Education

Ph.D., Biostatistics, Harvard University, 2009
A.M., Biostatistics, Harvard University, 2006
B.S., Mathematical and Computational Science, Stanford University, 2004

About Me:

I am a Professor in the Biostatistics Program of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. I am also an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Washington. 

Note that there are many other Michael Wu's: I am not allowed to prescribe medications so please stop calling and faxing me!

One of my major research areas focuses on developing and applying statistical methods for addressing arising in the "omics" sciences, including genomics, epigenomics, proteomics/metabolomics, and microbiome/metagenomics, but usually not economics. Our recent focus is primarily on the human microbiome.  Through this line of research, we have developed tools such as the MiRKAT method for conducting community-level microbiome analysis, ConQuR for batch effect removal, and the SKAT method for analysis of rare genetic variants, which now represent integral components of many analytic pipelines. 

In a separate line of research, I participate in SWOG as a member of the SWOG Statistical Center.  I am particularly responsible for the development and conduct of clinical trials for melanoma and also lead the statistical design and analysis of translational medicine studies (ancillary omics studies attached to trials).  We have also been developing statistical tools targeting problems that have emerged within the context of these trials and studies.

I am a recipient of the W.J. Youden Award in Interlaboratory Testing from the American Statistical Association (ASA).  I also received the inaugural Robert Riffenburgh Award from the ASA for contributions and impact from transferring machine learning approaches to microbiome and human genetics.  I am an elected Fellow of the ASA and previously chaired the ASA Section on Statistics in Genomics and Genetics.

Prior to joining the Hutch, I was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that, I earned my Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Harvard University with a focus in Computational Molecular Biology working with Xihong Lin and was also co-advised by Tianxi Cai. In 2004, I graduated from Stanford University and took my B.S. in Mathematical and Computational Science.

I am originally from Columbia, MD but have also lived in the Bay Area, Boston, and Chapel Hill, NC.  I've grown to love the Pacific Northwest with all of the myriad outdoor activities!

Once upon a time, I had spare time and enjoyed practicing Wushu, a Chinese martial art/sport, as a member of the Stanford Wushu Team. I'm also a black belt in the style of Cuong Nhu. But these days, I spend most of my time either doing statistics or playing with my offspring while contemplating how to take over the world.