ABSTRACT:   In this talk, I will briefly introduce the field of biostatistics and explain why the subject is both stimulating for mathematicians and important for human health.  Biostatistics is the application of statistics and mathematics to medical research. Important applications include genetics, genomics, medical imaging, epidemiological studies and clinical trials.  I will discuss how the mathematical properties of empirical processes and Brownian motion play an important role in this research and how the Food and Drug Administration uses Brownian motion in clinical trial that assess the effectiveness and safety of new drugs.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Michael R. Kosorok, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of Biostatistics and Professor of Statistics and Operations Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Dr. Kosorok has published over 80 papers in biostatistics, statistics and in the health science and has a book which will appear in January on empirical processes (published by Springer-New York).  He is a Fellow of both the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and is an Associate Editor for the Annals of Statistics and several other journals in statistics and biostatistics.  He also holds bachelors and masters degrees in music composition and remains active as a composer of modern classical music.