Ji-Hyun Lee, DrPH, associate director for cancer quantitative sciences at the UF Health Cancer Center and a professor in department of biostatistics in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, has been named a chief statistical advisor on the Statistical Advisory Panel of Nature Medicine, part of the prestigious Nature family of journals.
Lee will serve as one of three chief statistical advisors on the advisory board, part of a partnership between the journal and the American Statistical Association (ASA) to facilitate the timely, consistent and thorough statistical peer review of clinical trials. It is the first official statistical editorial advisory group for the Nature journals.
The board is chaired by leading statisticians with ample experience in design, conduct and reporting of clinical research studies. Members of the board assist Nature Medicine’s in-house editorial team with identifying appropriate topic-specific statistical peer reviewers, as well as with promoting reporting transparency, open data sharing and providing constructive statistical feedback to authors. The journal’s in-house editors make all editorial decisions.
Nature Medicine, which has an impact factor of 82.9, is a monthly journal publishing original peer-reviewed research in all areas of medicine. Original research ranges from new concepts in human biology and disease pathogenesis to new therapeutic modalities and drug development to all phases of clinical work, as well as innovative technologies aimed at improving human health.
“I am grateful for the bold and strong partnership with the leadership at Nature Medicine, which will ensure that the published studies are statistically and scientifically sound,” Lee said.
At the UF Health Cancer Center, Lee provides high-level strategic leadership and administrative direction for Cancer Center researchers. This support aims to ensure high-quality data, rigorous and reproducible analyses, and effective reporting, fostering collaborative team-based scientific endeavors.
She has more than 20 years of experience in various aspects of cancer research, including clinical trial designs, health disparity, cancer prevention interventions (including smoking cessation), and the application of artificial intelligence in cancer research. She is the author of more than 185 peer-reviewed articles.
In 2023, Lee was elected president of the ASA for the 2025 term. ASA is the world’s largest community of statisticians. Lee is also an elected ASA fellow and a certified professional statistician (PStat®) through ASA.
