Wei Zhang received a PhD in biostatistics from the University of Iowa in 2005 and is currently serving as a Regional Head of Biostatistics and Data Management for the Pan Asia /META region at Boehringer Ingelheim China based in Shanghai.  In this role, he is responsible for establishing and managing a department with three functions — biostatistics, clinical data management, and statistical programming — to help bring good clinical practices in drug development for the Asia/META region (Asia, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa), where medicine and public health issues are less rigorous scientifically, as well as to support clinical development and drug registration in Japan.  In his brief career he already has made many significant contributions to his field and is currently leading collaborations with investigators, clinical researchers, and regulatory agencies to provide training on the application of biostatistics in design and analysis of clinical trials and translate and interpret international guidelines for various regulatory agencies in his region. He has also been truly supportive of the College of Public Health as he helped train two PhD students in biostatistics through summer internships at Boehringer Ingelheim USA and recruited two PhD graduates from the UI Department of Biostatistics for senior biostatistician positions at his company in China.

James Torner earned his MS in Biostatistics in 1974 and a PhD in Epidemiology/Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health in 1984 and has served as professor and head of the UI College of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology since 1999. Torner’s academic, scientific, and research accomplishments have made him one of the most distinguished and productive alumni that the UI has produced in the last 50 years. He is an international expert in the epidemiology and the management of intracranial aneurysms and has contributed enormous amounts to other areas of disabling conditions including brain trauma, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis. He has published approximately 300 peer-reviewed articles in his career and has written more than two dozen book chapters. After seven years at the University of Virginia, he returned to Iowa as the head of the Division of Epidemiology in 1991. He is the founding chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the UI and continues to provide high quality leadership for the department. He is also an associate director in the UI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. He is an excellent teacher who is strongly supportive of students and serves on the departmental MS and PhD theses committees. In 2002, he received the UI College of Public Health’s Faculty Service Award and in 2008 received the College’s Faculty Research Award. In 2011, he was selected to deliver the CPH Distinguished Faculty Lecture.