By Jill Pease
Samuel Wu, Ph.D., a professor and associate chair in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions department of biostatistics, is among UF’s most productive and promising researchers named to the 2023 roster of UF Research Foundation Professors.
“This recognition goes to faculty who have a distinguished current record of research and a strong research agenda that is likely to lead to continuing distinction in their fields,” said David Norton, UF’s vice president for research in a UF news release. “Based on the more than 700 UF faculty recognized over the past 26 years, we can expect significant research discoveries, scholarship and technology transfer from this group in the future.”
Wu’s research contributions include more than 200 publications in peer reviewed journals and proceedings. His main methodological research interests are in adaptive design of clinical trials, simultaneous statistical inference and data privacy technologies. His research has been continuously funded since 2000 and he currently serves as the principal investigator on two National Institutes of Health-funded grants focused on data privacy technologies.
Wu and colleague Shigang Chen, Ph.D., a UF professor of computer and information science and engineering, invented a patented technology for medical data analysis that shields data from users, but allows for standard statistical analysis to still be performed with nearly the same results for masked data as for the original data.
Wu is the director of the UF CTSI Research Design and Data Coordinating Center, which helps researchers across campus by providing innovative research design, high quality data management, state-of-the-art data analysis and advanced data privacy technologies. Since 2018, Wu and the center team have collaborated with UF faculty to obtain 10 NIH awards totaling more than $62 million for studies designed to delay dementia, improve self-management or comorbidities in persons living with HIV, develop pain prevention interventions, and more.
UF is recognizing 34 faculty members as 2023 UF Research Foundation Professors. The three-year award includes a $5,000 annual salary supplement and a one-time $3,000 grant. The professorships are funded from the university’s share of royalty and licensing income on UF-generated products.