L. Adrienne Cupples Award Presented to UCLA Professor.

The Department of Biostatistics presented the L. Adrienne Cupples Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service in Biostatistics to Janet Sinsheimer, professor of biostatistics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), on April 6.

Sinsheimer gave a seminar titled “Inferring Maternal Genetic Effects,” presented to faculty and students in the Department of Biostatistics prior to receiving the award. She also met with faculty and students in the Graduate Program in Biostatistics to discuss her experiences as a biostatistician, and the future of the field.

Sinsheimer holds a master’s degree in biochemistry from Brandeis University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in biomathematics from UCLA. Her research focuses on statistical modeling of genetic and evolutionary data, particularly the inference of evolutionary relationships using nucleotide sequence data, and statistical methods for locating disease genes.

The annual L. Adrienne Cupples Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service in Biostatistics recognizes a biostatistician whose academic achievements reflect the contributions to biostatistics exemplified by L. Adrienne Cupples, professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, the award’s first recipient.

Cupples came to SPH in 1981 and served as the founding chair of the Department of Biostatistics and co-executive director of the Graduate Program in Biostatistics. During her time at SPH, she has advanced the field of biostatistics through more than 600 publications in major journals and book chapters on collaborative and methodological research, development and effective teaching of a wide range of biostatistics courses, and mentorship of numerous graduate students and faculty.