Dan Nicolae is Professor and Chair of Statistics at University of Chicago where he is also Professor in the Department of Medicine, Section of Genetic Medicine. Originally from Craiova, Dan Nicolae graduated from “Facultatea de Matematica” of University of Bucharest in 1995, and has obtained his PhD in Statistics from University of Chicago in 1999. He has held visiting positions at deCode Genetics in Iceland, University of Oxford and UCLA. His research focus is on developing statistical and computational methods for understanding the human genetic variation and its influence on the risk for complex traits, with an emphasis on asthma related phenotypes. The methodology developed in his group is based on foundations in high-dimensional inference, machine learning and data science. The current focus in his statistical genetics research is centered on data integration and system-level approaches using large datasets that include clinical and environmental data as well as various genetics/genomics data types: DNA variation, gene expression (RNA-seq), methylation and microbiome. Dan Nicolae has advised more than 50 researchers at all levels (Master, PhD and Post-Doctoral) and has published more than 130 articles in scientific journals. He has been member of numerous Advisory and Editorial Boards and has served on panels in United States, Canada, UK and European Union.