Paula K. Roberson, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Biostatistics in the College of Medicine (COM) and the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health (COPH) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been elected a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Roberson was the only fellow elected by the association this year from Arkansas. She was nominated by other members of the statistics section of the AAAS “for dedicated leadership and distinguished statistical contributions in health sciences and medical research, and for extensive and exceptional peer statistical review and advisory committee service.”
The election of Roberson and 400 other nominees was by a vote of the association’s executive council steering committee. New AAAS fellows will be inducted at a ceremony Feb. 14 in San Jose, Calif., at which they will receive a certificate and gold and blue rosette pin, reflecting the association’s focus on science and engineering.
“It is quite an honor to be elected a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science,” Roberson said. “This recognition by my colleagues is both humbling and immensely gratifying.”
Roberson earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and earned her doctorate in biomathematics at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Roberson joined UAMS in1993. She has served as the Director of Biostatistics for the Arkansas Cancer Research Center and the Director of the Division of Biometry in COM, and was the chair pro tem of the new Department of Biostatistics for several years after the COPH opened. She was been Chair of that department since 2004.
Roberson’s career is one distinguished by service as an officer of state, regional and national professional societies. She has served as a member and often the lead on innumerable national peer-review and advisory committees, many for NIH. Her publications include book chapters and more than 125 articles in peer-reviewed journals. She has served as an investigator and biostatistician on countless studies with researchers at UAMS, Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care system, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and other institutions.
“This is a well-deserved honor,” said UAMS Researcher Robert Jilka, M.D., who has worked with Dr. Roberson on a number of projects. “Paula has always been willing to help investigators in the UAMS Osteoporosis Center. She has ensured that we use the appropriate statistical methods in the analysis of our data, and helped us to apply more advanced approaches when needed.”