Showcases and Special Sessions

There is much more information to come regarding these sessions. In the meantime, please review the preliminary information shown below and check back often for updates. 

Monday, 13 July

Special Invited Session - Spotlight on the Korean Region

A session celebrating our host region, showcasing cutting-edge research and leadership from the Korean biostatistical community.

Organizer: Prof. Sohee Park, Yonsei University

Speakers: Ju-young Park, Yeungnam University, Youngjoo Cho, Konkuk University, Woojoo Lee, Seoul National University, and Il-Youp Kwak, Chung-Ang University

Critical Methodological Advances in Survival Analysis

Abstract

Survival analysis is a foundational domain in biostatistics, with wide-ranging applications in clinical trials, observational studies, and epidemiological research. This invited session brings together four speakers whose work addresses key frontiers in survival analysis, including overcoming limitations of standard parametric accelerated failure time (AFT) models, flexible modeling of complex censoring structures, advancing causal interpretation of population-level risk, and applying deep learning to genomics in survival contexts.

The first presentation focuses on the limitations of standard parametric AFT models, which face two major challenges: (1) sensitivity to distributional assumptions and (2) bias when time-dependent covariates are omitted or misrepresented. To address these issues, the speaker evaluates the bias introduced by ignoring time-dependent covariates and proposes a flexible Gaussian scale mixture AFT model that accommodates a broader range of failure time distributions. Simulation studies and real-world applications demonstrate substantial improvements in bias reduction and model robustness.

The second talk addresses innovations for interval-censored survival data. The presenter introduces a neural network approach based on ordinary differential equations (ODE-NNs), which enables flexible, data-adaptive modeling. This method provides a powerful alternative to traditional parametric or semiparametric models, particularly under complex censoring scenarios.

The third presentation bridges survival analysis with causal inference by considering the attributable fraction (AF) for time-to-event outcomes—a key measure for quantifying the proportion of risk that can be eliminated by removing an exposure. Recognizing that AF estimates rely on untestable assumptions, the speaker develops a sensitivity analysis framework that enables researchers to transparently assess how conclusions vary under different causal structures or model specifications.

The final presentation highlights deep learning methods for genomic data in survival contexts. The speaker explores how deep learning architectures can enhance our understanding of prognostic biomarkers and risk stratification in biomedical research.

Together, these four talks showcase critical methodological advances in survival analysis. This session will appeal to researchers seeking to improve the rigor, flexibility, and interpretability of survival models in modern biomedical and epidemiological research.


Young Statistician Showcase (YSS) 

A special task force from the Society's Representative Council selects winning papers from each continent. 

Organizer: TBD

Speakers: TBD

Young Researchers Showcase and Panel

Two dedicated sessions to highlight the innovation, challenges, and career paths of the next generation of biometricians—through research presentations and a live career panel.

Organizer: Tarylee Reddy, South Africa

Speakers: TBD

Tuesday, 14 July

Special Luncheon Panel - Bioethics Roundtable - Responding to Uncertainty in Times of Global Change

NEW IBC FORMAT! This panel discussion focuses on how to respond more proactively and visibly to urgent global challenges such as pandemics, climate change, and artificial intelligence. 

Organizer: Profs. Iris Pigeot and Frank Bretz

Speakers include: 

Cailin O´Connor - Philosopher of social and behavioral science, a philosopher of science, and an evolutionary game theorist, Cailin is Chancellor’s Professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science and director of the Center for Socially Engaged Philosophy at UC Irvine.  Her central research areas are misinformation, epistemic disfunction, and scientific communities which resulted in her book “The Misinformation Age”, published with the philosopher James Weatherall.   She also researches norms and conventions of inequity.

Alex John London -  K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University, Alex's work focuses on ethical and policy issues surrounding the development and deployment of novel technologies in medicine, biotechnology and artificial intelligence, on methodological issues in theoretical and practical ethics, and on cross-national issues of justice and fairness. He published a book on “For the Common Good: Philosophical Foundations of Research Ethics”. Moreover, being engaged with policy and oversight concerning innovation in science with a special emphasis on artificial intelligence, health, and biosecurity, he is a member of the WHO Expert Group on Ethics and Governance of AI whose “Guidance on Large Multi-Modal Models” was published in 2024 and whose report “Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health” was published in 2021. 

