Simon Tavar is a statistician and cancer researcher who has long been a world leader at the interface of those two fields. A specialist in the effects of genome alterations on cancer, his analytical work on the underlying biological data has been key to improving our understanding of these devastating diseases.
Simon's work on DNA analysis has also led to important contributions in the field of population genetics, as well as within the more abstract field of Bayesian statistics. A pioneer in computational biology, his aim is to understand the way in which genetic variations interact with environmental features to shape human responses to disease.
Until 2019, Simon held a professorship in Cambridge's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and the Department of Oncology, and was Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Since 2018, Simon has been the Director of the Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics at Columbia University, and a professor in the departments of Statistics and Biological Sciences there.
Professional position
- Herbert and Florence Irving Director, Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics, Columbia University
Subject groups
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Health and Human Sciences
Molecular medicine
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Mathematics
, Applied mathematics and theoretical physics
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Patterns in Populations
Population genetics, Biological modelling, Biological statistics
