Naim U. Rashid

Naim U. Rashid, PhD, is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Biostatistics at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and holds a joint appointment as Research Associate Professor at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He serves as Associate Director of the Lineberger Biostatistics Shared Resource and co-directs the Biostatistics Cores of the UNC Pancreatic and Breast Cancer SPOREs. His work bridges statistical methodology development with collaborative cancer research, focusing on translating genomic discoveries into clinical applications.

Dr. Rashid's research spans precision medicine, genomics, statistical computing, and machine learning with specific applications to pancreatic and breast cancers. His lab develops novel statistical methods for high-throughput genomic data analysis, cancer subtyping, missing data problems in deep learning, and clinical trial design. Recent work includes developing an AI tool that recommends optimal clinical trials to pancreatic cancer patients, funded by a $311,000 Department of Defense grant in 2024. His methodological contributions focus on improving replicability in gene signature selection and clinical prediction, with emphasis on addressing racial disparities in cancer outcomes.

His publication record shows consistent output in top statistical and medical journals, with recent work focusing on high-dimensional statistics, missing data methods, and cancer genomics. His research demonstrates a clear trajectory from methodological innovation to clinical implementation, particularly in pancreatic cancer where his PurIST classifier has gained recognition. The work increasingly incorporates machine learning approaches while maintaining strong statistical foundations.

• Delta Omega Faculty Award (2021, UNC Chapel Hill)
• IBM and R.J. Reynolds Junior Faculty Development Award (2017, UNC Chapel Hill)
• Barry H. Margolin Dissertation Award (2013, UNC Chapel Hill)
• Training Grant recipient (2006-2011, Genomics and Cancer)

Dr. Rashid actively mentors graduate students and serves as trial statistician on multiple cancer clinical trials. He teaches BIOS 735, a doctoral-level course on statistical computing, and is involved with the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium Statistical Working Group. His lab collaborates extensively with clinicians at UNC Lineberger and beyond, with recent work including the PROCLAIM Study examining mHealth apps to improve diverse recruitment in pancreatic cancer trials. The Rashid Lab focuses on developing computational tools that directly impact clinical decision-making while addressing methodological challenges in genomic data analysis.