Yueshan Liang is a second-year Master of Biostatistics student who will graduate in May 2025. Her hometown is Shenzhen, China. Yueshan attended undergrad at the University of California, San Diego where she graduated with a degree in Bioengineering.
What first sparked your interest in biostatistics?
A journal club discussion on applying machine learning to study diabetes sparked my interest in understanding the statistical theories governing these methods.
What attracted you to the Master of Biostatistics program at Duke?
The exceptional faculty and the wide range of biostatistics and computational biology research opportunities drew me to the Master of Biostatistics program at Duke.
What do you enjoy most about this program?
I enjoy the program’s inclusive, supportive, and caring atmosphere.
What are some of your favorite classes?
My favorite classes are Computational Sequence Biology by Dr. William Majoros and Applied Biostatistics by Dr. Hussein AI-Khalidi.
What skills have you gained from the program?
I gained skills to effectively communicate statistical concepts to clinicians and present my research to researchers across departments at on-campus conferences.
What does the program do well?
One of the standout features of the program is the supportive atmosphere. I have been fortunate to receive lots of encouragement and guidance from our “program mom,” Kendall, upperclassmen, and people in my lab. Another thing I think the program does well is sharing research, on-campus conference presentations, and career networking opportunities. Kendall’s emails are a great resource!
What's the most challenging aspect of the program?
The most challenging aspect for me is balancing coursework and my research, especially during the first year with its rigorous required courses. However, I have enjoyed the courses I have taken, and the knowledge I have gained makes it worthwhile.
Did you participate in a summer internship?
No, I was working on my research.
What type of work did you do for your internship?
I focused on my independent project on developing a multimodal framework to prioritize drug targets for rare diseases with Dr. Rohit Singh.
What advice do you have for incoming students?
Go ahead and explore what you are interested in. You will receive a lot of support academic and life-wise from our department.
What type of work do you see yourself doing in the future?
I see myself first pursuing a PhD in computational biology and developing computational tools to elucidate genetic mechanisms of human diseases. Beyond that, I am open to exploring different paths for computational biology, ask me again five years later haha.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I enjoy K-pop a lot. It powered me through my first year. I also enjoy a lot of not-sitting-in-front-of-computer activities like kayaking and badminton.