Dr. Zhengyang Zhou
Assistant Professor, Biostatistics & Epidemiology
Education & Experience:
I received a PhD in Biostatistics from the joint program of Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, a MS in Statistical Science from Southern Methodist University, and a BS in Computational Mathematics from Beijing Institute of Technology. I joined the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at UNT Health Science Center as an Assistant Professor in 2018. Prior to that, I served as a research assistant at the Bioinformatics Lab of UT Southwestern with a focus on statistical genetics.
Teaching Areas & Public Health Interests:
My teaching interest is general biostatistics, including statistical methods, application, and software. My primary teaching goal is to develop my students’ theoretical understanding and practical skills in biostatistics.
Professional Activities & Awards:
I am a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, Research Society on Alcoholism, Society for Prevention Research, International Biometric Society – Eastern North American Region, and the American Statistical Association. I received the Junior Investigator Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism in 2021.
Scholarly Interests:
My major research interests are statistical methods development and biostatistical applications in the areas of human genetics, substance use and clinical trials. In human genetics research, I have worked on genetic/genomic studies for complex diseases, such as familial pulmonary fibrosis, eye disease, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease, where we identified novel genetic markers. My methodological interest in this area includes detection of gene–environment interactions, controlling for population stratification in genome-wide association studies, and genetic association tests.
In substance use research, I have examined comparative effectiveness between brief alcohol interventions for young adults using meta-analysis. I have also worked on examining daily-level effects of decision-making cognitions on alcohol use and other substance use in ecological momentary assessment studies. My methodological interest in this area includes developing novel methods to account for specific data distributions, such as zero-inflated distributions, for more accurate statistical inferences.
In clinical trials, I have worked on experimental design and examined intervention effects in randomized controlled trials and cluster randomized trials using advanced statistical approaches. My methodological interest in this area includes procedures for calculating sample size and power analysis.
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