Zhenyu Zhang, PhD is an Associate Professor and PhD Supervisor at the School of Public Health, Peking University (Department of Global Health). He received joint doctoral training at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and completed postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His research focuses on advancing causal inference approaches to understand how climate change affects population health, with particular emphasis on extreme climate events, infectious diseases, and environmental exposures. He integrates epidemiology, climate science, and advanced statistical modeling to identify causal pathways linking climate hazards to health outcomes. Dr. Zhang’s work further explores how urban resilience and adaptive capacity can mitigate climate-related health risks and how system dynamics modeling can characterize the impacts of climate hazards on interconnected urban subsystems, including healthcare systems and infrastructure. His research aims to provide actionable evidence for climate adaptation planning and public health policy.
He has published over 40 papers as first or corresponding author in the past five years (h-index: 24; ~2,200 citations). He serves as Associate Editor for BMC Medicine and statistical editor for JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions and JACC: Advances. He is also a contributing author to China’s Fifth National Climate Change Assessment Report.

Stat In Practice Showcase

An IBC tradition, and open to all attendees. See the Short Course page for details.

ISI Young Ambassador to IBC Showcase

A featured session in partnership with the International Statistical Institute, bridging communities and promoting global statistical collaboration. This session recognizes the winners of the ISI Young Ambassador competition. 

Organizer: Peter Doherty, Executive Director, International Biometric Society

Speakers: Speakers are chosen by way of a competition. The deadline to apply was 31 March and winners will be chosen by the end of April.

The selection criteria includes:

• Scholarly contributions, as evidenced by a published journal article, submitted abstract, or major report (included as part of the application)

• Motivation and engagement, as evidenced by a statement of motivation (in the application), active participation in ISI and/or IBS initiatives, and information in the applicant's CV

• Applicants must have obtained their most recent statistics degree after Jan 1, 2016, and preference is given to candidates who have not previously been selected

• At least one of the two winners must be from low and middle income countries and regions

Introduction to Machine Learning and AI Using Stata

This talk will briefly review the concepts and jargon of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), and demonstrate how to use these tools in Stata.  Specific examples will include random forests and gradient boosting machines using Stata's suite of h2oml commands, and the user-written commands chatgpt, claude, gemini, and grok.

Speakers: 

  • Chuck Huber is the Director, Statistical Outreach at StataCorp LLC, an adjunct associate professor of biostatistics at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, and an adjunct associate professor of biostatistics at the New York University School of Global Public Health. In addition to working with Stata's team of software developers, he produces instructional videos for the Stata YouTube channel, writes blog entries, develops online NetCourses, and gives talks about Stata at conferences and universities. Most of his current work is focused on statistical methods used by psychologists and other behavioral scientists. He has published in the areas of neurology, human and animal genetics, alcohol and drug abuse prevention, nutrition, and birth defects.

Wednesday, 15 July

Biometric Showcase

Highlighting recent advances published in Biometrics, featuring editor-selected talks and discussions with authors.

Organizer: Geert Molenberghs, Hasselt University & KU Leuven

Speakers:  Congratulations to our winners! Both papers will be presented during this special session. 

  • Bu, F., Kagaayi, J., Grabowski, M. K., Ratmann, O., and Xu, J. (2024). Inferring HIV transmission patterns from viral deep-sequence data via latent typed point processes. Biometrics, 80, ujad015.
  • Wright, W. J., and Hooten, M. B. (2025). Continuous-space occupancy models. Biometrics, 81(2), ujaf055. 

JABES Showcase

Highlighting recent advances published in JABES, featuring editor-selected talks and discussions with authors.

Organizer: TBD

Speakers: TBD

Women in Biostatistics Special Session

A celebration of the achievements and impact of women in biostatistics, with a focus on mentorship, leadership, and future directions. The session will highlight leadership, mentorship and emerging directions in the field.

