Sunil Mathur, PhD

Academic Profile

Dr. Sunil Mathur is a distinguished professor of Biostatistics at Weill Cornell Medical College and a full member of both the Houston Methodist Academic Institute and the Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center. He serves as the Director of Biostatistics and Co-Director of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Resources at the Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center and the Houston Methodist Research Institute.

Dr. Mathur has previously held several key positions: he was a Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Assistant to the Dean for Research Development at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; a Professor and Director of the Research Support Center at Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia; an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Memphis; and an Associate Professor and Director of the Statistical Consulting Center at the University of Mississippi.

Dr. Mathur is the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Statistical Science and Applications and serves as an Associate Editor for multiple journals, including the Journal of Applied Statistics and the International Journal of Statistics and Systems. He is also on the editorial boards of the Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health and the Austin Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology.

He authored the book “Statistical Bioinformatics,” published by Academic Press, Elsevier and has successfully secured over $50 million in external grant funding from various sources, including the NIH, DOD, NSF, DOE, and the US Army as PI/Co-PI/Co-I. Dr. Mathur reviews grant proposals for the National Science Foundation, DOD, and other agencies, and he is a member of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board for NIH grants. Dr. Mathur holds a Ph.D. in Statistics, an M.Phil in Statistics, an MS in Statistics, a BS in Mathematics, and an MBA.

His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, such as the Digital Innovator of the Year Award and the Graduate Resource and Opportunity Workspace Friends Award. He was also honored with the prestigious Junior Research Fellowship by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research during his Ph.D. program.

Dr. Mathur is currently the President of the San Antonio Chapter of the American Statistical Association and a former President of the Texas Association of Academic Administrators in the Mathematical Sciences (T3AMS). He is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and is a member of the American Statistical Association and the International Indian Statistical Association, USA.

Dr. Mathur is deeply committed to student success, focusing on enhancing competitiveness, recruiting and retaining a diverse student body, and expanding internship and training opportunities. He has actively mentored minority students, particularly through the REU, and Ronald E. McNair Program, and has supervised numerous Master’s, Ph.D., and Post-doctoral scholars. One of his Ph.D. students has become a tenured full professor, and many of his students hold significant positions in industry.

He has developed several degree programs, including a Ph.D. program and an MS program in Data Science, and has conducted numerous workshops to increase research activities. In his spare time, Dr. Mathur enjoys playing tennis, pickleball, cricket, and soccer, as well as gardening.

Research Profile

Dr. Mathur has extensive interdisciplinary research experience. He collaborated and consulted on interdisciplinary research projects, provided assistance in grant preparation, and data analysis, and prepared abstracts and manuscripts. He collaborates with researchers involving clinical trials, investigator-initiated studies, collaborative studies, large studies, longitudinal studies, observational, and other types of studies. He collaborates with public health professionals, clinicians, basic scientists, and applied researchers. He developed new methodologies for complex research problems, used modern statistical and data analysis methods, and developed state-of-the-art computer programs to perform advanced statistical analysis.

Dr. Mathur’s research pursuits straddle theoretical developments in statistics/biostatistics and their practical applications across various domains. Methodologically, his interests encompass nonparametric statistics, survival analysis, AI, data science, modeling, multivariate statistical analysis, and the intersection of statistics with public health, epidemiology, epigenetics, genomics, and cancer research. The passion that fuels his research is deeply rooted in addressing questions across the spectrum of applied, basic, clinical, and translational research. Currently, he is actively engaged in diverse application areas, including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, childhood obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. He created linkages across programs, departments, and colleges for interdisciplinary work. He provides and facilitates mentorship of tenure-track faculty, graduate students, and postdoc fellows.