Co-Investigator, Research Project 3, MISM
Assoc. Professor in Biostatistics, UCLA
Jason Xu, PhD, Co-Investigator, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Before joining the faculty at UCLA, he was an Assistant Professor of Statistical Science in the Trinity School of Arts & Sciences at Duke University and an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics in the School of Medicine at Duke University. Prior to his time at Duke, Dr. Xu was an NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the supervision of Kenneth Lange. He earned his PhD at the University of Washington as an NDSEG Fellow, where his PhD was advised by Volodymyr Minin. Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Dr. Xu received his B.S in Mathematics from the University of Arizona in 2012, where he was mentored by Kevin Lin and William Vélez.
He has broad interests in stochastic modeling, machine learning, and computational statistics, and much of his work focuses on developing inferential tools for dependent, constrained, and missing-data settings. Dr. Xu is particularly interested in likelihood-based formulations that bridge theory and methodology, driven by applications in systems biology and epidemiology. As Co-Lead of MISM Research Project 3, he will coordinate the research effort and develop continuous-time Markov chain models of partially observed epidemic processes involving heterogeneous agents.