Dana-Farber Data Science Podcast

What is machine learning? What distinguishes it from statistics? Daniela Witten, PhD is Professor of Statistics and Biostatistics at University of Washington, and the Dorothy Gilford Endowed Chair in Mathematical Statistics. Dr. Witten develops statistical machine learning methods for high-dimensional data, with a focus on unsupervised learning. Our Data Science Zoominars feature

How prevalent is image alteration in biomedical research publications? What counts as manipulation? Elisabeth Bik, PhD, Principal at Harbers Bik, LLC, is a science consultant and microbiome, science integrity and image forensics expert. Our Data Science Zoominars feature interactive conversation with data science experts and a Q+A session moderated by Rafael A. Irizarry, PhD, Chai

How should we teach data science? Jeff Leek, PhD is a Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, co-editor of Simply Statistics, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Data Science Lab and co-founder of Problem Forward Data Science. Our Data Science Zoominars feature interactive conversation with data science experts and a Q+A session moderated by Rafael A. Irizarry, PhD, C

How can we best communicate our data science findings using #dataviz? Alberto Cairo, PhD is a journalist, designer, and the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication of the University of Miami (UM). He is the author of How Charts Lie, The Truthful Art, The Functional Art, and Nerd Journalism. He is also the director of the visualization program at UM’s Cent

How does data transform policy making? Arnaldo and Rafa discuss the importance of data-driven decisions in governance and the state of data in PuertoRico. For the past 17 years, Arnaldo Cruz has worked for the government, private and nonprofit sectors, focused in analytics, program evaluation, finance, and information technology. He is currently the Director of Research and Policy

How is statistics used to predict elections? Andrew and Rafa discuss the U.S. 2020 Election and the role of the electoral college, polls, mail-in ballots and voter data in forecasting results and post-election outcomes. Andrew Gelman, PhD is a professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University. He is one of the go-to statisticians for the New York Times and autho

What do we mean by diversity in STEM and why is it important? What works and what doesn't to increase diversity in data science? Emma K. T. Benn, DrPH, MPH is Associate Professor in the Center for Biostatistics and Department of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her recent focus is on applying statistical expertise to health dispa

What does the future hold for statistics education? How can we improve public data literacy? Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, PhD is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at University of Cambridge, dedicated to improving the way that quantitative evidence is used in society. He has been an applied statistician for over 40 decades and has been involved in

What's it really like to be a dean? How do academic administrators use data collection and analysis to guide decisions? A renowned expert in the statistical analysis of brain imaging data, F. DuBois Bowman, PhD, is dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, one of the nation’s top public health programs. Dr. Bowman’s work mines massive data sets and has import

While we do cancer clinical trials to test drugs, exposures that increase risks are found with observational studies. These have also been instrumental in highlighting disparities. Tim Rebbeck and Rafa Irizarry discuss the challenges these studies pose. Timothy Rebbeck, PhD is the Vincent L. Gregory, Jr. Professor of Cancer Prevention at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health