Faculty and Staff

Mark Bittman, a leading voice in global food culture and policy for more than three decades, is the author of the How to Cook Everything series, and Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food from Sustainable to Suicidal, which The New York Times called “epic and engrossing.” Bittman spent three decades at the Times, where he created “The Minimalist,” was the Sunday Magazine’s lead food writer, and became the country's first weekly opinion writer at a major publication to concentrate on food. Bittman is currently the editor-in-chief of The Bittman Project, which sponsors a newsletter, website, and the podcast “Food, with Mark Bittman.” He is a on the faculty of Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, and the founder of Community Kitchen, which describes as, “the most important project I’ve ever tackled.” He lives in Philipstown, New York, with his partner Kathleen Finlay.

Dr. Briese's research interests include the molecular epidemiology of emerging viral diseases, virus-host cell interactions, and innovative approaches to pathogen diagnosis and discovery. He obtained his scientific education at the Free University Berlin, the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, and the University of California at Irvine. He pioneered state-of-the-art methods in molecular biology to study the involvement of infectious agents in chronic and neuropsychiatric diseases, as well as in acute diseases. Dr. Briese was responsible for cloning the genome of Borna disease virus, a novel infectious agent potentially linked to some mental disorders. His achievements have been recognized by receipt of an Albertson Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. Another successful application of these powerful molecular techniques was the identification of the flavivirus responsible for the New York City encephalitis epidemic in 1999. In 2003, Dr. Briese participated in the investigation of the SARS epidemic, during which he visited and collaborated with Beijing research institutions by invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. He also served as an adviser to WHO. Current research efforts include the advancement of molecular detection tools for the rapid identification of potential bio-threat agents. In addition, Dr. Briese is involved in multi-center and birth cohort studies using molecular methods to assess the potential role of infection in disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

Maya Deyssenroth is a molecular epidemiologist with a focus on studying pathways through which the placenta conveys intrauterine exposures on postnatal health outcomes.  Within this research scope, Dr. Deyssenroth incorporates biostatistical and bioinformatic tools to evaluate multi-pollutant exposures and high dimensional genomic profiles to elucidate signatures reflective of early life programming of health and disease.

Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, is Dean of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health since 2008. She additionally serves as Senior Vice President of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Director of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, a university-wide center housed in the Mailman School. Dean Fried leads one of the three original schools of public health in the U.S., having just marked its Centennial. Columbia Mailman is dedicated to conducting the science and creating knowledge as to how to prevent disease, disability and injury, and improve the health of populations, both around the corner and around the world, as well as educating students, professionals, and the public, and partnering with all sectors of society towards the goal of a healthy population. Under her leadership as Dean, Columbia Public Health is recognized as the leading innovator in public health education and has led the investment in next-century programs and leadership. Among the School's many ground-breaking initiatives are the interdisciplinary Center on Climate Change and Health, the Butler Columbia Aging Center, centers on child health and wellbeing, the injury center that is developing knowledge needed for preventing gun violence. The School's innovative programs address global mental health, define public health systems for the future, and create next-generation approaches to pandemic prevention, health in the context of forced migration, sexual and reproductive health, preventing maternal mortality, and data science for health are among the School's many ground-breaking programs. The Mailman School is providing essential knowledge for the second century of public health: how to most effectively prevent ill health, optimize health for all and extend all of our health spans across our now-longer lives, and protect human health in the face of climate change, food insecurity, rising rates of pandemics, and the challenges of environmental threats to our health.

