Mentors & Instructors

Zhihao Chen, MS

I am a third-year PhD candidate in Biostatistics mentored by Dr. Wen Zhou. My research develops statistical methods for single-cell RNA-seq analysis and synthetic null generation, with applications to tumor tissue identification and characterization. I previously earned a BS in Computational Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Biostatistics from NYU School of Global Public Health.

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Zhihao will teach the Introduction to Statistical Computing course for Summer 2026.   

Xiaoting Chen

I'm a third-year doctoral student in the biostatistics track at GPH. I currently work with Dr. Yajun Mei to develop novel statistical methods in clinical trial analysis, including a dynamic borrowing framework for incorporating external and historical data.

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Xiaoting will support Dr. Hong for Summer 2026.  

Boyu Fan

Boyu Fan is a doctoral student in Biostatistics at the NYU School of Global Public Health. He earned his B.S. in Data Science, B.A. in Economics, and a minor in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley. His current research interests include uncertainty quantification and representation learning for biomedical imaging. Outside of research, Boyu enjoys playing tennis and experimenting with new recipes. 

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Boyu will suport Dr. Shu for Summer 2026. 

Madeline McHugh

Hi, I'm a rising second year M.S. student in Biostatistics at NYU's School of Global Public Health! I completed my B.S. in Statistics with a concentration in Actuarial Sciences at the University of South Carolina, graduating Magna Cum Laude in May 2025. I'm especially interested in how statistical models can be applied to biomedical research, with a particular passion for cancer-focused and genomics-oriented data science. At NYU, I served as a Course Assistant for an undergraduate-level biostatistics course. I've also gained industry experience as an Analytics and Research Analyst at Winmark Global in London, where I built reproducible R pipelines for large-scale data projects. I'm so excited to support this cohort through the PQAR program and help you explore the power of quantitative research in aging!

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Madeline will be the social mentor and support Dr. Mei for Summer 2026.  

Kiran Nagedo, MPH

I’m a foreign-dentist with 8 years of clinical experience and an MPH in Global Health (Epidemiology & Biostatistics) from Mount Sinai, currently a rising Y3 PhD Epidemiology candidate at NYU GPH. My research involves non communicable diseases, global oral health, tobacco cessation, maternal and child health, along with environmental and chronic disease epidemiology. I am exploring new research topics in the realms of Renal Diseases, Cardiovascular Diseases, Digital Health, Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, and HIV at the moment.  I am the Immediate Past Vice Chair of the Oral Health Workgroup at the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), Geneva, Switzerland. Actively involved with the American Public Health Association as Student Assembly’s Professional Development Chair, and through completing the APHA Maternal and Child Health Fellowship as Student Fellow, then Senior Fellow.

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Kiran will teach the Introduction to Epidemiology course for Summer 2026. 

 Rophence Ojiambo, ScM

Rophence is a doctoral student in the Biostatistics concentration at New York University’s School of Global Public Health. Her research interests include social determinants of health, missing data challenges in longitudinal studies, joint modeling of repeated measures and time-to-event data, and the generalizability of findings from randomized clinical trials. Her current work focuses on developing and applying statistical methods to better understand how time-varying social, behavioral, and biophysiological factors shape cardiovascular health outcomes. She is also developing work on Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized trial (SMART) designs, with a focus on using statistical decision-theoretic approaches to evaluate dynamic treatment regimes that incorporate longitudinal biomarkers and survival outcomes. She is currently a project lead in the Applied Measurement and Analysis Lab on a study using Add Health data to examine how different operationalizations of adolescent depressive symptoms, including a full modified CES-D scale, a four-item screener, and a single-item indicator, affect estimates of distress, subgroup differences, regression findings, and classification agreement.

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Rophence will teach the Introduction to Biostatistics and support Dr. Bather for Summer 2026.  

Mariana Rodrigues, MA

I am a PhD student in Social & Behavioral Sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health. Broadly, my work sits at the intersection of psychology, biology, and public health, examining how interpersonal relationships and structural contexts shape health across the life course. Prior to beginning my doctoral training, I practiced as a licensed clinical psychologist in Brazil, working in both private practice and community mental health settings. I later completed a master’s degree in clinical psychology at Columbia University, where I developed a strong interest in and experience with multilevel and life-course approaches to health. My current research explores how relational and structural experiences, including violence exposure and neighborhood environments, become biologically embedded in stress-responsive systems, and how protective social factors, such as social integration, may buffer against adverse health outcomes.

Website

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Mariana will support Dr. Bather for Summer 2026.