February 3, 2025 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
This spring, Xuanxuan Yu will complete his third degree in biostatistics, but there was a time as an undergraduate when he didn’t have a clear understanding of the field. In his bachelor’s program at Nanjing Medical School in the Jiangsu Province where he grew up, Yu fell in love with the subject.
“I gradually learned that statistical methods play an important role not only in public health but also in human health and other socioeconomic fields,” he says. “This encouraged me to pursue knowledge in the interdisciplinary realms of statistical methods to get close to the genuine understanding of the world’s mechanisms.”
After completing a master’s degree at the same institution, Yu chose the Arnold School’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics for his doctoral degree – both for its reputation and the research interests he shared with his mentor, Feifei Xiao. During his program, Yu gained research experience on various projects, developing expertise in the development and application of statistical methods for analyzing multi-omics data, such as methylation data, gene expression data, and sequencing data.
“As the hotspot is moving from statistical methods for data of small samples to large samples, I chose to focus on the field of statistical genetics and genomics,” Yu says. “Moreover, discoveries in genetics and genomics lay a crucial foundation for advancing treatments to improve human health in the future.”
As his advisor and mentor, Xiao not only helped Yu navigate his doctoral program, she also helped him keep his perspective. One takeaway for Yu was the importance of reviewing existing methodologies and then building on them with innovative approaches that overcome limitations yet capitalize on their strengths. Another lesson involved how to balance attention to minute details while maintaining a focus on the big picture.
Yu will continue his training with a postdoctoral associate position in the Department of Surgery at the Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center. He envisions a long career dedicated to the development of statistical methods that improve public health and other areas that impact quality of life.
