24, 2010.
37. “Bayesian Joint Modeling of Multiple Gene Networks and Diverse Genomic Data” The 4th
International IMS (International Institute of Mathematical Statistics) and ISBA
(International Society for Bayesian Analysis) Joint Meeting, Park City, Utah. January 5-7,
2011.
38. “Comparison of functional prediction methods for nonsynonymous SNPs in exome
sequencing-based study of Mendelian diseases” The 12th International Congress of
Human Genetics, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. October 11-15, 2011.
39. “Insights into pancreatic cancer etiology from pathway analysis of genome-wide association
study data” The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2012 Annual Meeting, San
Francisco, CA. November 6-10, 2012.
40. “A versatile omnibus test for detecting mean and variance heterogeneity for quantitative
traits” The International Biometric Society Eastern North American Region (ENAR) 2014
Spring Meeting, Baltimore, MD. March 16-19, 2014.
41. “A novel functional data analysis approach to detecting gene by longitudinal environmental
exposure interaction” WNAR/IMS Conference, Honolulu, HI. June 15-19, 2014.
42. “A novel functional data analysis approach to detecting gene by longitudinal environmental
exposure interaction” International Genetic Epidemiology Society (IGES) Annual Meeting,
Vienna, Austria. August 28-30, 2014.
SELECTED CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTIONS
1. Hebbel, R., Wei, P., Jiang, A., Hillery, C., Scott, J.P., Nelson, S.C., Enenstein, J., Milbauer,
L., Bodempudi, V., Pan, W., Hirsch, B., Topper, J.N., and Yang, R.B. (2007) Genetic
10
Influence of the Systems Biology of Sickle Stroke Risk Detected by Endothelial Gene
Expression. The American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting Abstracts 2007,
Blood 110(11): Abstract 427.
2. Mahmud, M.A., Wang, J., Wei, P., Thomas, M.S., Belcher, J.D., Vercellotti, G.M., and
Slungaard, A. (2007) The Major Phagocyte Peroxidase-Derived Oxidant, HOSCN
(Hypothiocyanous Acid), Induces Proinflammatory and Cytoprotective Gene Expression in
Endothelium: A Mechanism for Microlocalized Regulation of Inflammation. The American
Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting Abstracts 2007, Blood 110(11): Abstract
3295.
ACADEMIC SERVICE
Intra-Institutional Service
2011-present Biostatistics Department Representative on the UTSPH Faculty Council
2015-present Member on Faculty Diversity Subcommittee, UTSPH
2013-2015 Member and Chair Search Committee for Biostatistics Faculty in Big Data
2011-present Member on Biostatistics PhD Preliminary Exam Committee, UTSPH
2011 Spring Organizer of the Biostatistics seminar series, UTSPH
2010 Internal Grant Peer Review Panelist University of Texas School of Nursing at
Houston
2006-2007 Student Representative Biostatistics Faculty Meeting, University of Minnesota
Extramural Service
2015 External reviewer Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure, Department of
Mathematical Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas.
2014 External Grant Reviewer Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
2010-2011 Member on University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) Scholars Academy K-20
Development Council
Service to the Profession
2016 Invited Session Organizer of “Statistical challenges and advances in the Precision
Medicine Initiative” (Invited session sponsored by the American Statistical Association
(ASA) Section on Statistics in Epidemiology) The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2016,
Chicago, IL, July 30-August 4, 2016 (upcoming).
2015 Session Organizer of “Recent advances in statistical methods for genetic study of
complex disease” (Topic-contributed session sponsored by the International Chinese
Statistical Association) The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2015, Seattle, WA, August 8-13,
2015.
2014 Session Chair of “Methods for statistical genetics” The International Biometric Society
Eastern North American Region (ENAR) 2014 Spring Meeting, Baltimore, MD. March
16-19, 2014.
2014 Session Chair of “Frontiers in statistical genetics for complex trait association” The
International Biometric Society Eastern North American Region (ENAR) 2014 Spring
Meeting, Baltimore, MD. March 16-19, 2014.
2014 Session Organizer of “Recent advances in Big Data analysis using cloud computing”
(Topic-contributed session sponsored by the ASA Biometrics Section) The Joint Statistical
Meetings (JSM) 2014, Boston, MA, August 2 - 7, 2014.
2013 Session Organizer of “Recent advances in disease risk prediction methods using
genetic and genomic data” (Topic-contributed session sponsored by ENAR) The Joint
Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2013, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 3 - 8, 2013.
11
2012 Member on International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA) Applied Statistics
Symposium Student Paper Travel Award Committee
2012 Session Chair of “New trends in statistical analysis of biological networks” The
International Biometric Society Eastern North American Region (ENAR) 2012 Spring
Meeting, Washington, DC, April 1-4, 2012.
2012 Session Chair of “eQTL and Causal Analysis in Genomics” The Joint Statistical
Meetings (JSM) 2012, San Diego, CA, July 28-August 2, 2012.
