TSHS 2026 Incoming Chair Message

Incoming Chair by Amanda Ellis, PhD, University of Kentucky.

Happy New Year! I am Amanda Ellis, the incoming 2026 Chair of the ASA Section for Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences. On behalf of myself and the entire Executive Committee, we are looking forward to making this a great year for all our members. Let me take this opportunity to tell you about TSHS resources, upcoming events, and opportunities to get involved! 

1. Teaching Resources: The TSHS Resources Portal provides peer-reviewed health-science related datasets for TSHS members to use in their teaching. There are currently 17 datasets available on the Portal, and each dataset is accompanied by a study description, data dictionary, and, when available, published paper. If you have a dataset that you would like to contribute to the Portal, please consider submitting it for review. If you have any questions, please contact our Portal Co-Directors, Carol Bigelow and Jenna Carlson.

   
   

2. Blog: The TSHS blog is regularly updated with Section news, webinar recaps, and resource reviews. We are always looking for individuals to contribute to the blog, so if you would like to share a helpful teaching resource or your thoughts on a teaching method that worked well for you, please contact our blog Editor, Charlotte Bolch. 

   
   

3. Webinars and YouTube: The TSHS Section hosts several free online webinars each year. Our latest Fall 2024 webinar was a presentation by Hilary Watt on “Practical relevance of p-values and confidence intervals”. This webinar and more are hosted on the TSHS YouTube channel. If you have an idea for a future webinar, please contact our webinar Coordinator, Sujata Patil.

4. Awards: The Section offers three annual awards for our members, including the Outstanding Teaching Award, the Young Investigator Award, and the Distinguished Achievement Award. Deadline for nominations is May 1 and details are available on the TSHS Amstat Community pages.

5. JSM 2026: We are looking forward to JSM 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts, August 1-6, 2026. We are currently organizing several events for this year’s meeting. If you are attending JSM, please be sure to come to our annual mixer where you can meet other members, have a bite to eat, and enter to win great raffle prizes. The time/date and location of our events will be listed in the JSM online program.  

This is an exciting time for our Section and there are many opportunities to get involved. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns or suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Amanda Ellis, PhD 

2026 Chair, Section for Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences: TSHS Blog and ASA Amstat Community Webpages

Associate Professor of Biostatistics & Assistant Dean for Public Health Science, University of Kentucky College of Public Health