Growing up in West Chester, Pennsylvania—a suburb of Philadelphia—Rebecca Hubbard loved to write stories and poetry. Her dream job was to become a science fiction writer, but she was a practical kid and recognized that probably wouldn’t pay the bills. Since she excelled at science and math, she figured becoming a scientist was a better bet for a stable career.

Congratulations to UW Biostatistics alumnus Jeff Leek (PhD ’07, MS ’05) and welcome back to Seattle! Leek will also join the Fred Hutch faculty as professor in the Public Health Sciences Division and will hold the J. Orin Edson Foundation Endowed Chair. His first day will be on or before July 1.

Four 2021 graduates from the Master of Science Capstone program met recently with current students to share information about their work and job search experience.

Announcing new mentor program that supplement's UW MS Capstone student opportunities.

Katrina A.B. Goddard (MS ’95, PhD ’99) was appointed Director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) in October 2021. In this position, she oversees a division of the National Cancer Institute that covers a wide range of scientific domains and disciplines, including epidemiology, behavioral science, surveillance and statistics, cancer survivorship, and health services and outcomes research.

Carolyn Hutter (MS ’09 Biostat, PhD ’08 Epi), director of the NHGRI Division of Genome Sciences, is quoted.

Jeff Leek (PhD ’07, MS ’05) has received one of the top statistical honors, the 2021 Presidents’ Award presented by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS).

Fred Hutch biostatisticians and UW faculty members Holly Janes and Peter Gilbert spoke with NPR about new evidence that points to antibodies as a reliable indicator of vaccine protection. David Benkeser (PhD, '15) is also quoted.

In the race to develop new and better vaccines and boosters to block COVID-19, scientists are eagerly seeking laboratory tests that can measure immune responses to quickly show how well these shots are working, instead of waiting months for results of clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people.

Now, a group of top scientists, including Dr. Peter Gilbert, a biostatistician at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, are reporting that they have defined such measurements — or correlates of protection — for the widely used Moderna mRNA vaccine.

Finding a surrogate measure of efficacy should speed regulators' decisions on vaccine approval even without large placebo-controlled studies, which could be impracticable to carry out if vaccines become widely available, said Peter Gilbert, a researcher at Fred Hutchinson and an author of the recent study.