Rao edits two new statistics handbooks

Dr. Arni S.R. Srinivasa Rao, a mathematical modeler at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, is the leading coeditor of the two newest volumes of the Handbook of Statistics.

The handbooks are reference books, with each volume devoted to a particular topic in statistics. The series, published since 1980 and long edited by legendary statistician C.R. Rao, addresses the community of statisticians, as well as scientists in various disciplines who use statistical methodology in their work.

Rao, a professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences, came to MCG in 2012 from the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata. Before that, he had performed research in mathematical biology at the University of Oxford, Indian Institute of Science and University of Guelph. Rao also received a Heiwa Nakajima Foundation Tokyo Award to conduct work on mathematical modeling of HIV at Hiroshima University.

His research focuses on the development of novel mathematical modeling methods and theories geared toward biology and biomedical applications.

Rao also founded the university’s Laboratory for Theory and Mathematical Modeling, which is housed in the MCG Department of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases. He is developing new deep learning techniques, such as artificial intelligence techniques, that can assist in disease modeling and infertility and cardiology related research.

He is the lead inventor on a provisional U.S. Patent, with co-inventor Dr. Jose Vazquez, chief of the MCG Division of Infectious Diseases, on a product that can assist in the timely treatment of certain fungal diseases.

Rao has worked as a consultant for the World Bank and other international agencies and has contributed to policies on epidemics like AIDS, avian influenza and swine flu.  His work has been featured in top journals like Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Journal of Mathematical Biology and The Lancet .