PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Even as Brown Professor Constantine Gatsonis stepped up to one of the biggest stages in science at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he was looking ahead to stepping down from something else: the chair of the University’s Department of Biostatistics.

Starting July 1, the new chair will be Joseph Hogan, Carole and Lawrence Sirovich Professor of Public Health.

Hogan came to Brown in 1995 after completing his doctoral work at Harvard. His research focuses on the development of statistical methods for missing data, causal inference and sensitivity analysis, with focus on applications in HIV, global health and behavioral sciences. For example, his active grants include one to apply and provide training for biostatistics in the fight against HIV in Kenya. He is also involved in the Biostatistics Core for the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research, and the Biostatistics Core for the Brown Alcohol Research Center for HIV.

Gatsonis is the department’s inaugural chair, noted longtime public health colleague Vince Mor: “Constantine was the biggest advocate of the creation of a School of Public Health and for the establishment of an academic Department of Biostatistics. He built the infrastructure, hired the faculty, set up the graduate programs and expanded the agenda of biostatistics at Brown such that the young department is on everyone’s radar as a high quality place for advancing the science of biostatistics.”

Hogan said he is honored to be named the next chair.

"Constantine has built a fantastic department, literally from the ground up," he said. "It's a great time to be in biostatistics, especially here at Brown, where we have established important collaborations with colleagues in many different disciplines."

In an internal announcement of the change, School of Public Health Dean Terrie Fox Wetle credited both Gatsonis and Hogan for advancing the department.

“Our Department of Biostatistics is a vibrant unit of the school and the broader University, with an established national and international presence in biostatics research and education, and an integral component of the University’s Data Science Initiative,” she said. “Professors Gatsonis and Hogan are key architects of this success.”