Xiaohui Jiang is currently a second-year student in the Master of Biostatistics program. Her hometown is Shandong, China. Xiaohui graduated from Fudan University with a degree in Information and Computing Science.
What first sparked your interest in biostatistics?
My interest in biostatistics first emerged during my undergraduate studies when a friend from the School of Life Sciences invited me to participate in the iGEM competition, which focuses on synthetic biology. Throughout the competition, I was responsible for analyzing data, and I realized I enjoyed working with biological data and uncovering insights.
What attracted you to the Master of Biostatistics program at Duke?
Duke is an excellent institute, especially for biostatistics, because the presence of Duke Hospital provides access to rich and exclusive data, which is very important to me because I want to have research experience in my Master’s. I was also drawn to Duke because I prefer a more rural environment, closer to nature, rather than busy city life.
What do you enjoy most about this program?
What I enjoy most about this program is being part of a lab that I truly love. My PI, Dr. Jichun Xie, is incredibly supportive, giving me the freedom to pursue the research I'm passionate about while providing access to many valuable resources and assistance. Beyond the support from Duke scholars, I also have the opportunity to communicate with guest speakers and I'm encouraged to attend conferences, which not only keeps me up-to-date with the latest developments in my field but also allows me to connect with the broader scientific community.
What are some of your favorite classes?
I enjoyed "Applied Biostatistics I" with Dr. Tina Davenport and "Applied Biostatistics II" with Dr. Hussein Al-Khalidi. Both instructors are very responsible, they presented the material and methods in a clear and approachable way.
What skills have you gained from the program?
As a biostats program, of course I learned a lot of stats skills and knowledge. Besides, most course projects require team collaboration, which I also think is very important in future work. From those collaborations, I learned how to effectively communicate with others and how to deal with difficulties in collaborations.
What does the program do well?
I think the best part is all faculty members and staffs are so helpful and nice! I got a lot of help from all my lecturers, my research advisor, her collaborators, and of course Kendall. Kendall cares about everyone here, everyone loves Kendall J
What's the most challenging aspect of the program?
Sometimes due dates come together, and it is a little difficult to handle them altogether, this requires time management skills.
What type of work did you do for your internship?
I did my intern in Jichun’s lab, kind of following my previous research here. I built a computation framework for spatial transcriptomics analysis, which lead me to a chance to present it in ICML.
What advice do you have for incoming students?
This is a great department, everyone is helpful and nice, even if your passion is not that in stats which happens to me unfortunately, you can still get the chance to do research that you’re interested in. Be brave and find your passion!
What type of work do you see yourself doing in the future?
I hope to do a Ph.D. in computation biology, and then find a job as research scientist focusing on biomedical engineering, I want to solve practical problems and use new omics technology to find translational solutions that contribute to the society.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I play video games and cook. Contact me if you play Ensemble Stars :)