Sean Simpson

Affiliation: Professor, Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Sean Simpson grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and attended majority Black public schools throughout his childhood. Simpson’s parents supplemented his education through programs such as the Richmond Area Program for Minorities in Engineering and Center for Talented Youth. As a kid, he was interested and had talent in math, particularly its application in the biomedical sciences.

After graduating high school, Simpson attended Harvard University, where he majored in applied mathematics. His interest in biostatistics was piqued when he learned about the field during an informational session. The representative from biostatistics, who also happened to be Black, changed the trajectory of Simpsons career path. Simpson was hooked and began researching graduate programs and reading biostatistics textbooks in earnest. After being accepted into several programs, including Harvard’s, Simpson ultimately chose to go to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Simpson’s PhD focused on repeated measures analysis and covariance modeling.

Simpson is a professor in the department of biostatistics and data science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine with joint appointments in biomedical engineering and neuroscience. He also has an affiliate appointment with the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity and membership in the Laboratory for Complex Brain Networks. Finally, Simpson is an adjunct professor in the department of biostatistics at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Simpson’s main research focus has been on developing statistical tools for the analysis of whole-brain network data. He believes studying the brain as a system will engender a more biologically meaningful approach to understanding the root causes of a number of brain diseases and disorders.

“I’ve learned, and always tell my mentees, that you shouldn’t let ‘failures’ discourage you, but that you should use them as learning tools,” said Simpson. He continued with a piece of advice he received from one of his mentors: “You should let your goals dictate your career, not your career dictate your goals (i.e., find the right environment for you and focus as much as you realistically can on the work you find fulfilling).” Simpson added, “Using failure as a tool to lead to successes and being intentional about defining my own goals has had a tremendous impact on my career and life and led to my proudest career moment thus far—being elected as a fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2022.”