Wendell Cherry Chair in Clinical Trial Research
Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics
Shesh N. Rai, Ph.D., joined the University of Louisville in November 2007 as director of the Biostatistics Facility, Brown Cancer Center, and associate professor in the Department of Bioinformatics & Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Information Sciences. He was awarded the Wendell Cherry Chair in Clinical Trial Research in 2009 and promoted to professor of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics in 2010. In 2014, he was honored as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association for developing methods for clinical trial research and outstanding collaboration with basic scientists and clinicians.
As the Wendell Cherry Chair in Clinical Trial Research, Rai directs the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Facility (BBF) in the Brown Cancer Center (BBF-BCC), increasing the number and quality of cancer clinical trials and research protocols. He also created and directs the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Facilities (BBFs) for the Diabetes and Obesity Center (BBF-DOC), American Heart Association-Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center (BBF-TRC), the UofL Superfund (BBF-SF), the UofL Hepatobiology & Toxicolgy Center (BBF-HTC) and the Microbiomics, Inflammation &Pathogenicity Center (BBF-MIP). These NIH funded centers have brought more than $40 million to the University of Louisville. With his more than two decades of collaborative experience with basic scientists and clinical researchers, he has collaborated on 34 funded grants and is a co-investigator on 13 NIH grants as of 2018.
Rai also has served on several committees, including ASA chapters, St. Jude Institutional Review Board, St. Jude Safety Board and Biostatistics Protocol Review Panel. He sits on Clinical Scientific Review and Data and Safety Monitoring Committees of the Brown Cancer Center. He serves as statistical reviewer for many national and international scientific journals, including editorial board member of five journals. As of 2018, he has written 210+ manuscripts dealing with pre-clinical data, longitudinal data involving prospective studies, prospective clinical trials, retrospective studies and survey studies. To manage very active collaborations, it requires knowledge of many areas of statistics, including clinical trials, survival analysis, mixed effects (hierarchical) models, sample survey, bioinformatics, and quantitative risk assessment. He has published refereed manuscripts in each of these areas.
Rai has mentored 6 PhD students with specialization in Bioinformatics (3) and Biostatistics (3) and is supervising 6 PhD students at present. His students have gone on to lead successful careers and are currently employed in a variety of academic and industry settings.