Marianthi Markatou, SUNY Distinguished Professor and associate chair of research and health care informatics in the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Health Professions, has received the ISI Service Award from the International Statistical Institute (ISI).

The ISI is the leading independent organization for the promotion and advancement of statistical science worldwide. The award, presented every two years by the ISI Executive Committee, recognizes members of the ISI for outstanding contributions to the institute and the global statistical community.

The award honors Markatou's leadership, dedication to the ISI and the statistical community, as well as and her pivotal role as co-editor-in-chief of the International Statistical Review.

Markatou is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher with a distinguished body of work that has advanced the fields of statistical science — statistics and biostatistics — and data science. She is an elected fellow of both the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the American Statistical Association, as well as an elected member of the ISI.

“Professor Markatou’s accomplishments continue to gain recognition at the highest levels of our profession,” says Douglas Landsittel, chair of the Department of Biostatistics. “This award for service represents an especially important contribution given her key role within and years of service to this internationally recognized organization.”

Markatou’s interdisciplinary interests make connections between biomedical informatics — clinical, public health and translational — and computer science — machine learning and artificial intelligence. Using fundamental statistical concepts, she has developed tools that enable discovery in statistical sciences and specific subject-matter areas.

Her disciplinary research has led to fundamental contributions to statistical science and applicable research into problems in the field. Her most recent funding award of more than $1 million from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) supports development of novel statistical and computational methods. The new methods leverage statistical ideas and concepts, and artificial intelligence tools to integrate multiple data sources and to extract knowledge from these data — methods that are applicable to many contexts.

She is using the methodology in the context of studying social determinants of health in underserved populations, with the aim of facilitating patient-centered care.