Marie Diener-West, PhD

Helen Abbey and Margaret Merrell Professor of Biostatistics Education

Marie Diener-West is a professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with a joint appointment in the School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology. She received her BS degree in biology and mathematics form the Loyola University of Chicago and her PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. For the past fourteen years, Dr. Diener-West's main research interests have been in the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials. Before receiving her academic appointment at Hopkins in 1986, Dr. Diener-West was a senior statistician with the statistical unit of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, a cooperative group funded by the National Cancer Institute to conduct clinical trials of radiation therapy. Since 1986, she has been the study statistician and deputy director of the data coordinating center for the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study, a set of long-term multicenter clinical trials designed to evaluate the effectiveness of different therapies on prolonging survival of patients with ocular melanoma. Dr. Diener-West is also a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Trials and has served on various data monitoring boards and clinical research committees. Since 1990, Dr. Diener-West has taught introductory biostatistics at the school. She received the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1991, 1997, and 1998 and also Teaching Quality Awards from 1992 through 1996.

Dr. Diener-West believes that the study of biostatistics is often faced with apprehension because of the mathematics involved. She stresses the usefulness of statistical approaches for answering public health questions and the rationale behind the methods and related calculations.

Sukon Kanchanaraksa, PhD, MHS

Associate Scientist, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Sukon Kanchanaraksa is the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning with Technology and an associate scientist in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. He received his MHS degree in the field of Pathobiology and his PhD degree in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. His research interests have been in the areas of database management and data analysis. He is currently a co-investigator overseeing data management and data analysis in two community trials involving environmental factors and childhood asthma. Over the past ten years, he has been a co-investigator in an ongoing health surveillance study of workers in the pulp and paper mill industry. He also participates the management of the Maryland Cancer Registry. In addition, he has consulted with the American Nursing Association, Veterans Affairs, and various industries and corporations in analyzing various types of data. Since 1993, he has taught the Principles of Epidemiology course at both the Washington Center and the Montgomery County Center of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Philosophically, Dr. Kanchanaraksa believes that if students rely on their foundation of common sense and logic, they will acquire the majority of knowledge needed in epidemiology. We are all exposed to the methods and concepts of epidemiology everyday—while watching the news, making our daily decisions, and interacting with our environment. So, when teaching epidemiology, Dr. Kanchanaraksa presents the concepts in a structured and logical step-by-step manner, correlating real-world examples to aid in the understanding of epidemiological principles.

Drs. Diener-West and Kanchanaraksa are two of the School's distance education pioneers. Both realize the educational potential of the Internet for both classroom and distance education settings and strive to bring its benefits to their students.

Brett Ange

Brett Ange is a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology. She received her MHS in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins before beginning her PhD program. She is currently working on projects regarding dietary patterns and heart disease, potassium and bone mineral density, and the effects of diet and sodium on health. Her research interests lie in chronic disease prevention and behavior modification and she is currently working on her dissertation on osteoporosis and bone health.

Julie Herbstman

Julie Herbstman is a fourth year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to beginning her PhD, she received her Master of Science degree from the same department in May 2002, with her work focusing on the respiratory health effects associated with occupational exposures at the World Trade Center disaster site. Currently, her research interests include environmental and perinatal epidemiology and her dissertation work focuses on the health effects of prenatal exposures to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).

Renee Gindi

Renee Gindi is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology. She received her undergraduate degree from New York University in neuroscience and English literature and her MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics from University of California, Berkeley. Renee worked at the California State Health Department and for a reproductive health non-profit before coming to Johns Hopkins. Her research interests include STDs, HIV and women's health, and she is currently working on projects with faculty at the School of Public Health and the School of Medicine.