Ralph Benedict D'Agostino Sr. (born August 16, 1940) is an American biostatistician and professor of Mathematics/Statistics, Biostatistics and Epidemiology at

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 ...

. He was the director of the Statistics and Consulting Unit of the Framingham Study and the executive director of the

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

program in biostatistics at Boston University. He was elected a fellow of the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuousl ...

in 1990 and of the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

in 1991. His son, Ralph B. D'Agostino Jr., is also a biostatistician and fellow of the American Statistical Association (elected 2013).

Education and Career

D'Agostino graduated from

(

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'') with a major in mathematics in 1962 and with a masters degree mathematics in 1964. He completed his Ph.D. in statistics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

under the joint supervision of William Cochran and

Frederick Mosteller Charles Frederick Mosteller (December 24, 1916 – July 23, 2006) was an American mathematician, considered one of the most eminent statisticians of the 20th century. He was the founding chairman of Harvard's statistics department from 1957 ...

in 1968. He joined as faculty in the Department of Mathematics (now the Department of Mathematics and Statistics) at

, where he served as department chair, director of the Boston University Statistics and Consulting Unit (1986-2015), and co-director of the biostatistics department's MA/Ph.D. program (1988-2021). D'Agostino is known for D'Agostino's ''K''² test, a

goodness-of-fit The goodness of fit of a statistical model describes how well it fits a set of observations. Measures of goodness of fit typically summarize the discrepancy between observed values and the values expected under the model in question. Such measure ...

measure of departure from normality. D'Agostino was a co-principle investigator and the director of data analysis and statistics at the

Framingham Heart Study The Framingham Heart Study is a long-term, ongoing cardiovascular cohort study of residents of the city of Framingham, Massachusetts. The study began in 1948 with 5,209 adult subjects from Framingham, and is now on its third generation of participa ...

. He co-authored 305 peer-reviewed papers involving the Framingham cohort between 1984–2019. D'Agostino was instrumental in developing several risk prediction models including, a global cardiovascular disease risk function, a coronary heart disease risk assessment function, an instrument for predicting acute ischemic heart disease, and a stroke health risk appraisal function. He also played a key role in the development of guidelines for cholesterol. D'Agostino has played a pivotal role in the journal '' Statistics in Medicine'' since its inaugural volume in 1982. He contributed an article to the first edition titled "The Logistic Function as an Aid in the Detection of Acute Coronary Disease in Emergency Patients (a Case Study)". He assumed the position of senior editor of the journal and served as lead editor for the Tutorials in Biostatistics segment of the journal from 1995 through 2019. From 2007 through 2021, D’Agostino served as statistical consultant to the editor of ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

''. In addition to being a prolific researcher, Professor D'Agostino was a beloved statistics instructor. A selection of quotations from his students, collected when he was awarded the

Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching include the following: “Professor D’Agostino made it possible for me to understand statistics, something that I thought was impossible.” “Professor D’Agostino’s clarity, obvious intelligence, patience, and wry sense of humor has changed my attitude towards statistics from acceptance to enjoyment.” “I now enjoy, and enjoy using, statistics—something that I had never before imagined.”

Writing

D'Agostino has 745 peer-reviewed papers and with over 305,000 citations in Google Scholar is among the top five most cited researchers in the fields of Statistics, Biostatistics, and Cardiovascular Disease. His H Index stands at 246, among the best numbers in any field. D'Agostino has authored several books, including the following: * Schiff, D., D'Agostino, R. B. (1996). Practical engineering statistics / Daniel Schiff, Ralph B. D'Agostino. United Kingdom: Wiley. * D'Agostino, R. B., Sullivan, L. M., Beiser, A. S. (2001). Introductory Applied Biostatistics. United States: Houghton Mifflin Company. * Cureton, E. E., D'Agostino, R. B. (2013). Factor Analysis: An Applied Approach. United States: Taylor & Francis. D'Agostino has also served as the editor of several books, including the following: * Goodness-of-Fit-Techniques. (1986). Switzerland: Taylor & Francis. (Michael A. Stephens, Ralph B. D'Agostino) * Mathematical Modeling: Applications in Emergency Health Services. (1984). United Kingdom: Haworth Press. (Editors: Harvey Wolfe, Larry J. Shuman, Ralph B. D'Agostino) * Tutorials in Biostatistics, Statistical Methods in Clinical Studies. (2005). Germany: Wiley. (Editor: Ralph D'Agostino) * Pharmaceutical Statistics Using SAS: A Practical Guide. (2007). Switzerland: SAS Institute. (Editors: Alex Dmitrienko, Christy Chuang-Stein, Ralph B. D'Agostino) * Wiley Encyclopedia of Clinical Trials, 4 Volume Set. (2008). United Kingdom: Wiley. (Editors: Joseph Massaro, Lisa Sullivan, Ralph B. D'Agostino) * Therapeutic Strategies in Cardiovascular Risk. (2008). United Kingdom: Clinical Publishing. (Editors: Ian M. Graham, Ralph B. D'Agostino) * Biosimilar Clinical Development: Scientific Considerations and New Methodologies. (2016). United States: CRC Press. (Editors: Bo Jin, PhD, Kerry B. Barker, Ralph B. D'Agostino, Sr., Sandeep M. Menon, Siyan Xu)

Recognition

Professor D'Agostino has received many honors. He received the Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching from

in 1985. He was elected a fellow of the

in 1990 and of the

in 1991. He was honored with the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...

Advisory Committee Service Award in 2008, received a Special Citation from the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner in 1981 and 1995, and was named Statistician of the Year by the Boston chapter of the

in 1993. Named one of the most influential researchers in clinical medicine since 2014, he was the recipient of the Achievement Award and the Award for Distinguished Service and Contributions from the American Public Health Association in 2014.

Personal life

D'Agostino was born in Sommerville, Massachusetts to Benedetto D'Agostino and Carmela D'Agostino (Piemonte). He married LeiLanie D'Agostino (Carta) on August 28, 1965. LeiLanie played an instrumental role in both his family, helping raise their two children, LeiLanie and Ralph, and his research career. His son, Ralph B. D'Agostino, Jr., is a biostatistics professor at

Wake Forest University School of Medicine Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the medical school of Wake Forest University, with two campuses located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with Atrium Health Wake Forest ...

and fellow of the American Statistical Association (elected 2013). His granddaughter, Lucy D'Agostino McGowan is also a biostatistician and an assistant professor in the Department of Statistical Sciences at

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

References

External links

Faculty page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:D'Agostino, Ralph Benedict Living people American statisticians Biostatisticians Boston University faculty Boston University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 1940 births People from Somerville, Massachusetts Fellows of the American Statistical Association 21st-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians American epidemiologists Mathematicians from Massachusetts