Dr. Ming-Hui Chen, University of Connecticut

Dr. Ming-Hui Chen is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He was elected to Fellow of International Society for Bayesian Analysis in 2016, Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 2007, Fellow of American Statistical Association in 2005. He also received the University of Connecticut AAUP Research Excellence Award in 2013, the UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Excellence in Research Award in the Physical Sciences Division in 2013, the University of Connecticut Alumni Association's University Award for Faculty Excellence in Research and Creativity (Sciences) in 2014, and ICSA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2020. He has published over 428 statistics and biostatistics methodological and medical research papers in mainstream statistics, biostatistics, and medical journals. He has also published five books including two advanced graduate-level books on Bayesian survival analysis and Monte Carlo methods in Bayesian computation. He has supervised or been supervising 37 PhD students. He served as President of the International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA) in 2013, Program Chair and Publication Officer of SBSS of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the ASA Committee on Nomination for 2016-2017 to nominate candidates for ASA President/Vice President. Currently, he serves as the 2022 JSM Program Chair, Past President of the New England Statistical Society (nestat.org), Co Editor-in-Chief of Statistics and Its Interface, inaugurated Co Editor-in-Chief of New England Journal of Statistics in Data Science, and an Associate Editor of JASA, JCGS, and LIDA.

Dr. Kun Chen, University of Connecticut

Kun Chen is a Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut (UConn) and a Research Fellow at the Center for Population Health, UConn Health Center. He has been a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) since 2022 and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) since 2016. His research mainly focuses on large-scale multivariate statistical learning, statistical machine learning, and healthcare analytics. He has extensive interdisciplinary research experience in several fields, including ecology, biology, agriculture, and population health. Dr. Chen has graduated with over ten PhDs and received Recognition for Teaching Excellence at UConn multiple times. He has also been active in professional services. In particular, he was a core member in establishing the New England Statistical Society (NESS) in 2017 and served as its secretary until 2021. Currently, he serves as the Program Chair for the ASA Section on Statistical Computing and Vice-President for the ASA Connecticut Chapter.

Dr. Chen received his B.Econ. in Finance and Dual B.S. in Computer Science & Technology from the University of Science & Technology of China in 2003, M.S. in Statistics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2007, and Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Iowa in 2011. Before joining UConn, he was on the faculty of Kansas State University from 2011 to 2013.

Dr. Jeff Palmer, Pfizer

Jeff Palmer has been a statistics group head leading early clinical development in rare diseases at Pfizer for the past 5 years. Prior to Pfizer he had worked for over ten years with various other pharma and consulting companies supporting mainly rare diseases, oncology, and neurology. Jeff received his MS in statistics from the University of Chicago and conducted his doctoral research in statistics at Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Yang Song, Vertex

Dr. Yang Song is currently Executive Director, Biostatistics Group Head for Pipeline Development, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., leading biostatistics teams supporting multiple rare disease pipeline development projects. Prior to joining Vertex, he was with Merck for nearly 10 years, rotated through its PA, Beijing, and NJ global sites, with increasing responsibilities for global drug development across multiple therapeutic areas. He also worked with Johnson & Johnson for oncology drug development early in his career. His research interests include rare disease clinical trial methodology, real world evidence, data integration, optimal clinical development strategy, statistical issues in oncology clinical trials, biomarker endpoints, and subgroup analyses. He is a member of the ASA Biopharmaceutical Scientific Working Group on Real World Evidence. Yang received his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Dr. Rui (Sammi) Tang, Astellas

Dr. Rui (Sammi) Tang is a seasoned drug developer and innovative pharmaceutical leader who has contributed to the successful development and approval of numerous therapies—bringing medicines from research to market that now reach millions of patients every day. With a proven track record of building high-performing teams and driving scientific and operational innovation, she delivers data-driven solutions that accelerate drug development and improve global health outcomes. As Senior Vice President and Global Head of Quantitative Sciences and Evidence Generation (QSEG) at Astellas Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Tang leads the company’s global data and evidence strategy across quantitative analytics, epidemiology, real-world evidence (RWE), biostatistics, programming, medical writing, scientific communication, data systems & enablement, and data management. She is at the forefront of applying Generative AI in regulatory and clinical documentation, AI/ML-powered analytics, and external data to optimize study design and development efficiency.

She also serves as Site Head of the Astellas Life Sciences Center (ALSC) in Cambridge, where she oversees full site operations and strategic direction across integrated teams including Research, Medical & Development, Business Development, and IT. Under her leadership, the ALSC drives innovation through internal collaboration and external partnerships with incubator labs, biotech start-ups, and academic institutions. A dedicated scientific leader, Dr. Tang serves on the Executive Committee for Data Science & AI at the American Statistical Association (ASA) and is co-founder of DahShu, a global nonprofit advancing data science research and education with over 5,000 members. Previously, Dr. Tang was Vice President and Global Head of Biometrics at Servier Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutic Area Head of Biostatistics at Shire. Earlier in her career, she contributed to drug development and statistical innovation at Vertex, Amgen, Mayo Clinic, and Merck—experiences that shaped her cross-functional leadership approach. Dr. Tang holds a PhD in Statistical Genetics from Michigan Technological University and an Executive MBA from MIT Sloan. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Yale University School of Public Health. With over 50 peer-reviewed publications and multiple patents, she is widely recognized for combining scientific depth with strategic leadership to deliver transformative therapies that improve lives worldwide.

Dr. Richard Zhang, Pfizer

Richard Zhang is the Statistics Group Lead for late phase clinical development in rare diseases at Pfizer. He has been in the pharmaceutical industry for over twenty years with exposure to hundreds of clinical trials spanning multiple therapeutical areas: Neuroscience, Pain, Rheumatology, Endocrine and IEM. He has extensive knowledge and experience in regulatory interactions and submissions. His research interests include innovative trial design, real world evidence, meta-analysis, data mining and modeling. Richard received his PhD in statistics from the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Ying Zhou, University of Connecticut

Ying Zhou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut. Before joining UConn, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on causal inference, particularly in complex data settings involving unmeasured confounding, misclassification error, time-varying treatments, etc.

Dr. Zhaoyang Teng, Astellas

Dr. Zhaoyang Teng, Senior Director of Biostatistics, currently leads the Medical Affairs Statistical Science team at Astellas. He brings extensive expertise across all phases of drug development (Phases I–III) and post-marketing activities, including global regulatory and HTA submissions, HEOR, market access, and global medical affairs. Before joining Astellas, Dr. Teng served as Senior Director of Biostatistics at Servier, where he led the LCM Biostatistics team for oncology—covering HEOR, Market Access, GMPA, and RWE analytics—as well as the APAC Biostatistics team based in Beijing, China. He also held positions at Takeda Pharmaceuticals earlier in his career. Dr. Teng received his PhD in Biostatistics from Boston University. His research interests include adaptive and seamless Phase 2/3 study designs, biomarker-driven designs, model-based meta-analysis, multi-regional clinical trials, enrollment prediction, indirect treatment comparisons (ITC), quantitative benefit-risk analysis, and the application of AI in drug development. He is an active member of several professional statistical communities, including ASA, BCASA, NESS, ICSA, Stat4Onc, SIP, NERDS and DISS, contributing to the advancement of the field and organizing local and global events.