Dr. Fried is a physician expert in geriatric medicine and an internationally renowned population scientist. She has dedicated her career to the science of healthy longevity, including defining frailty as a clinical syndrome and illuminating its causes, and defining the causes and consequences of cardiovascular disease and multimorbidity, loneliness and disability in aging. Her work has contributed to knowledge as to the bases for a world where greater longevity benefits people of all ages. To that end, she is the co-designer and co-founder of Experience Corps. This community-based senior volunteer program places older adults in public elementary schools in roles that support both the academic success of all children and the health and wellbeing of the volunteers, and it is an evidence-based public health program. Dr. Fried has proposed the concept that it is possible to create a Third Demographic Dividend that enables society and individuals of all ages to experience the benefits of our now-longer lives through a life-course approach to prevention—to extend health span and transform society's social infrastructure to enable meaningful and significant roles for older adults. She has served as a member of the global think tank, the 'Aging Society Network', since 2006. With the goal of creating and distilling the science base for successful societies of longer lives, she co-chaired the 2022 National Academy of Medicine report, Global Roadmap for Health Longevity.

Prior to becoming Dean, Dr. Fried was the Mason F. Lord Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, where she was the founding Director of the Center on Aging and Health, the center of excellence for aging research, and Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. She was the principal investigator of major longitudinal cohort studies, including the NIH-funded Cardiovascular Health Study and the Women's Health and Aging Studies I and II, of the Older Americans' Independence Center, and randomized controlled trials, including the Experience Corps Trial and the GEM trial of Gingko Biloba for prevention of cognitive decline. She was the founding Chair of the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine Task Force on the Academic Careers of Women in Medicine (1989-95) and chaired the University President's Task Force on the Status of Women in Academic Careers (1998-2003).

Dr. Fried is the author of over 500 peer-reviewed articles. She is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine since 2000, and currently serves as a re-elected member of its Executive Council. Elected to the Association of American Physicians in 2003, she served as its President from 2016-17. She was a member of the Council of the National Institute on Aging, served as a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Aging (2006-18), its Council on Longevity, and co-chaired its Council on Human Enhancement. Dean Fried is an elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was named among the top 1 percent "most influential scientific minds of the past decade" by Thomson-Reuters in 2014, and by The New York Times as "one of 15 world leaders in science" in 2012. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including, most recently, the 2022 George M. Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians; Nicholas Murray Butler Medal, Columbia University; Crain's New York Health Care Notable; Politics New York Power Players in Health Care; and 2023 Knight of the Legion of Honour, Government of France.

M. Claire Greene, PhD MPH, is an epidemiologist and implementation scientist interested in identifying opportunities to improve mental health and psychosocial wellbeing among forcibly displaced populations through multisectoral and community-based interventions. In her work she consults and collaborates with governments, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, and academic institutions. At Mailman, Dr. Greene teaches Investigative Methods in Complex Emergencies, a course focused on how to collect and effectively use data to inform programming and policy in humanitarian emergencies, and a course on Psychosocial and Mental Health Issues in Forced Migration. 

Dr. Diana Hernandez conducts research at the intersection of energy, equity, housing and health. A sociologist by training, her work examines the social and environmental determinants of health and has studied the impacts of policy and place-based interventions on the health and well-being of socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Her foundational research on energy insecurity- defined as the inability to adequately meet household energy needs- has explored the multiple dimensions of this phenomenon identifying sociodemographic disparities, adverse consequences and promising interventions toward energy equity and justice. Much of her community-oriented research has been done in collaboration with community groups and government agencies around the country, including in the South Bronx, where she has led small-scale housing redevelopment projects. Dr. Hernandez has published over 75 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in leading academic journals such as Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Urban Health and Energy Policy. Her work been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the JPB, Robert Wood Johnson, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundations, among others. Professor Hernandez teaches graduate level courses on qualitative research methods, design and analysis; public health leadership; and energy justice. She is a Mayoral Appointee to NYC's Environmental Justice Advisory Board. Dr. Hernandez has written for and been featured in various media outlets including the NY Times, USA Today, BBC, NY Daily News and CityLab. Her first book about energy insecurity in the US is due to be published in 2024.

