Elizabeth Chin, ’17

Elizabeth Chin is an assistant professor of Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University. She works on developing and improving systems to support ethical, equitable, and robust decision making. Her research focuses on addressing systems that perpetuate inequities, including mass incarceration and algorithmic tools used in decision making. She develops and applies methodologies in causal inference, algorithmic fairness, and machine learning to systems-level problems in public health, focusing on health inequities produced by structural injustice and policy impact.

She graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Bioinformatics. She was fortunate to complete my PhD in Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University under the guidance of Euan Ashley and Trevor Hastie.

During college, Elizabeth worked as a resident assistant and as a researcher in the intersection of computer science, statistics, and biology. As an RA, she saw a great need to end the stigma surrounding mental health, as well as for better support, and co-founded and organized quarterly events. Over 300 students attend these events, learned from speakers, and walked away with practical steps and resources.

Elizabeth received the Norma J. Ehrlich Scholarship, Taiwanese-American Scholarship, NSF Summer Research Fellowship, Lau Award for Undergraduate Research, Gwill York and Paul Maeder Research Award for Systems Biology, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and Stanford Graduate Fellowship in 2017. For Elizabeth, the Norma J. Ehrlich Scholarship not only provided financial support, but also helped connect her to a wonderful community of accomplished women who will and are making a difference in their communities. The support and mentorship of both Craig and other Ehrlich Scholars has been invaluable for Elizabeth’s development, and was one of the highlights of her college experience.