CPH Welcomes New Faculty Member, Dr. Wenshan Han
February 7, 2025 • News
After an extensive two-day road trip with her mother and newly-adopted kitten, Dr. Wenshan Han traded the Florida humidity for North Texas winters to begin her appointment with the College of Public Health (CPH). In the final weeks of the 2024 year, Han settled into her new home in Fort Worth ahead of her first semester teaching at UNTHSC. While this relocation posed its share of challenges, Dr. Han is no stranger to making big moves.
Originally born in Huanggang, in the Hubei Province in China, Dr. Han’s first relocation took place in 2017 where she transitioned from Huanggang to the United States to begin a master’s program at Florida State University. This comes soon after the attainment of her bachelor’s degree from the Beijing Institute of Technology with all three of her degrees focusing in statistics.
Dr. Han developed an interest in statistics as the result of performing at higher levels in math classes throughout grade school. Once she discovered statistics, she recalls the subject feeling “practical,” yet aligned with her abilities. Han became motivated to learn more about the field and expand her knowledge in this subject.
Although her degrees were in general statistics, it wasn’t until her PhD program where she centered more on biostatistics. Her focus then shifted to addressing concerns in public health, biology and medicine.
Dr. Han kicked off her UNTHSC teaching career this semester with Longitudinal Data Analysis and Intermediate Biostatistics courses. She is most excited to teach students the ways they can navigate general evidence to make informed decisions for guidelines.
“In my previous teaching, I focused primarily on introductory-level statistical applications,” says Dr. Han. “Moving forward, I plan to incorporate discussions and projects into my curriculum, so students can apply tangible methods to real-world data based on their interests. This allows them to relate the course material to their academic research to apply statistical methods to existing public health obstacles.”
Dr. Han’s research focuses on statistical methods in meta-analysis to improve the reliability of synthesized evidence. She is motivated to place further emphasis on addressing heterogeneity and publication bias to enhance the accuracy and applicability of meta-analytic outcomes in medical and public health research.
“We are pleased to have Dr. Han join our team,” says Dr. Shafik Dharamsi, CPH dean. “Her passion for utilizing data to make informed decisions brings forth a unique perspective to the college which allows us to create change in the interest of the community.”
Through her work, Dr. Han hopes to identify reliable evidence within healthcare data to influence future solutions to improve the health of all communities.
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