Janet Suzanne Sinsheimer (died March 14, 2023) was an American expert in

statistical genetics Statistical genetics is a scientific field concerned with the development and application of statistical methods for drawing inferences from genetic data. The term is most commonly used in the context of human genetics. Research in statistical gen ...

who worked as a professor of human genetics, biomathematics and biostatistics in the Fielding School of Public Health at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Topics in her research included

genome-wide association studies In genomics, a genome-wide association study (GWA study, or GWAS), also known as whole genome association study (WGA study, or WGAS), is an observational study of a genome-wide set of genetic variants in different individuals to see if any varia ...

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "o ...

, and

Bayesian Thomas Bayes (/beɪz/; c. 1701 – 1761) was an English statistician, philosopher, and Presbyterian minister. Bayesian () refers either to a range of concepts and approaches that relate to statistical methods based on Bayes' theorem, or a followe ...

methods for

phylogenetics In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek language, Greek wikt:φυλή, φυλή/wikt:φῦλον, φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary his ...

Education

Sinsheimer graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1979, majoring in chemistry. She earned a master's degree in biochemistry in 1985 from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

, a second master's degree in biomathematics in 1988 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Ph.D. in biomathematics in 1994 from UCLA. Her dissertation, ''Extensions to Evolutionary Parsimony'', concerned phylogeny (the inference of evolutionary trees), and was jointly supervised by evolutionary biologist James A. Lake and biostatistician Roderick J. A. Little.

Recognition

Sinsheimer became a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

in 2013. The

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

elected her as a fellow in 2014. In 2017 the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

Department of Biostatistics gave her the L. Adrienne Cupples Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service in Biostatistics.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinsheimer, Janet Year of birth missing (living people) 2023 deaths American statisticians Women statisticians Biostatisticians Brown University alumni Brandeis University alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni UCLA School of Public Health faculty Fellows of the American Statistical Association Fellows of the Linnean Society of London