In the early 1980s, two biostatisticians, emeritus faculty Siu Hui and Naomi Fineberg, joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine. In 1984 they were joined by our former department chair Barry Katz to form the Section of Biostatistics within the Regenstrief Institute.
Their collaborative work soon extended beyond both the Department of Medicine and the School of Medicine. The Section became an acknowledged Division of the Department of Medicine in the late 1980s and on July 1, 2011, became a Department in the School of Medicine. With the formation of the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health in 2012, a dual Department of Biostatistics was created with responsibilities in both schools.
Today, the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science has 25 faculty members who work with researchers in the Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Dentistry, and Nursing. The support staff includes a number of master's-level biostatisticians and data managers. The expanded faculty has also taken on new responsibilities in the education of graduate students and currently offers MPH, MS and PhD degrees as well as a doctoral minor in biostatistics.