And yet, Xuexia “Helen” Wang is an invaluable member of several research teams working on diseases including autism and cancer.

Director of the Biostatistics Shared Resource at the Stony Brook Cancer Center and Professor and Chief of the Division of Biostatistics in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Wang, who joined the university in early September, has found eager collaborators and has ambitious research goals.

Wang, who came from Florida International University, brings “critical expertise in understanding data, including large datasets,” said Ray Bergan, Cancer Center Director at SBU. “She views such data highly rigorously, and can bring rational understanding from what looks like chaos.”

In a research world that produces enormous batches of information and data at a rapid rate, Wang’s use of machine learning and artificial intelligence can help hone in on specific characteristics that can inform further research experiments and that, one day, improve human health.

She would like to “identify disease-associated molecular mechanisms, understand how different biological factors interact, and develop predictive models that may eventually support earlier detection, individualized risk assessment, prevention and treatment decisions,” Wang said.

While the underlying biological mechanisms and clinical applications are disease-specific, she can apply the same computational framework to different health threats.