View source for Biography:Nan Laird

{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Nan Laird
|birth_name        = Nan McKenzie Laird
|birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1943|9|18|mf=y}}
|birth_place       = Gainesville, Florida, USA<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ryan |first=Louise |date=2015-11-01 |title=A Conversation with Nan Laird |journal=Statistical Science |volume=30 |issue=4 |doi=10.1214/15-STS528 |s2cid=61945850 |issn=0883-4237|doi-access=free |arxiv=1512.03533 }}</ref>
|workplaces        = Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
|alma_mater        = 
|education         = [[Organization:Rice University|Rice University]]<br>[[Organization:University of Georgia|University of Georgia]]<br>[[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]]
|doctoral_advisor  = [[Biography:Arthur P. Dempster|Arthur P. Dempster]]<ref name=mathgene/>
|doctoral_students = [[Biography:Christl Donnelly|Christl Donnelly]],<ref name=mathgene/> [[Biography:Rebecca DerSimonian|Rebecca DerSimonian]], Fong Wang Clow, Joseph W. Hogan, Garrett M. Fitzmaurice, Nicholas J. Horton, Stephen Lake and Steve Horvath
|thesis_title      = Log-linear models with random parameters: an empirical Bayes approach
|thesis_url        = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1235398155
|thesis_year       = 1975
|known_for         = Expectation-maximization algorithm,<br> DerSimonian-Laird estimator
|awards            = (2021) International Prize in Statistics<br/>(2016) 25th Annual Distinguished Statistician Lecture from UCONN, the American Statistical Association and [[Company:Pfizer|Pfizer]]<br/>(2011) 25th Annual Lowell Reed Lecturer from the [[Organization:American Public Health Association|American Public Health Association]]<br/>(2011) Samuel S. Wilks Award, from the American Statistical Association
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}

'''Nan McKenzie Laird''' (born September 18, 1943) is the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of Public Health, Emerita in [[Biology:Biostatistics|Biostatistics]] at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She served as Chair of the Department from 1990 to 1999.  She was the Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Biostatistics from 1991 to 1999. Laird is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, as well as the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.  She is a member of the International Statistical Institute.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sc-asa.org/abstract_bio.pdf|title=Page 1 SCASA's 2006 Workshop in Applied Statistics|accessdate=2008-07-14|publisher=sc-asa.org|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20121209175555/http://www.sc-asa.org/abstract_bio.pdf|archivedate=2012-12-09}}</ref><ref>[http://hcr3.isiknowledge.com/author.cgi?id=4866&cb=13 Nan Laird]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at ISI Web of Knowledge</ref>

==Education==
Laird began her undergraduate studies at [[Organization:Rice University|Rice University]] in 1961, first majoring in mathematics, before switching to French. She left Rice in her junior year in college and moved to {{wipe|New York City}}. Later, she resumed studies at [[Organization:University of Georgia|University of Georgia]] in computer science before eventually switching to statistics and earned her BA in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/asa-ipi031821.php|title=International prize in statistics awarded to Nan Laird for longitudinal study methods|accessdate=2021-03-23|publisher=American Statistical Association}}</ref> Laird worked between 1969 and 1971 as a computer programmer on the [[Astronomy:Apollo program|Apollo program]] at MIT's [[Organization:Draper Laboratory|Draper Laboratory]] before starting her graduate studies at [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] in statistics in 1971. She received her PhD from Harvard in 1975 under [[Biography:Arthur P. Dempster|Arthur Dempster]] and was hired as a faculty member directly after graduation.<ref name=mathgene>{{MathGenealogy}}</ref> She remained at Harvard until her retirement, when she became an emeritus professor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Institute of Mathematical Statistics {{!}} International Prize in Statistics awarded to Nan Laird |url=https://imstat.org/2021/03/24/international-prize-in-statistics-awarded-to-nan-laird/ |access-date=2022-08-20 |language=en}}</ref>

==Career and research==
Laird is well known for many seminal papers in biostatistics applications and methods, including the [[Expectation–maximization algorithm|expectation–maximization algorithm]].

===Selected publications===
* {{Citation|last1=DerSimonian|first1=R.|last2=Laird|first2=N.|title=Meta-analysis in clinical trials|journal=Controlled Clinical Trials|volume=7|issue=3|year=1986|pages=177–188|doi=10.1016/0197-2456(86)90046-2|pmid=3802833}}
* Laird NM and [[Biography:James H. Ware|Ware, JH]]. (1982) "Random effects models for longitudinal data: an overview of recent results". ''Biometrics'',; [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7168798/ 38:963-974].
* {{Citation|last1=Dempster|first1=A. P.|last2=Laird|first2=N.|last3=Rubin|first3=D. B.|title=Maximum likelihood from incomplete data via the EM algorithm|journal=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B|volume=39|issue=1|year=1977|pages=1–38|jstor=2984875}}

===Honors and awards===
Her honors include the third International Prize in Statistics in 2021,<ref>{{cite web|url =https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/asa-ipi031821.php|title =International prize in statistics awarded to Nan Laird for longitudinal study methods|website =EurekAlert|publisher =American Statistical Association}}</ref> the 25th Annual Distinguished Statistician Lecture from the [[Organization:University of Connecticut|University of Connecticut]], the American Statistical Association and [[Company:Pfizer|Pfizer]] in 2016, the 25th Annual Lowell Reed Lecturer, from the [[Organization:American Public Health Association|American Public Health Association]] in 2011, the [[Biography:Samuel S. Wilks|Samuel S. Wilks]] Award, from the American Statistical Association in 2011, the Myra Samuels Lecturer award from [[Organization:Purdue University|Purdue University]] in 2004, the [[Biography:Janet L. Norwood|Janet L. Norwood]] Award in 2003 from the American Statistical Association, the Florence Nightingale David Award in 2001 from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies, and several other fellowships.

==References==
{{Reflist}}


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[[Category:American statisticians]]

{{Sourceattribution|Nan Laird}}