Patrick Kachur is a public health physician with more than 30 years of experience in global health practice. He completed clinical and residency training at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital and Johns Hopkins University and a community health fellowship at the University of Ilorin in Nigeria. For much of his career he was based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where he held leadership roles in the Malaria Branch and Center for Global Health, receiving the agency's highest service award. His scholarship has focused on experimental and observational epidemiology and health systems studies examining the effectiveness and equity of malaria and child health interventions, with an emphasis on real world research that shapes policies and programs. He contributed to interdisciplinary research establishing the efficacy of insecticide-treated nets in western Kenya and the feasibility and impact of routine use of artemisinin-based combination therapy in Tanzania. In 2016, he was appointed by the Director General of the World Health Organization to serve on the Malaria Policy Advisory Group.  Patrick joined the faculty in 2018, where he coordinates implementation science partnerships with a focus on expanding access to quality global health programs and services. He teaches courses on Malaria Program Planning; Applications of Implementation Science in Low- and Middle-Income Countries; and Planning, Managing and Communicating for Evidence-Based Public Health and contributes to the school-wide Integration of Science and Practice.

Dr. Kleiman works at the intersection of public health, radiation research and ophthalmology, often using the eye as a model system to study the effects of environmental exposures, and radiation in particular, on human and animal health. For example, NASA and DOE funded research projects were designed to better understand ocular risks, and radiation cataract in particular, underlying eye exposure to low doses of different kinds of radiation, e.g. X-rays and high energy space radiation, (think cosmic rays). Related human research in Dr. Kleiman's laboratory estimates relative risk of radiation cataract in medical professionals such as interventional cardiologists and associated nursing personnel following occupational exposure to X-ray during fluoroscopic imaging procedures. A collaborative study with Ukrainian colleagues examines ocular radiation risk in Chornobyl accident cleanup workers. Recently, new projects have examined health risks posed by exposure to radiation, heavy metals and other environmental hazards in mice, voles and semi-domesticated dogs living within the Chornobyl exclusion zone. In other areas related to eye pathology, a NIEHS funded project investigates the potential relationship between arsenic exposure and cataract and recently reported significantly elevated arsenic concentrations in eye tissue. A recently funded NIEHS study examines the potentially carcinogenic heavy metal risks associated with e-cigarette use. At a mechanistic level, Dr. Kleiman applies molecular and biochemical approaches to examine how environmental toxins such as radiation, heavy metals or e-cigarette use causes DNA damage, misrepair and mutagenesis and how individual genetic determinants influence risk. Overall, these investigations help in formulating appropriate risk policies and aid in development of human exposure guidelines as well as having important therapeutic implications for radio- and/or chemo-sensitive subsets of the human population. Among other responsibilities, Dr. Kleiman is a technical cooperation expert for the International Atomic Energy Agency and serves on scientific committees of the National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

Dr. Zhonghua Liu obtained his doctorate in Biostatistics from Harvard University advised by Professor Xihong Lin. His current research interests include causal inference, semiparametric efficiency theory, machine (deep) learning theory and applications, statistical genetics/genomics, causal mediation analysis, Mendelian randomization.

Dr. Mishra is a virologist and molecular biologist with over 10 years of experience in high throughput sequencing, viral metagenomics, serology, viral epidemiology, diagnostics and bioinformatics. His achievements include the identification of a novel polyomavirus associated with disease in a transplant recipient exposed to Superstorm Sandy floodwaters, assistance in the discovery of Middle East Respiratory virus in bats and camels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and contribution to the development of the VirCapSeq-VERT, a diagnostic platform that screens for all known vertebrate viruses present in a sample and also detects novel viruses with up to 60% genome divergence from known sequence. Dr. Mishra was also a member of team which recently developed first diagnostic platform “BacCapSeq” that can simultaneously screen for all known human pathogenic bacteria as well as markers for virulence and antibiotic resistance.

Mishra is currently focusing on development of molecular and serological platforms to specific diagnose Zika virus, dengue virus, Chikungunya virus and other arboviruses and he led the team and recently obtained a FDA Emergency User Authorization (EUA) application for an economic and sensitive method: CII-ArboViroPlex assay to detect Zika and other arboviruses. He has also developed a multiplex serological platform; Serochips-peptide arrays for the identification of discriminatory set of immunoreactive epitopes, and same technology was also used to develop the first multiplex diagnostic serologic platforms for arboviral diseases, acute encephalitis and tick-borne diseases.

