The winner of this year’s IMS Tweedie New Researcher Award is Bingxin Zhao, assistant professor in Statistics and Data Science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The citation reads, “For seminal contributions to imaging genetics in neuroscience and genetics and for significant theoretical contributions to statistical genetics, particularly in the development of methods for polygenic risk score (PRS) prediction, cross-trait genetic analysis, linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC), and trans-ancestry genetic correlation estimation.”
On receiving the news of his award, Dr. Zhao said, “I’m deeply honored. This recognition means a lot to me, and I am incredibly grateful to my family, mentors, collaborators, colleagues, and students whose support has been invaluable throughout my academic journey. I look forward to continuing to contribute at the intersection of statistics, data science, and biomedical research to advance both methodology and impactful applications.”
Dr. Zhao’s research focuses on developing and applying statistical and computational methods for science and medicine, particularly in analyzing large-scale complex data, including imaging, genomics, and biomedical knowledge graphs. He describes himself as “passionate about integrating statistics and software engineering to automate data analysis in scientific research.” His work has contributed to the understanding of the human brain, inter-organ connections (such as heart–brain links) and their implications for mental health and brain disorders, as well as the development of cloud computing ecosystems in genetics and precision medicine.
Bingxin Zhao received his PhD in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC–CH) in 2020. Prior to that his Master’s was in Biostatistics from the University of Florida (2016), and Bachelor’s in History and in Mathematical Statistics from Xiamen University in 2014. He was an assistant professor at Purdue University in 2020–22 before moving to the Wharton School. Dr. Zhao has already received several other awards and honors. These include the ICSA Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2024); the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Florida’s Outstanding Alumni Award (2024) and Outstanding Graduate Student award (2016); two awards for his dissertation from UNC–CH in 2022; and the ENAR Distinguished Student Paper Award (2020).
Dr. Zhao’s PhD supervisor, Dr. Hongtu Zhu, professor in the Department of Biostatistics at UNC–CH, describes him as “an outstanding statistician whose work in imaging genetics, statistical genetics, and neuroscience has already made a significant impact. Dr. Zhao has led multiple high-impact projects, publishing first-author papers in Science, Nature Genetics, and Molecular Psychiatry, while also developing the Imaging Genetics Knowledge Portal (https://bigkp.org), a transformative platform for genetic research. His contributions to mathematical statistics, including advancements in polygenic risk score prediction, cross-trait genetic analysis, and high-dimensional inference, demonstrate strong potential for continued impact in the field.”
The Tweedie Award honors the memory of Richard Lewis Tweedie (1947–2001), who played a significant role throughout his professional career in mentoring young colleagues at work and through professional society activities. The award funds travel to present the Tweedie New Researcher Invited Lecture at the IMS New Researchers Conference. This year’s NRC will take place July 31–August 2: https://nrc2025.github.io/ (see this update from the New Researchers Group).