2010 Session Chair of “Next generation sequencing and transcription factor in binding sites”
The International Biometric Society Eastern North American Region (ENAR) 2010 Spring
Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
Grant Reviewer
2015 Reviewer Cancer, Cardiovascular, and Sleep Epidemiology Panel B Study Section,
Center for Scientific Review, NIH
2015 Reviewer UK Medical Research Council (MRC)
2014 External Grant Reviewer Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
2010 Internal Grant Peer Review Panelist University of Texas School of Nursing at
Houston
Journal Referee
American Journal of Human Genetics (2013-)
Annals of Applied Statistics (2012-; served twice)
Annals of Human Genetics (2011-)
Biometrics (2010-; served twice)
Bioinformatics (2009- ; served 12 times)
Biostatistics (2014-)
BMC Bioinformatics (2010-)
BMC Genetics (2013-)
BMC Medical Genomics (2010-)
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (2011-)
Briefings in Bioinformatics (2015-)
Cancer Prevention Research (2014-)
Carcinogenesis (2013-; served 3 times)
Computational Statistics and Data Analysis (2008-)
Computers in Biology and Medicine (2013-)
Genetic Epidemiology (2013-; served 4 times)
Heredity (2015-)
Human Genetics (2015-)
International Journal of Data Mining and Bioinformatics (2010-)
Journal of Biometrics and Biostatistics (2010-; served twice)
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (2008-; served 4 times)
Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA) (2012-; served twice)
Journal of Medical Genetics (2011-)
Journal of Probability and Statistics (2014-)
Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference (2009-)
Model Assisted Statistics and Applications (2012-)
Nucleic Acids Research (2012-; twice)
PeerJ (2013-)
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PLoS Computational Biology (2013-)
PLoS ONE (2010-)
Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology (2011-)
Statistics and Computing (2013-)
Statistics in Biosciences (2011-; twice)
Statistics in Medicine (2011-; served twice)
TEACHING
University of Texas School of Public Health
Fall 2015 Course: PH1980 - Introduction to Genomics and Bioinformatics
Role: Course Co-instructor (15% effort)
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 16
Spring 2015 Course: PH1911-Theory of Biostatistics II (Statistical Inference)
Role: Course Instructor
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 15
Course Evaluation: 4.9/5
Fall 2014 Course: PH1980 - Introduction to Genomics and Bioinformatics
Role: Course Co-instructor (15% effort)
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 14
Course Evaluation: 4.7/5
Spring 2014 Course: PH1911-Theory of Biostatistics II (Statistical Inference)
Role: Course Instructor
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 27
Course Evaluation: 4.8/5
Fall 2013 Course: PH1980 - Introduction to Genomics and Bioinformatics
Role: Course Co-instructor (15% effort)
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 21
Spring 2013 Course: PH1911-Theory of Biostatistics II (Statistical Inference)
Role: Course Instructor
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 27
Course Evaluation: 5.0/5
Spring 2012 Course: PH1911-Theory of Biostatistics II (Statistical Inference)
Role: Course Instructor
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 27
Course Evaluation: 4.9/5
Spring 2012 Course: PH1998 – Intro to Computational Systems Biology
Role: Course Instructor (25% effort)
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 5
Course Evaluation: 5/5
Fall 2011 Course: PH1998 – Resampling and Nonparametric Regression
Role: Course Instructor (newly developed course)
Credits: 3 Enrollment: 16
Course Evaluation: 5/5
Spring 2011 Course: PH1911-Theory of Biostatistics II (Statistical Inference)
Role: Course Instructor
Credits: 4 Enrollment: 37
Course Evaluation: 4.7/5
Spring 2011 Course: PH1998-500-Current Issues in Biostatistics
13
Role: Course Instructor
Credits: 1 Enrollment: 13
Course Evaluation: 4.8/5
Spring 2010 Course: PH1911-Theory of Biostatistics II (Statistical Inference)
Role: Course Instructor
Credits: 4 Enrollment: 16
Course Evaluation: 4.8/5
University of Minnesota, School of Public Health
Spring 2007 Course: Statistical Learning and Data Mining
Role: Teaching Assistant
Fall 2005 Course: Statistics for Human Genetics and Molecular Biology
Role: Teaching Assistant
Fall 2004 & Summer 2005
Course: Biostatistical Methods I
Role: Teaching Assistant
STUDENT ADVISING AND COMMITTEE MEMBER
University of Texas School of Public Health
Students who have graduated
Student Name Degree Program Duration Role
Ying Wang MS in Biostatistics 2009-2011 Thesis advisor
(Current Position: Research Bioanalyst, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center,
Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology)
Wafa F. Taiym MPH in
Epidemiology
2010-2011 Thesis committee
member
Hongwei Tang PhD in Epidemiology 2010-2012 Dissertation committee
member
(Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer
Center)
Henry Xingzhi Song MS in Biostatistics Summer 2010-Fall
2012
Thesis advisor
(Current Position: Institute Research Scientist, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer
Center, Applied Cancer Science Institute)
Hong Zhang PhD in Biostatistics 2011-2013 Dissertation committee
chair
(Current Position: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)
Liang Chen MS in Biostatistics 2010-2013 Academic & Thesis
advisor
Bing Yu PhD in Epidemiology 2011-2013 Dissertation committee
