OMB No. 0925-0001/0002 (Rev. 08/12 Approved Through 8/31/2015)
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Provide the following information for the Senior/key personnel and other significant contributors.
Follow this format for each person. DO NOT EXCEED FIVE PAGES.
NAME: Tibshirani, Robert J.
eRA COMMONS USER NAME (credential, e.g., agency login): tibshirani.robert
POSITION TITLE: Professor of Health Research & Policy
EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing,
include postdoctoral training and residency training if applicable. Add/delete rows as necessary.)
DEGREE
(if
applicable)
Completion
Date
MM/YYYY
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
B.Sc.
06/1979
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
M.Sc.
06/1980
Statistics & Computer
Science
Statistics
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Ph.D.
06/1984
Statistics
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION
FIELD OF STUDY
A. Personal Statement
I am a statistician with a strong research record and a great deal of experience collaborating with medical
researchers and biologists. I have expertise in developing state-of-the art statistical methodology for highdimensional data, especially in genomics. I have implemented some of these statistical tools into software
packages that are used by many researchers in the Stanford School of Medicine and around the world.
B. Positions and Honors
Position and Employment
1985–1989
Assistant Professor (NSERC University Research Fellow), Department of Preventive Medicine
and Biostatistics, and Department of Statistics, University of Toronto
1989–1994
Associate Professor (NECERC University Research Fellow) Department of Preventive Medicine
and Biostatistics, and Department of Statistics, University of Toronto
1994–1998
Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Department of Statistics, University of
Toronto
1998–present Professor, Department of Biomedical Data Science, and Department of Statistics, Stanford
University
Other Experiences and Professional Activities
1995–1999
Associate Editor, Statistical Science
1995–1996
Chair, IMS Committee on Computerization
1995–1997
Associate Editor, Cancer Journal Statistics
1998–1999
Associate Editor, Annals of Statistics
Honors
1993
Fellow of the American Statistical Association
1994
J. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
1994
Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics
1996
COPSS (Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies) (worldwide) Award for contributions to
statistics before age 40
1997
NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Fellow
2000
CRM-SSC (Statistical Society of Canada) Prize
2012
National Academy of Science
2012
Gold Medal, Statistical Society of Canada
C. Contributions to Science
My lab develops statistical tools for the analysis of high dimensional data. I have made important contributions
to the analysis of complex datasets, including tools for genomics and proteomics. Some of my most wellknown contributions are the lasso, which uses L1 penalization in regression and related problems, generalized
additive models and Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM). I have also co-authored five widely used
books: "Generalized Additive Models", "An Introduction to the Bootstrap", "The Elements of Statistical
Learning", now in its second edition, “Introduction to Statistical learning” and “Sparsity in Statistics”.
My current work focusses on sparse modeling and inference of big data, with applications in many fields
(especially bioinformatics). Here are key recent publications:
1. Max Grazier G'Sell, Stefan Wager, Alexandra Chouldechova, Robert Tibshirani.(2014) False Discovery
Rate Control for Sequential Selection Procedures, with Application to the Lasso. To appear, JRSSB.
2. Richard Lockhart, Jonathan Taylor, Ryan Tibshirani and Robert Tibshirani. (2014). A significance test for
the lasso. Annals of Statistics ,Volume 42, Number 2 (2014), 413-468.
3. Mazumder R, Hastie T, Tibshirani R. Spectral regularization algorithms for learning large incomplete
matrices. Journal of Machine Learning Research 2010; 11:2287-2322.
4. Shen-Orr SS, Tibshirani R, Khatri P, Bodian DL, Staedtler F, Perry NM, Hastie T, Sarwal MM, Davis MM,
Butte AJ. Cell type-specific gene expression differences in complex tissues. Nature Methods 2010;
7(4):287-289. PMCID: 3699332.
D. Research Support
Ongoing Research Support
ACTIVE
5U54 CA14914502 (Plevritis)
5/1/10 – 2/29/16
NIH
Modeling the Role of Differentiation in Cancer Progression
Goals: Statistical methods for the study cell differentiation and its effect on cancer progression.
Role: Co-Investigator
P01AG036695 (Rando)
NIH
Molecular Regulation of Stem Cell Aging
Role: Co-Investigator
7/1/11 – 4/30/16
P01CA067166 (Giaccia)
6/1/13 – 5/31/18
NIH
Tumor Hypoxia: Molecular Studies and Clinical Exploitation
Role: Co-Investigator
5UAI090019A (Davis)
7/18/11 - 6/30/16
NIH
Vaccination and Infection: Indicators of Immunological Health and Responsiveness
We aim to use a systems biology approach to survey immune responsiveness across several different
vaccines including influenza (both seasonal and the new pandemic H1N1v), Herpes zoster, and the bacterium
Neisseria meningitidis. These investigations will compare different age groups—children, young adults, and the
elderly—to look for specific markers and assays of immune competence and especially those that might be
common across different pathogens and age groups.
Role: Co-Investigator
8UCA154209A (Clarke)
6/1/11 - 5/31/16
NIH
Cellular Hierarchy of ER-breast Cancer in Difference Ethnic Groups
Goals: Aim # 1 is too use single cell genomics technology to define the cellular hierarchy of normal human
epithelium. Aim #2 is to use single cell genomics technology to understand the cellular hierarchy of ER-PRERB-B2- (triple negative, basal cell) breast cancer in different racial groups.
