The Ph.D. program in Biostatistics is designed to train independent investigators who will develop new quantitative methods and underlying theory, and make innovative applications to substantive and demanding scientific problems in public health, medicine, biology, and the social sciences. In addition to completing core courses in theory and methods of biostatistics, Ph.D. students are required to develop expertise in an area of application (e.g., epidemiology, economics, molecular biology, etc.).

The Ph.D. program is administered by an active, expanding and highly interdisciplinary faculty in the Biostatistics Section in the Program in Public Health. All biostatistics faculty are members of the Center for Statistical Sciences, which hosts the Biostatistics Methods and Data Center for the NCI-funded American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) and the Biostatistics Core for Brown's Center for AIDS Research.

All Ph.D. students are provided with office space in the Public Health building at 121 South Main St. Ph.D. students in Biostatistics also have access to the CSS computing infrastructure, a high-end, continuously updated computing environment featuring both Unix and PC networks, with access to all major software for data analysis and numerical computing. CSS also maintains a biostatistics library housing a considerable collection of statistics texts and journals.

Demand for advanced expertise in biostatistics continues to be high in both the public and private sectors, particularly in settings emphasizing research in biomedicine and biotechnology. The masters programs leading to either the AM or ScM in Biostatistics provide advanced training in the theory and application of statistical methods in public health, clinical medicine, and the biological sciences. Both degree programs require at least 8 courses; the Sc.M. requires a thesis. The program is administered by Biostatistics faculty in the Program in Public Health.

Major areas of research activity include Bayesian inference, analysis of biomarkers and diagnostic tests, causal inference and missing data, time series and functional data analysis, modeling of social networks, bioinformatics, statistical genetics, longitudinal data, and multilevel modeling. Faculty collaborate actively with investigators in several areas, including cancer prevention and screening, genomics and bioinformatics, neurosciences, social science and health policy, behavioral genetics, and HIV/AIDS.

Brown's rapidly expanding Program in Public Health housed in newly renovated space at 121 South Main Street in the heart of downtown Providence, just blocks from the main green and walking distance to several of Brown's research centers. Its educational programs include both masters and doctoral programs in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Health Services Research, an MPH program, and undergraduate concentrations in both Community Health and Statistics. The Program in Public Health is home to several world-class research centers, such as the Center for Gerontology and Health Services Research, the International Health Institute, and the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Our faculty also collaborates with researchers at Brown’s Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Center for Genetics, Genomics and Proteomics, and the Population Studies Training Center.