Ana Navas-Acien is a Leon Hess Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. She is a physician-epidemiologist (MD, University of Granada, Spain '96) with a specialty in Preventive Medicine and Public Health (Hospital La Paz, Madrid '01) and a PhD in Epidemiology (Johns Hopkins University '05). Her research investigates the health effects of environmental exposures (metals, tobacco smoke, e-cigarettes, air pollution), molecular pathways and gene-environment interactions, and effective interventions for reducing involuntary exposures and their health effects. She serves as PI of environmental studies in multiple studies including the Strong Heart Study, a study of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors in American Indian communities, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a study of cardiovascular, metabolic and lung disease in urban settings across the US; the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy 2 (TACT2), a clinical trial about the benefits of metal chelation; the VapeScan Study, a study of young adults from New York City; and India-FOCUS, a study evaluating risk factors for chronic kidney disease of unknown origin as part of the CURE consortium. Her goals are to contribute to the reduction of environmental health inequalities in underserved and disproportionately exposed populations.

Dr. Thoai Ngo is an internationally recognized scientist working at the intersections of global public health, population dynamics, gender equality, and sustainable development. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Thoai has a longstanding interest in utilizing methods from epidemiology, demography, sociology, economics, and data science to address complex population and global health challenges.

Thoai has led international research collaborations to understand trends and develop solutions that improve health and social outcomes in areas such as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), mental health, adolescent health and well-being, gender equity and norms, and population dynamics and mega-trends. His work has been widely cited and utilized in amicus briefs, parliamentary briefings, national policies, and guidelines from the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO). He also advises on research and policy agenda-setting on health and development issues for multilateral and bilateral donors, private foundations, universities, UN agencies, the WHO, and governments worldwide.

Before joining Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Thoai held senior research leadership and executive roles at prominent international research institutions and nonprofits, addressing a wide range of global health and development issues. He served as Vice President for Social and Behavioral Science Research (SBSR) at the Population Council, where he led a global team of interdisciplinary scientists to advance SRHR, health and well-being for young people and marginalized populations, education, gender equity, and climate justice across 30 countries. At the Population Council, he founded the Girl Innovation, Research, and Learning (GIRL) Center(link is external and opens in a new window) - a global innovation hub that fosters interdisciplinary research collaboration aimed at improving the health and well-being of the 1.8 billion youth worldwide. In 2018, Thoai conceptualized and launched the Adolescent Data Hub(link is external and opens in a new window) – a unique global portal for sharing and accessing data on adolescents living in low- and middle-income countries, used by thousands of researchers worldwide.

Prior to the Council, Thoai was the Vice President and Senior Director of Research at Innovation for Poverty Action, directing a team of 500 research staff in conducting over 250 impact evaluations of poverty alleviation programs and policies in 18 countries. He also served as the Head of Global Research at MSI Reproductive Choices, a nonprofit providing SRH services in 37 countries, where he established its international research department. Additionally, he was a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health.

Manuela Orjuela-Grimm is a molecular epidemiologist and pediatric oncologist whose research focuses on vulnerability (including social) to environmental exposures, gene-nutrient/ environment interactions during windows of susceptibility such as pregnancy, early childhood, adolescence and the development of later genetic and epigenetic changes contributing to poorer health outcomes in childhood and adolescence. She leads EpiRbMx, a long-standing case control/ case series study examining exposure to methyl donors, folate pathway metabolism and risk for retinoblastoma in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of investigators including the Hospital Infantil de Mexico, the Hospital de Pediatria at the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social (IMSS), the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica (INSP), and the University of Toronto. In collaboration with INSP researchers, Dr. Orjuela is involved in multiple studies examining the intersection between food security, folate-related dietary intake, dietary diversity and environmental exposures in central Mexico, and in immigrants in New York.