Role: Co-Investigator
DMS1208164 (Tibshirani)
6/1/12 - 5/31/16
NSF
Flexible and Adaptive Statistical Modeling
Goals: Develop statistical methods for model selection and combination, and write a textbook on modern
statistical learning methods.
Role: Principal Investigator
T32GM096982 (Tibshirani)
7/1/12 – 6/30/17
NIH
Interdisciplinary Training Program in Biostatistics and Personalized Medicine
Role: Principal Investigator
5U19 AI10420901 (Galli)
2/1/13 - 1/31/18
NIH
Integrated Genomic and Functional Studies of Tolerance Therapy for Peanut Allergy
Goals: Understand the molecular basis of peanut allergies.
Role: Core leader
19IB-0124 (West)
9/1/13 – 3/31/20
University of CA, Office of the President
Getting a Jump on Cancer with a Genomic Risk Classifier
Goals: Understand genomic contributions to cancer risk.
Role: Co-Investigator
8-RLM011369A (Shah)
9/1/13 – 8/31/17
NIH
Methods for Generalized Ontology Terms Enrichment Analysis
Goals: To define abstraction levels with uniform information content across ontology hierarchies.
Role: Co-Investigator
NIH RCA184384A (Felsher)
4/1/14 - 2/28/19
NIH
Prognostic Metabolic Signatures of Cancers through Mass Spectrometry Imaging
Goals: Develop and validate metabolic signatures for liver cancer
Role: Co-Investigator
RO1CA179645 (Pollack)
5/1/14 – 4/30/19
NIH
Mechanisms and targeting of SWI/SNF alternations in pancreatic cancer
Goals: Study alternations in pancreatic cancer
Role: Co-Investigator
UM2 AR067678 (Utz)
9/24/14 – 5/31/19
NIH
AMP RA/SLE Leadership Center
Goals: Bioinformatics and statistical methods for RA studies.
Role: Co-Investigator
R01 CA193085-01A1 (Gevaert)
2/15/15 – 1/31/19
NIH
Radiogenomics Framework for Non-Invasive Personalized Medicine
Goals: Statistical analyses to provide the framework for radiogenomics predictors in personalized medicine.
Role: Co-Investigator
7R01DK08137107 (Palaniappan)
4/1/15 – 3/31/19
NIH
Strength Training Regimen fOr Normal WeiGht Diabetics (STRONG-D)
Goals:
Role: Other Investigator
1R01CA18829801A1 (Diehn)
4/1/15 – 3/31/20
NIH
Noninvasive monitoring of lung cancer patients treated with radiotherapy
Role: Co-Investigator
1R01 CA183962-01A1 (Hernandez-Boussard) 9/1/15 – 8/31/20
NIH
Utilizing Electronic Health Records to Measure and Improve Prostate Cancer Care
Role: Co-Investigator
1U01CA19638701 (Brooks, J.)
7/1/15 – 6/30/20
NIH
Stanford Molecular and Cellular Characterization Laboratory
Role: Co-Investigator
P50AG047366 (Henderson)
7/1/15 – 4/30/20
NIH
Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
Role: Co-Investigator
5R01 EB001988-16 (Johnstone)
9/17/15 - 6/30/19
NIH
New Statistical Methods for Medical Signals and Images
Goals: This methodological grant proposes to develop methods for analyzing microarray data and medical data
that comes in the form of signals or images such as MRI and FMRI scans, and protein mass spec.
Role: Co-Investigator
Completed Research Support
R01Dk081371
Palaniappan (PI)
1/15/09 - 12/31/13
NIH
Identifying Disparities in Type 2 Diabetes Among Asians: The Pan Asian Cohort Study
Goal: Examine racial/ethnic disparities in type 2 diabetes and the comparative effectiveness of oral
medications for type 2 diabetes in Asian-American racial/ethnic subgroups.
Role: Consultant
5R01 CA12992705
West (PI)
3/22/11 – 11/30/13
NIH
Discovery of Gene Expression Signatures in Cancer Stroma
Goals: Find new tumor stromal responses in a variety of cancers.
Role: Statistician
5U01 AI089859-03
Prime Sponsor: NIH
Tibshirani (PI)
10/1/12 – 6/30/13
Mayo Clinic
Deconvolution of High Bandwidth Cross-Assay Data to Yield a Cell-Centered View of Immunity
Role: Principal Investigator
5RC1 AR5871302
Robinson (PI)
9/28/09 - 8/31/12
NIH
Proteomic Identification of Actionable Biomarkers in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Goals: Identify novel autoantibody and cytokine biomarkers for (i) early diagnosis, (ii) predicting disease
severity, and (iii) guiding therapeutic decision making for the treatment of RA.
Role: Statistician
8-PCA034233F
Levy (PI)
7/17/06 - 3/31/12
NIH
Clinical and Laboratory Studies of Malignant Lymphoma
Goals: Study the biology of and treatment for diffuse large cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma.
Role: Statistician