Organizer: Gabriela Cendoya (Argentinian Region) and Sarah Ratcliffe (ENAR)

Speakers:

  • Guadalupe Gómez Melis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain

Bio: Throughout my career, from my PhD at Columbia  University and as an  Assistant professor at Ohio State  to my current role as a Full Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, I have worked across a wide  range of academic cultures and international research environments. My collaborations with scientists at Harvard, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the  University  of Athens have added knowledge of the many ways we interact, enriching me both professionally and academically. Having supervised 14 PhD theses and over 50 Master theses, my priority has always been to mentor the  next generation in an environment that values diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary cooperation. Recently elected to the Real Academia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona (RACAB), I remain committed to  a globalized biostatistics field where innovation comes from equity and respect for different institutional experiences. This inclusive vision is also reflected in my past role as an elected representative for the Caucus for Women in Statistics, where I advocated for a more representative and supportive scientific community.

    • Maria Valeria Paccapelo, Department of Primary Industries, Queensland, Australia 

    Bio: Maria Valeria Paccapelo is Principal Biometrician and Data Science Leader in Crop and Food Science at Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries. Trained in Argentina at the National Universities of Rosario and Córdoba and now based in Australia, she has spent more than 15 years applying statistical and data science methods to agricultural research across South America and Australia, working with both multinational seed companies and government agencies. Valeria is passionate about partnering with researchers to upskill teams and bring rigorous yet practical data, analytical tools, and statistical methods into evidence-based decisions. Having built her career across countries, languages and organisational cultures while also building a family in Australia, she is particularly interested in how technical professionals can support and mentor each other through cultural transitions and career growth.

    IBS Regional Networks Showcase

    Highlights from the five IBS Regional Networks, showcasing collaborative activities and joint scientific initiatives that strengthen regional ties. Note that these presentations will be given in five separate sessions, the first of which will occur on Tuesday, 14 July. The rest will be held on 15 July. 

    The East Asian Network Session

    Organizer: Xiao-Hua Zhou, Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Peking University

    Speakers: 

    • Korean Region - Min Jin Ha, Associate professor, Biohealth Data Science, Yonsei University
    • Chinese Region - Molei (Bob) Liu,  Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Peking University
    • Japanese Region - Tomohiro Ohigashi, Assistant professor, Department of Information and Computer Technology, Tokyo University of Science
    • Indian Region - Arjit Pyne, Novartis

    The Sub-Saharan African Network Session

    Organizer: Samuel Manda, University of Pretoria, South Africa

    Speakers: 

    • Zimbabwe Region - Tonderai Mapako, National Blood Service Zimbabwe
    • Nigeria Region - Oluwafemi Oyamakin, University of Ibadan
    • Ethiopia Region - Girma Taye Aweke, Addis Ababa University
    • Malawi Region - James Chirombo, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

    The Hispanic International Network Session

    Organizer: Raul Macchiavelli, University of Puerto Rico

    Speakers: 

    • Inmaculada Aróstegui Madariaga, Universidad del País Vasco
    • Jaione Etxeberria, Universidad Publica de Navarra
    • Daniel Andres Dos Santos, Universidad Nacional de Tucuman

    The Central European Network Session

    Organizer:

    • Prof. Frank Bretz, Novartis
    • Prof. Iris Pigeot, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology- BIPS

    Speakers: 

    • Polish Region - Agnieszka Kubik-Komar, University of Life Sciences in Lublin
    • German Region - Jan Kapar, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology- BIPS
    • Austro-Swiss Region - Dominik Heinzmann, Roche

    The Channel Network Session

    Co-Chairs: James Carpenter, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Olivier Thas, Universiteit Hasselt, Universiteit Gent

    Organizer: Oliver Thas

    Speakers: 

    • Belgian Region - Olivier Thas, Universiteit Hasselt, Universiteit Gent
    • British-Irish Region - Vanessa Rodriguez, University College London
    • French Region - Martin Puig, Universite de Montpellier
    • Netherlands (Dutch) Region -  Roula Tsonaka, Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum

    Alex John London takes part in the Special Tuesday Luncheon Panel

    Cailin O'Connor also takes part in the Special Tuesday Luncheon Panel

    Prof. Zhenyu Zhang also takes part in the Special Tuesday Luncheon Panel

    Participation in IBC sessions will count as professional development hours toward the voluntary PStat® (Accredited Professional Statistician) accreditation.