Melissa D. Begg is the dean of the Columbia School of Social Work, in Columbia University, and a professor of social work and of biostatistics at Columbia. Her research expertise concerns the biostatistics of population health, including the use of correlated data from family studies. [1]
Begg is originally from Queens, New York. She majored in mathematics at Fairfield University, [1] [2] and has a Ph.D. in biostatistics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, [1] completed in 1989. [3]
She has worked as a faculty member at Columbia University since 1989, [1] for many years as part of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. [2] [4] From 2006 to 2018, she co-directed Columbia's Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. [2] She became Vice Provost for Academic Programs in 2014, [1] and dean of the Columbia School of Social Work in 2019. [1] [2]
Begg was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2012. [5] Also in 2012, she became the inaugural recipient of the Lagakos Distinguished Alumni Award of the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics. [3]
She was the 2013 recipient of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health / Pfizer Award for Teaching Excellence. [4]