member
(Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and
Environmental Science, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston)
Weihe Zhou MS in Biostatistics 2012-2013 Academic advisor
Saroochi Agarwal PhD in Epidemiology Fall 2012-
Fall 2013
Advisory committee
member
Jing Zhang MPH in Biostatistics 2012-2013 Academic advisor
Junsheng Ma PhD in Biostatistics Spring 2010- Academic advisor
14
Fall 2012
(Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biostatistics, The University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center)
Min Qiao MS in Biostatistics Fall 2011-Fall
2013
Academic advisor
(Current Position: PhD student, Division of Biostatistics, University of Texas School of
Public Health)
Zheng Wang PhD in Health Policy Spring 2012 -
Spring 2014
Dissertation committee
member
Getie Abeje Zewdie PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2010-
Spring 2014
Academic advisor &
Dissertation committee
member
Ning Shang PhD in Health
Informatics
Summer 2012-
Fall 2014
Dissertation committee
member
(Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University)
Melissa Richard PhD in Epidemiology Summer 2013-
Summer 2014
Dissertation committee
member
(Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas
Health Science Center at Houston)
Nainan Hei MS in Biostatistics Fall 2011-Spring
2014
Academic advisor
Ping Chen MS in Biostatistics Fall 2012-Summer
2014
Academic advisor
John Teke MS in Biostatistics Fall 2012-Summer
2014
Thesis committee
member
Jialing Zhu MS in Biostatistics Fall 2011-
Summer 2014
Academic advisor
E Lin PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2012-
Fall 2014
Dissertation committee
chair
Caimiao Wei PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2011-
Spring 2015
Dissertation committee
Chair
Taebeom Kim PhD in Biostatistics Summer 2012-
Fall 2015
Dissertation advisor
(Current Position: Research Statistical Analyst, The University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center, Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology)
Yining Du PhD in Biostatistics Spring 2011-
Fall 2015
Academic advisor &
Dissertation committee
member
Yaping Wang PhD in Biostatistics Spring 2014-
Fall 2015
Dissertation committee
member
Anqi Jin PhD in Epidemiology Fall 2013-
Fall 2014
Dissertation committee
member
Khanh Vu PhD in Epidemiology Fall 2013-
Spring 2015
Dissertation committee
member
Jie Yang MS in Epidemiology Fall 2014-
Spring 2015
Thesis committee
member
Mohammad Lutfur PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2010- Academic advisor &
15
Rahman Spring 2015 Dissertation committee
member
Dung-Yang Lee PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2012-
Spring 2015
Dissertation committee
member
Dung-Yang Lee PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2012-
Spring 2015
Dissertation committee
member
Ying Cao PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2013-
Summer 2015
Dissertation advisor
(Current Position: Data Scientist, JPMorgan Chase & Co.)
Shabnam Azadeh PhD in Biostatistics Spring 2014-
Fall 2015
Dissertation committee
chair
Ying Cao PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2013-
Summer 2015
Dissertation advisor
Li-An Lin PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2011-
Fall 2015
Academic advisor &
Dissertation committee
member
Yang Yang PhD in Biostatistics Spring 2013-
Fall 2015
Dissertation advisor
(Current Position: Data Scientist, Philips Healthcare)
Jia Sun PhD in Biostatistics Summer 2013-
Fall 2015
Dissertation committee
member
Xiaoqi Li PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2010-
Fall 2015
Academic advisor &
Dissertation committee
member
Current Students
Student Name Degree Program Duration Role
Yue-Ming Chen PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2012- Dissertation advisor
(Passed proposal
defense in September
2014; Expected to
graduate in Fall 2015)
Yiding Ma PhD in Biostatistics Fall 2013- Academic advisor &
Dissertation advisor
Tianzhong Yang PhD in Biostatistics Summer 2014- Dissertation advisor
Jing Huang PhD in Biostatistics Spring 2012- Academic advisor &
Dissertation committee
member; passed
proposal defense in
Summer, 2015
Jessica Sun MS in Biostatistics Summer 2013- Thesis committee
member
Qianghua Xia MS in Biostatistics Fall 2013- Academic advisor
Jihye Kim PhD in Epidemiology Summer 2012- Dissertation committee
member; passed
proposal defense in
January 2015
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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Member, American Statistical Association (2004 - )
Member, Eastern North American Region (ENAR) / International Biometric Society (2007- )
Member, International Chinese Statistical Association (2011-)
Member, American Society of Human Genetics (2011-)
Member, International Genetic Epidemiology Society (2010-)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Statistical Genetics and Genomics: gene-environment interaction; risk prediction model;
next-generation sequencing data; SNP-based and sequencing-based genetic association study
of complex disease; rare variants; Mendelian randomization analysis; systems biology;
integrative analysis of genomic and genetic data including gene networks/pathways, gene
expression, ChIP-seq, DNA sequence, and SNP arrays
Bayesian Methods in bioinformatics and genetics
Mixture Models: hidden Markov chain/random field models
Statistical Learning Methods and Applications
Last updated: December 7th, 2015