The Duke Master’s of Biostatistics program held its commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 13, 2017. Several students received awards. Chosen by her class, Leah Gerber received the Student Leadership Award. The Outstanding Masters Project Awards, were given to Dr. Rachel Greenberg (Applied) and Hengshi Yu (Methodological). Tianhui Zhou received the Overall Academic Excellence Award. Natalie Rich gave remarks as the class student speaker.
Dr. Megan Neely, Director of Graduate Studies, exhorted the graduating class to “make their bed” noting that while she had hated a childhood requirement to make her bed she came to realize the weightiness of this daily act. “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” While simple, the analogy to statistical analysis is profound. Dr. Neely offered: “Start each analysis with the simple task of trying to truly understand the research question.” It may take several attempts, but she reminded graduates that collaborative research is an iterative process. But little things matter including each step of the process.
Of the 29 graduates, a departmental record of seven will now pursue a PhD in prestigious programs at Duke, the University of Michigan, Penn State, Pittsburgh, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Texas. Graduates have also already accepted a diverse range of employment in the top CRO’s in the world such as: Quintiles; PPD, Rho, and Covance. Others have been offered positions in academic medicine at Mt. Sinai Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Merck, and also at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, the Duke Cancer Institute and the Duke Center for Predictive Medicine. Well done class of 2017!
