Scarlett Bellamy, right, chair and professor of biostatistics at SPH, presents Debashis Ghosh with the 2026 L. Adrienne Cupples Award. Photo: Megan Jones

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2026 L. Adrienne Cupples Award Goes to Debashis Ghosh

Debashis Ghosh, a professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Informatics at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, received the award and presented his perspective on being a statistician in the age of AI at the School of Public Health on April 3.

Debashis Ghosh, professor of biostatistics and informatics at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, is the recipient of the 2026 L. Adrienne Cupples Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service in Biostatistics.

The L. Adrienne Cupples Award is presented each year by the Department of Biostatistics at Boston University School of Public Health to recognize a biostatistician whose academic achievements reflect the contributions to biostatistics exemplified by the late L. Adrienne Cupples, an emeritus professor of biostatistics and epidemiology and the award’s first recipient.

Cupples joined the SPH faculty in 1981 and later served as founding chair of the Department of Biostatistics and co-executive director of the graduate program in Biostatistics. During her tenure at SPH, she advanced the field of biostatistics through extensive publications in major journals and book chapters on collaborative and methodological research, development and effective teaching of a wide range of biostatistics courses, and mentorship of numerous graduate students and faculty.

“When I started in the 90s, I felt like there were often [biostatistics] groups and stat genetics groups that were separate. What was impressive about [Cupples] is that she really built this bridge between stat genetics and genetic epidemiology. One of the things that has been exciting to watch has been seeing the lines and boundaries blur,” says Ghosh, who never met Cupples but developed an interest in her work on the age of onset in genetic diseases as a graduate student. “I found this quote from [Cupples’] in memoriam article saying she was ‘kind, empathetic, passionate’ and I am at that point in my career where I now am thinking more about the end than the beginning and I’d really like to be remembered in the same way.”

The Cupples Award committee was impressed by Ghosh’s extensive mentorship of both doctoral and post-doctoral students, his robust contributions to the scientific and statistical literature, and the applications of his research in the fields of cancer genomics, pediatric autoimmune disease, and health aging.

Ghosh has been a professor at CU Anschutz for more than a decade, during which time he also served as chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Informatics. He was previously a faculty member at Penn State University and the University of Michigan. He specializes in the use of machine learning methods and causal inference to solve biostatistical and bioinformatics challenges. His work has earned him numerous other honors over the years, including awards from the International Biometric Society, International Indian Statistical Association, American Public Health Association, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He holds a PhD in biostatistics from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Rice University.

On April 3, Ghosh visited SPH to accept the Cupples award and deliver a presentation titled, “Being a Statistician in the Age of AI.” Following an introduction from Scarlett Bellamy, chair and professor of biostatistics, Ghosh discussed the ways artificial intelligence has disrupted society and his perspectives on the promises and pitfalls of the technology.

“I’m using it, but [I’m] still in the exploration stage of seeing how it can help,” says Ghosh, who is most excited about AI’s potential to advance research methodologies and cautiously optimistic about its value in training students. “As a tool for automating systems and their use in broader society, this is probably [what] I’m most concerned about. I see a lot of ways in which things could go wrong.”