The Biostatistics and Mathematical Oncology Core facility draws upon a talented group of statisticians who collaborate across basic, translational, clinical and population-oriented research at City of Hope's Comprehensive Cancer Center. The facility and its services are available to City of Hope researchers. The core includes numerous accomplished experts in:
- Basic science: statistical methods for assays and bioassays, animal models, genomics (RNA-seq, CHIP-seq, microarray and rRNA microbial classification), mutation spectra and experimental genetics
- Translational science: animal models, xenografts, cell migration, statistics for toxicology and pharmacokinetic modeling
- Clinical science: clinical trials, diagnostics, biomarkers, retrospective clinical studies and clinical epidemiology
- Population science: epidemiology and genetic epidemiology
- General research and modeling: numerical and graphical data summaries, statistical inference, and prediction models




Russell Rockne, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine within Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. He also serves as director of the Division of Mathematical Oncology with the goal of translating mathematics, physics and evolution-based research to clinical care.
Paul Frankel, Ph.D.
Section Head, Solid Tumors
Lead, Med-Oncology, Surgery and Radiation Oncology
Suzette Blanchard, Ph.D.
Associate Research Professor
Lu Chen, Ph.D.
Associate Research Professor
Min (Sierra) Talley, Ph.D.
Associate Research Professor
Jianying Zhang, Ph.D.
Research Professor
Carolyn Behrendt, Ph.D.
Lead Biostatistician, Clinical Epidemiology
Lu Chen, Ph.D.
Lead Biostatistician, Lymphoma Center
Min (Sierra) Talley, Ph.D.
Lead Biostatistician,Statistical Genetics
Donyun Yang, Ph.D.
Lead Biostatistician, HSCT Center
Jianying Zhang, Ph.D.
Lead Biostatistician, Leukemia Center
Arnab Chowdhury, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Yujie Cui, M.S.
Staff Scientist
Rebecca Nelson, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Tanya Paris
Staff Scientist
Nora Ruel, M.S.
Staff Scientist
Nicole Tsai, M.S.
Staff Scientist
Collaboration: Participation in research intended for publication is the primary objective of the facility. Contact the director for an introduction.
Support: In addition to assisting with data analyses, core members can help design studies, grant proposals, clinical protocols and manuscripts.
Consultation: Early contact about research planning is always welcome. Experts at the facility are pleased to advise investigators on statistical issues in research or explore possible collaboration opportunities. In addition, investigators are encouraged to contact the director to connect with a statistician. Consultation is always free and generally consists of one or two meetings.
- Statistical computation: Provided in conjunction with collaboration. The core does not provide user-directed computing nor operate a help desk concerning statistical software.
- Data extraction: Provided in conjunction with the collaboration but not as a separate service. Data is available for extraction from various City of Hope and public databases.
City of Hope’s Cancer Center Support Grant sponsors the core; the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (under award number P30CA33572) and additional institutional support fund the CCSG grant. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Note: Proposals including a statistician as a collaborator will ordinarily include a biosketch and possibly a letter of collaboration. For proposals in which a statistician has a small, defined role, funding for core support may be included as an expense, in which case you may wish to contact the collaborating statistician or the director for a letter of support. The following generic statement is provided as a resource, but please contact the Biostatistics and Mathematical Oncology Core if you use it.
The Biostatistics and Mathematical Oncology Core is a shared resource of City of Hope's Comprehensive Cancer Center. It draws upon 10 doctoral-level statisticians and six staff statisticians. Core members collaborate in basic, translational, clinical and population research, and its services are available to all City of Hope researchers. Research areas supported include bioassay, animal models, genomics, genetics, mutation, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, diagnostics, biomarkers, clinical trials, and clinical, population and genetic epidemiology.
In general, the core provides standard and principled approaches to numerical and graphical data summary, statistical inference, modeling and prediction. Core members help with study designs, grant proposals, clinical protocols, data analyses, and manuscripts. Statistical software includes SAS, R, StatXact, EaST and NQuery Advisor. A linux cluster is available for computationally intensive projects, and City of Hope has an excellent network and IT support.
In a given year, City of Hope conducts more than 400 clinical trials enrolling more than 6,000 patients.

City of Hope is focused on basic and clinical research in cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases.
