Developing the Next Generation of Biostatisticians

BY EMILY NELSON

THE IOWA SUMMER INSTITUTE IN BIOSTATISTICS (ISIB) is a seven-week program hosted by the UI College of Public Health that provides biostatistical research education and research opportunities to undergraduates and graduates with an interest in the field.

Gideon Zamba, ISIB director and CPH professor of biostatistics, says the program was designed to provide students an entry point to the growing field and encourage them to consider graduate programs related to biostatistics and data science. ISIB began in 2008 with a pilot trial and is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

ISIB students come from across the United States. The summer 2022 students traveled from as far as California and Massachusetts and are majoring in a range of disciplines, including mathematics, biology, computer science, and physics.

“Our students don’t have the same backgrounds or majors, but we think they all have the tools to be the next generation of biostatisticians and data scientists,” Zamba says.

Alumna Keyla Pagán-Rivera knows firsthand the opportunities that biostatistics can offer—and how the ISIB can affect a person’s career trajectory. While studying applied mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico, she traveled to Iowa to become part of the second ISIB group in 2009. She was curious about the field of biostatistics, but she planned to become a math teacher.

“Little did I know that it would change my career entirely,” Pagán-Rivera says. “I realized I would rather be analyzing data and doing stats than teaching, and it was like a domino effect from there.”

Pagán-Rivera returned to Iowa to get a master’s degree and PhD in biostatistics. She now works as a research staff member for the nonprofit Institute for Defense Analyses outside Washington, D.C. And while she’s not working in the health care industry, she says her education prepared her well to apply statistical methods to a different field.

Pagán-Rivera never thought when she left Puerto Rico it would be for Iowa, but she’s glad she did.

“Deciding where you go for a PhD program is not a trivial thing,” she says. “I had never lived outside the island before coming to Iowa. But feeling welcomed and liking what you do and liking the people around you make a difference. The support that I found at the University of Iowa, both during the program and during grad school, was amazing. For some people, it might be the first time that they’re away from home, and knowing you’re going to have support is important.”

Learn more about ISIB at www.public-health.uiowa. edu/isib/