Lloyd J. Edwards

Affiliation: Professor, Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Education: BA, Mathematics, Morehouse College; Master’s, Mathematical Statistics, University of Maryland; PhD, Biostatistics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Lloyd Edwards was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After graduating high school in 1976, he enrolled at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, on a full, four-year academic scholarship. He graduated in 1980 with Phi Beta Kappa honors after majoring in mathematics and unofficially minoring in physics and economics. He was also a football starter for three years and all-conference twice, which led to being named an Academic All-American.

Edwards earned a master’s in mathematical statistics at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1982 and then worked for TRW Defense Systems for three years as a software engineer focusing on antisubmarine warfare. He graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990 with a PhD in biostatistics, leading to a career as a faculty member in the University of North Carolina Department of Biostatistics for close to 25 years. Since 2017, Edwards has been a professor in the department of biostatistics in the school of public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Edwards’ interest in statistics began in his senior year at Morehouse, when he worked with Arthur Jones in the department of mathematics on a data analysis project. Jones graduated with a mathematics degree from Morehouse and had a PhD in mathematical statistics. After working with Jones, Edwards naturally gravitated toward mathematical statistics for graduate school.

While Edwards was at the University of Maryland and later working for TRW, a classmate from Morehouse was studying biostatistics at The University of North Carolina. He explained what biostatistics was, and Edwards knew he wanted to pursue a PhD in it. He says, “I wanted to use my mathematical and statistical education to have a positive impact on peoples’ lives and felt strongly that biostatistics was the right choice for me.”

Edwards’ proudest professional accomplishment to date is his role as a teacher and mentor. At The University of North Carolina, Ronald Helms—teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend—and Pranab K. Sen—Edwards’ dissertation adviser—urged him to have an impact on the almost nonexistent community of Black biostatisticians at the time. Throughout his career, he has endeavored to play a part in the recruitment, training, mentorship, and graduation of Black students in biostatistics.

Edwards has more than 30 years of experience in the planning and analysis of clinical trials, observational studies, and community-based projects. He has an extensive background in collaborating with researchers on a broad range of areas in biomedical research, including cardiovascular disease, cystic fibrosis, cancer, aging, pediatrics, and minority health. His primary area of statistical application is the analysis of longitudinal data, and his statistical research includes derivation of techniques for computation of power, control of Type I error, and measuring model fit in linear and generalized linear mixed models.