The International Society for Biopharmaceutical Statistics (ISBS) is proud to announce the creation of two prestigious awards: the Lai Memorial Lecture Award and the Heyse Memorial Lecture Award.
The Tze Leung Lai Memorial Lecture Award (LMLA)
The Lai Memorial Lecture Award (LMLA) is established to honor Tze Leung Lai for his fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of statistics. His groundbreaking work encompasses sequential statistical analysis and its applications across various fields (including biomedical sciences), stochastic approximation and recursive estimation, adaptive control of stochastic systems and Markov decision processes, and survival analysis. The award also recognizes his unwavering dedication to nurturing young statisticians and his committed services to statistics professional communities including ISBS.
The LMLA will be awarded to an individual annually who has made significant contributions to the theory, application, or the best practice of statistics within biomedical science, with a focus on academic achievements.
The Joseph F. Heyse Memorial Lecture Award (HMLA)
The Heyse Memorial Lecture Award (HMLA) is established to honor Joseph F. Heyse for his remarkable contributions to the development and regulatory approvals of medical products including life-saving vaccines. It commemorates his exemplary work in methodological development and innovative applications of statistics in drug development, his unrivaled mentorship to biopharmaceutical statisticians and drug development professionals, and for his strong leadership and dedicated services to statistics communities within biopharmaceutical industry including ISBS.
The HMLA will be awarded to an individual annually who has significantly advanced biostatistical research and innovative applications in support of the development and regulatory approval of drugs and biologics, or who has enhanced best practices of biostatistics within the biopharmaceutical industry, emphasizing industry-focused accomplishments.
Requirement and Award Prize
Recipients of the awards will be required to present their work at the biennial international ISBS symposium. Alternatively, with the approval of the ISBS Executive Board, presentations can be made at the annual UMBC-Stanford Workshop on Clinical Trials and Regulatory Sciences (CTRS) or the Stat4Onc conference during years when the biennial ISBS symposium is not scheduled. Each of the LMLA and HMLA consists of an engraved award plaque and a cash prize from $1,000 to $2,000, depending on the funds available for each award.
Committee Members:
- Cindy Lu, AstraZeneca
- Ying Lu, Stanford University
- Wenjin Wang, Pfizer
- Frank Fan, BMS
- Mark Chang, Boston University
- Keaven Anderson, Merck
- Frank Bretz, Novartis
- Ivan Chan, BMS
- Jie Chen, Taimei Intelligence
The Committee will be responsible for soliciting, selecting, and finalizing the winner for each of the HMLA and HMLA.
Nomination and Selection
Nominations are due six months before the ISBS international symposium or the deadline to be announced at the ISBS website during the years when the ISBS conference is not planned.
Nomination materials should include:
- Basic information of the nominator such as name, title, affiliation, and a short biography
- Cover letter to summarize the rationale for the nomination
- Candidate’s CV
- Candidate’s short biography (1 page)
- Candidate’s headshot
- At least two letters of support (≤ 2 pages/each letter)
All the nomination materials will be submitted through an online submission form (to be created soon). The award committee will select an individual for each award and will communicate with the nominator and nominees about the outcome of selection approximately two months after the deadline of submission. The selected recipients will be notified which conference the recipient will deliver the lecture.
About Professor Tze Leung Lai:
Tze L. Lai (1945 – 2023) was one of the most accomplished statisticians of our time, whose research spanned both theoretical statistics and mathematics, as well as their applications in biomedical sciences, clinical trial design and analysis, cancer research, and other areas. He served as a mentor, having advised at least 79 PhD students and seven post-doctoral trainees. Dr. Lai had a distinguished academic career, most recently as the Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Statistics at Stanford University (1987–2023), after spending 16 years as a professor at Columbia University.
Among his many contributions to the field of sequential statistical analysis is his groundbreaking work on solving the long-standing “multi-armed bandit problem,” where an individual chooses between actions to maximize a cumulative reward. His research extended to stochastic approximation and recursive estimation, adaptive control of linear stochastic systems and Markov decision processes, saddlepoint approximations, and boundary-crossing probabilities in Markov random walks and random fields, as well as survival analysis.
In the 1980s, Lai developed a strong interest in biostatistics and clinical trial methodology, making significant contributions to adaptive clinical trial design. In 2009, he co-founded and co-directed the Stanford Center for Innovative Study Design, which facilitated bidirectional translation between statistical innovation and biomedical research advancements.
In addition to mentoring numerous outstanding statisticians, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, he was actively engaged in the International Society for Biopharmaceutical Statistics (ISBS). He also established the UMBC-Stanford Workshop on Clinical Trials and Regulatory Science, fostering dialogue between statisticians from academia, regulatory agencies, and the pharmaceutical industry.
In recognition of his achievements, Professor Lai received the prestigious COPSS Presidents’ Award in 1983. In 1994, he was elected to Academia Sinica, and in 2005, he was honored with both the International Chinese Statistical Association Distinguished Achievement Award and the Abraham Wald Prize in Sequential Analysis.
To honor his legacy, the Lai Memorial Lecture Award is established to recognize his significant contributions to biopharmaceutical statistics and beyond, and to promote integrated efforts among academia, industry, and government to advance pharmaceutical research through statistical innovations
About Dr. Joseph F. Heyse:
Joseph F. Heyse (1952 – 2019) was one of the most respected and influential leaders in biopharmaceutical statistics. He spent 42 years at Merck & Co., Inc. as a statistician helping cultivate the culture of statistical research at Merck and in the biopharmaceutical industry. He was an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA), fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), founding editor of Statistics in Biopharmaceutical Research, and editor-in-chief of Statistical Methods in Medical Research. Joe was broadly engaged in the establishment and further development of our profession in the biopharmaceutical industry. Joe was innovative, highly collaborative, and exemplary in many different aspects. He touched the lives of many people through the pharmaceutical products he worked on at Merck and touched the lives of many statisticians across the industry who later became leaders in their respective fields. The Heyse Memorial Lecture Award is established to recognize Joe Heyse’s contributions to and impact on biopharmaceutical statistics and beyond.