BIRD Team
Zhe He, PhD, FAMIA (Director)
Associate Professor, School of Information, College of Communication and Information
Associate Professor (courtesy), Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, College of Medicine
Dr. He’s expertise includes biomedical and health informatics, machine learning, natural language processing, clinical research informatics, knowledge representation, and EHR data analytics. His research aims to improve population health and advance biomedical research through the collection, analysis, and application of electronic health data from heterogeneous sources. He has received two distinguished paper awards from the American Medical Informatics Association. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Eli Lilly and Company, Amazon, NVIDIA, and FSU’s Institute for Successful Longevity. Dr. He has been PI, MPI, and Co-I on 7 NIH grants (R01, R21, P01), most of which are multi-institutional and multidisciplinary projects. He is a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association. He is the recipient of 2022 Lois Lunin Award from the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T). Dr. He's most recent / current NIH funding includes: R21LM013911 (MPI), P01AA029547 (Co-I, Data Scientist), U19HD089881 (Co-I, Data Scientist), R21AG061431-02S1 (MPI), R21AG061431 (PI), R01AG064529 (Co-I, Machine Learning Expert).
Debajyoti Sinha, PhD (Co-Director)
Ron and Carolyn Hobbs Endowed Professor of Statistics and Director of Biostatistics Program, Department of Statistics
Dr. Sinha specializes in the modeling, analysis, and design of complex clinical and epidemiological studies, with expertise in developing cutting-edge Bayesian and frequentist methods for biomedical research. As the Principal Investigator of several NIH-funded projects since 1994, he has made pioneering contributions to survival analysis, clustered responses, and complex surveys. With over 100 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Sinha is highly cited for his innovative biostatistical tools and impactful collaborations with clinical and epidemiological investigators. His current research interests include Bayesian Additive Regression Trees, Single Index Models, Bayesian Nonparametric computing, federated and transfer learning, and their applications to complex surveys, multi-modal data, functional data, mixed responses, multiple data sources, and Electronic Health Record (EHR) data.
Hongyuan Cao, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Cao’s research interests and expertise include high dimensional and large scale statistical analysis, survival analysis, longitudinal data analysis, and biostatistics and bioinformatics. More specifically, Dr. Cao develops statistical methods for large and complex data for statistical applications in social, biological, and medical sciences. Big data is revolutionizing many scientific disciplines and requires domain knowledge and statistical and computational tools for good interpretation. Her work can provide such tools. Moreover, partnerships with substantive experts not only helps them to use the right statistical models but also synergizes her development of statistical methods. Dr. Cao was supported by a CTSA when she worked as a graduate research assistant at UNC-Chapel Hill. She has collaborated and consulted with biomedical investigators from UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Chicago, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and University of Michigan on funded projects. She has provided statistical support on multiple grants, including NIH R01 awards and NIH BD2K pre-doctoral training grants. Dr. Cao's most recent funding includes NIH 5R01DK126162 (Co-I).
Michael Killian, PhD, MSW
Associate Professor, College of Social Works
Dr. Killian is an Associate Professor at the FSU College of Social Work and has a courtesy appointment as a Professor at the FSU College of Medicine within the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine. His research focuses on pediatric organ transplant recipients and their families, adherence to medication regimens, intervention research, and posttransplant health-related quality of life and health outcomes. Dr. Killian teaches multiple courses on biostatistical approaches with health and social data including on measurement and psychometrics. His research has been funded by three different institutes within the National Institutes of Health. He has collaborated with several large pediatric hospitals including Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, UF Shands Children’s Hospital, Miami Transplant Institute at Jackson, and University of Miami Health Systems. He has provided statistical support on numerous grant proposals and awards in the USA and United Kingdom. Dr. Killian's most recent / current NIH funding includes: R21LM013911 (MPI), R21AI148849-02 (PI), 1R15MD010220-01 (Co-I), and 5R01HD077891 (statistical consultant).
Hongyu Miao, PhD
Professor, College of Nursing
Dr. Miao’s expertise has been primarily focused on clinical trial, statistical learning, network analysis, time series, and big complex data with applications in digital health, systems biology, infectious diseases, and neural development and disorders. He has led or is leading seven research projects as PI or Co-PI, including NSF/NIH funded programs. He has collaborated with many biomedical/clinical investigators on 20+ NIH funded projects, including multiple R01 awards and research center awards. Dr. Miao’s most recent / current federal funding includes: NIH 3R01NR019051-03S1 (MPI), NSF/ECCS 2133106 (Co-PI), NSF/DMS 1620957 (PI), NIH/NIDDK R01 DK126042 (Co-I), NIH/NIAID P30 AI161943 (Co-I), NIH/NCI R01 CA249896 (Co-I), NIH/NINDS R01 NS121154 (Co-I), and NIH/NINR R01 NR019051 (Co-I).
Farnaz Solatikia, PhD
Biostatistician, Office of the Vice President for Research
Graduate Teaching Faculty, Department of Statistics
Dr. Farnaz Solatikia is a highly experienced Biostatistician and Graduate Teaching Faculty member at Florida State University. Holding a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics from the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Memphis, along with master’s degrees in Biostatistics (School of Public Health), Applied Mathematics, and Pure Mathematics, Dr. Solatikia brings over a decade of expertise in statistical analysis, study design, and teaching. She is recognized for her engaging teaching style and commitment to student success, having taught graduate and undergraduate courses in biostatistics, applied statistics, and advanced mathematics. Her research interests focus on generating data-driven insights in public health and related disciplines. Dr. Solatikia has contributed to numerous NIH-funded projects and clinical studies, collaborating across multidisciplinary teams. Proficient in R and SAS software, she provides statistical support for wide range of research projects in her current role. Her work is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and frequently cited in the fields of mathematics and biostatistics.