Jiwei Zhao

Jiwei Zhao is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, jointly appointed in the Department of Statistics (School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences) and the Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics (School of Medicine & Public Health). He leads the Zhao Research Group, focusing on statistical and machine learning methods for biomedical data analysis. His work is supported by multiple NIH and NSF grants, including an NIH R01 project on patient-reported outcomes in vocal fold paralysis and a Distinguished Research Fellows Program at UW-Madison.

Dr. Zhao earned his PhD in Statistics from UW-Madison in 2012 under Dr. Jun Shao. Prior to his current position, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Yale University (2012-2013) and held Assistant and Associate Professor roles at SUNY Buffalo (2014-2020). His academic leadership includes serving as Associate Editor for journals like the Annals of Applied Statistics and Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, and as Area Chair for AISTATS (2024-2025).

His research interests span semiparametric methodologies, missing data analysis, causal inference, and domain adaptation. Key applications include patient-reported outcomes, electronic health records, clinical trials, and studies on aging, mental health, and cancer. His group collaborates with institutions like the Data Science Institute, Institute on Aging, and Center for Demography of Health and Aging.

Recent work emphasizes efficient parameter estimation under privacy constraints, robust learning in nonignorable missing data scenarios, and leveraging machine learning for medical imaging and genetic studies. He actively recruits researchers across postdocs, PhD, and undergraduate levels to join his team.