Interests: social contributors to dietary exposures, gene-nutrient interactions; one carbon donor metabolism; methylation; nutrient and environmental exposures during early life and later genetic and epigenetic effects; dietary assessment in Mexico, in populations on the move in Latin America; effects of acculturation and early life migration on nutrient/ environmental exposures in US Latinos.

Sen Pei studies transmission dynamics of infectious diseases using mathematical models and computational tools. His recent studies focus on the spatial spread of influenza, dengue, and COVID-19, as well as the transmission of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in health care systems. His goal is to better understand the environmental, social, and ecological drivers of disease transmission, to improve surveillance, forecasting, and control of infectious outbreaks. Previously, he served as a research scientist in Dr. Jeffrey Shaman’s lab. He earned his PhD from Beihang University in China.

Dr. Perzanowski's research is focused on understanding exposures that lead to allergic sensitization and asthma.  His expertise is in environmental epidemiology with research focused on understanding environmental exposures that lead to allergic sensitization, asthma and airway inflammation. His group's current research is exploring paradigms of exposures related to asthma disparities in an area of the world with a high prevalence of asthma, low-income neighborhoods in NYC. He leads a productive field and laboratory based molecular epidemiology research group.  His group is conducting the NIH (NIEHS), HUD, CDC and ASPR supported NYC Neighborhood Asthma and Allergy Study that is examining neighborhood differences in asthma prevalence and persistence to better understand the great disparity in asthma risk seen between children living just city blocks apart. A major focus of Dr. Perzanowski's research efforts is the implementation of non-invasive measurements of airway inflammation in pediatric population studies. Another current focus is the investigation into the role of early-life dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system in the risk for exercise-induced asthma later in childhood and how this pathway could be contributing to disparities in emergency department visits for asthma. Dr. Perzanowski is actively involved in the EHS community, including the ECHO program where he serves on several committees, is a scientific advisor to the data management group and is a co-investigator with three cohort studies. He has been an active member and leader in Columbia's NIEHS Center for Environmental Health and Justice in Northern Manhattan (CEHNM) as an active Community Engagement Core member and a leader of the Allergen and Bioaerosol lab. He has also been actively involved in community engagement around environmental health disparities, including current HUD and NIEHS funded studies investigating the efficacy of a large-scale mold remediation intervention in NYC public housing in reducing asthma morbidity. Dr. Perzanowski is the Vice Chair for Education and Training in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and is the Director of the MPH Core Curriculum.

Dr. Ré is a neuroscientist focused on investigating environmental risk factors and mechanisms for neurodegenerative diseases. The overarching goal of Dr. Ré's research is to make an impact in therapy and prevention of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases through innovative and rigorously designed mechanistic and biomarker studies. Since she started her faculty appointment, she has developed a novel line of animal- and human model-based experimental research linking environmental exposures and in particular metals and pesticides to the late-onset paralytic disorder ALS. Dr. Ré's work is at the forefront of complex and poorly understood gene-environment (GxE) interactions in the etiology of ALS and, more recently, Parkinson's disease. Overall, her independent research to date has primarily focused on five complementary topics: 1) Novel therapeutic candidates for ALS; 2) Novel biomarkers of environmental exposure and disease progression in ALS; 3) Genuine GxE interactions in ALS; 4) Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neuromuscular aging; and 5) Neurotoxic risks from exposure to electronic cigarette aerosol. Dr. Ré's research work is supported by funding from notably the NIEHS, NIA, CDC/ATSDR, and DOD.

Since 2018, Dr. Ré is the Director of the "Fundamentals of Toxicology for Health-Related Disciplines" course that aims at introducing the basic concepts of toxicology to students from multiple health-related fields (epidemiologists, policy makers, etc.) who are interested in public health and the environmental basis of human disease. She is also the Director of a 2-day professional development workshop the "PI Crash Course: Leadership and Management Skills for Future or New Lab Leaders" as part of her efforts to cultivate the next generation of scientific leaders.

