Rebecca A. Betensky is a professor of

biostatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) are the development and application of statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experime ...

and chair of the department of biostatistics at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

's School of Global Public Health. Previously, she was a professor of biostatistics at the

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

, where she directed the biostatistics program for the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center. She was also a biostatistician for

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

, where she directed the biostatistics core of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Education and career

Betensky studied mathematics as an undergraduate in

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, graduating in 1987. She completed a doctorate in statistics at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1992. Her dissertation, supervised by David Siegmund, was ''A Study of Sequential Procedures for Comparing Three Treatments''. After postdoctoral studies at Stanford, she joined the faculty of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1993. She returned to Harvard as a faculty member in 1994, recruited as part of a large

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

-funded contract for Harvard to perform statistics for the

AIDS Clinical Trials Group The AIDS Clinical Trials Group network (ACTG) is one of the largest HIV clinical trials organizations in the world, playing a major role in setting standards of care for HIV infection and opportunistic diseases related to HIV and AIDS in the Un ...

. She became associated with Mass General in 2007. In 2018, she joined the faculty of New York University's School of Global Public Health as professor and chair of the department of biostatistics.

Awards and honors

Betensky has been 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 ...

since 2003, and an elected member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

since 2007. She won the Mortimer Spiegelman Award of the American Public Health Association in 2005.

References

External links

Faculty profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Betensky, Rebecca A. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American statisticians Women statisticians Harvard College alumni Stanford University alumni Harvard School of Public Health faculty New York University faculty Fellows of the American Statistical Association Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute