It is with great sadness that the American Statistical Association announces the passing of Past-President Dionne Price. The ASA Board of Directors and staff extend their deepest sympathies to her family. Born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia, Dionne enjoyed applied mathematics in school so much that when she was awarded a scholarship in the Dozoretz National Institute for Minorities in Applied Sciences at Norfolk State University, she seized the opportunity to further her studies. Before graduating, Dionne spent a summer working in a biostatistics unit of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which sparked her love of biostatistics and led her to complete graduate studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Emory University. She then took a job with the US Food and Drug Administration. Most recently, she served as deputy director of the Office of Biostatistics in the Food and Drug Administration Office of Translational Sciences, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

“My greatest accomplishment is the daily knowledge that my statistical leadership and expertise positively contribute to ensuring the efficacy and safety of drugs and therapeutic biologics for the public,” said Dionne. “As a statistician, I make a difference in the lives of others. This is an honor and a joy!”

In January 2023, Dionne began her tenure as ASA president and highlighted the need to explore alternative avenues of reaching and exposing younger generations to statistics. She pushed for the statistical community to continue playing an active role in science policy, advocating for sound statistical theory, and ensuring the value of statisticians is recognized. She also urged members to become leaders outside the community to help drive discovery and inform decisions.

“Although much time has passed since I was an undergraduate, I believe there is still more work to be done in terms of increasing the awareness of statistics as a profession,” said Dionne.

Additionally, Dionne continued the ASA’s efforts aimed at justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion for all. She said, “It is important that we increase our collective awareness and understanding of the experiences of quantitative thinkers from various backgrounds.” She believed these efforts would strengthen our community. Dionne was also an active member of the International Biometric Society and FDA Statistical Association. She served as chair of the ASA Biopharmaceutical Section, which boasts more than 2,000 members who share an interest in the application of statistics to the development and use of therapeutic drugs and devices in humans and animals. She was named an ASA Fellow in 2018.

“We struggle to find words to describe the depth of our sorrow and loss. But finding words to describe Dionne is easy. She was intelligent, wise, thoughtful, passionate, and compassionate, just for starters,” says ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein. “We miss her so much. May her memory be a blessing to all who knew her.”

“Dionne believed in the ASA mission, and she inspired us to view every decision as an opportunity to advance our mission,” says ASA Associate Executive Director Donna LaLonde. “I will miss her wise counsel and her warm smile.”

As a plenary speaker at the 2019 Women in Statistics and Data Science conference, Dionne shared that she occasionally scribbled poems, including the following:

The Journey

I am that woman and that woman is me,
Acquiring knowledge, I’ve learned is the key,
I stand on the foundation planted long ago,
I’m rooted in numbers and love how they flow
Now is the present and data abounds,
Quantitative inclinations will need to astound,
And as we look to tomorrow and days to come,
May we solve global challenges, and still have some fun.
I am that woman and that woman is me