University of Pittsburgh Departments of Biostatistics and Statistics

Abstract

Founded in 1949, the Department of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, maintained two major academic programs, biometry and human genetics, for most of its history. New developments in genetics during the 1980s led the geneticists to separate into a Department of Human Genetics. The two departments have maintained close collaboration in training and research in quantitative genetics. In addition to playing a seminal role in quantitative genetics, the Department of Biostatistics has made contributions of particular note to applied and methodological research in clinical trials and in quantifying health risks in populations with potentially hazardous occupational and environmental exposures. In 1997, the Department of Statistics was created to coordinate statistical research in the School of Arts and Sciences. Teaching collaboration and joint faculty appointments have been ongoing between the Departments of Biostatistics and Statistics.