Dr. Jeff Shaman’s background is in climate, atmospheric science and hydrology, as well as biology. Dr. Shaman studies the environmental determinants of infectious disease transmission. In particular, he investigates how hydrologic variability affects mosquito ecology and mosquito-borne disease transmission, and how atmospheric conditions impact the survival, transmission and seasonality of pathogens. More broadly, Dr. Shaman is interested in how meteorology affects human health. Dr. Shaman is now working to develop systems to forecast infectious disease outbreaks at a range of time scales. In addition, he studies a number of climate phenomena, including Rossby wave dynamics, atmospheric jet waveguides, the coupled South Asian monsoon-ENSO system, extratropical precipitation, and tropical cyclogenesis.

Links

• Shaman group
• Influenza forecasts

Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz, is an environmental and occupational epidemiologist interested in the maternal-child health effects of environmental, occupational and psychosocial exposures. She has excellent field work and scientific experience from collaborating with the multi-institutional birth cohorts ELEMENT (Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants) and PROGRESS (Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stressors). Her current research focuses on women’s environmental and occupational exposures and bone health and body composition.

Dr. Tamayo-Ortiz has been a strong advocate to reduce population lead exposure. She developed a sensitization program linking occupational exposures of traditional potters to environmental population wide scenarios. Her research on lead concentrations in candy has had an important impact on public awareness of this exposure in Mexico. She is a co-investigator in the National Surveys of Health and Nutrition that have documented for the first time the prevalence of children’s lead intoxication in Mexico, and a team member of the National Program for Environmental Exposure regulation.

Before coming to Mailman School, Dr. Tamayo-Ortiz was the Head of the Occupational Health Research Department at the Mexican Social Security Institute, the largest health and social benefits provider in Latin America. During the COVID-19 pandemic she collaborated with the occupational health team that studied the impact of the pandemic and set the occupational prevention guidelines for over twenty million private sector workers.

Dr. Tamayo-Ortiz is currently the Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Chapter of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology. She has special interest in strengthening the link between senior and young researchers from LAC.

I am an environmental epidemiologist with a focus on understanding the molecular targets that connect environmental hazards with adverse health effects across the lifespan.
On the laboratory and benchwork side, I work actively to develop, adopt, and optimize protocols for small RNA sequencing, DNA methylation arrays, targeted extracellular vesicle purification, and nontargeted exposomics/metabolomics for large-scale human studies.

On computational side, my research applies statistical and machine learning approaches to the analysis of untargeted “omic” approaches to environmental exposures (exposomics) and molecular targets (epigenetics, epitranscriptomics, and metabolomics) in human clinical and population-based studies.

My work has been applied to reproductive, pulmonary, and neuropsychological health research, where the long-term goals is to gather evidence for policy level changes and identify potential diagnostics markers and intervention targets to support individual level clinical decisions.

Xiao Wu is an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at Columbia University. His research interests lie in developing statistical and causal inference methods to address methodological needs in climate and health research. The key goal of his research is to provide scientific evidence on the health impacts of environmental factors and their mitigation and adaptation in an age of rapidly changing climate. Contact me if you are interested in using data science to build a healthier, environmentally sustainable world!

He completed his Ph.D. in Biostatistics at Harvard University, where he was advised by Dr. Francesca Dominici and Dr. Danielle Braun. His dissertation focuses on developing causal inference methods to handle error-prone, continuous, and time-series exposures. He was a Data Science Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, where he worked with Dr. Trevor Hastie and Dr. Stefan Wager during 2021-2022. He is also working on collaborative projects to design Bayesian clinical trials, meta-analyses, and real-world evidence studies.

He has been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list. His research has been published in prestigious scientific venues such as Science Advances, New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet Planetary Health, and the Journal of the American Statistical Association, and it has attracted the attention of international journalism, including at the New York Times, the Guardian, National Geographic, USA Today, and Scientific American