Dr. Sudesh Srivastav Named Chair of Biostatistics and Data Science

After serving as interim chair for the past two years, Dr. Sudesh Srivastav has been appointed chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dean Thomas LaVeist announced the appointment.

Srivastav is a tenured professor who has been part of the Tulane community since 1999. His background includes biostatistics, quantitative bioinformatics, experimental design, clinical trials, resampling methods, and biological-data analysis. “My time as interim chair has given me a much clearer understanding of both what makes the department strong and where we have meaningful opportunities to grow,” Srivastav said. He plans to build on the department’s strengths and realize its collective potential. 

Srivastav sees three primary areas for growth. First, he aims to modernize education and training, from undergraduate quantitative preparation through doctoral study. “Our students should graduate with rigorous statistical foundations and the computational, communication, and collaborative skills needed to lead in academia, health systems, government, and industry,” he said.

Second, he will expand the department’s research and innovation through methodological and applied work in biostatistics, scalable computing, artificial intelligence, causal inference, and health data science. “As technologies and data sources continue to evolve, our department can develop methods that are innovative, transparent, reproducible, and useful in practice,” he said.

Finally, he aims to deepen existing partnerships across the school, the School of Medicine, and the broader university.

Artificial intelligence

Srivastav sees an especially important role for biostatistics and data science as artificial intelligence and machine learning become more widely used in public health. “Our opportunity is not merely to adopt new tools,” he said, “but to develop the statistical foundations, validation practices, and evidence-based standards that make these tools scientifically trustworthy and useful.”

In his view, biostatistics is essential to ensuring that these methods are reliable, interpretable, reproducible, and fair.

Looking ahead, Srivastav hopes the department will be recognized for innovative methodological research, exceptional graduate education, major interdisciplinary and multi-investigator federal research programs, open-source computational tools, and meaningful partnerships with health systems, government, communities, and industry.

In announcing the appointment, Dean LaVeist expressed confidence in Srivastav’s leadership. “I feel confident that under his leadership, the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science can become a national destination for students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and collaborators who want to address complex, large-scale data challenges.”