Celebrating 11 Years! Biomedical Data Science Applications for 2027 Open in November
2026
Biostatistics - Biomedical Data Science
Our program is celebrating its 10th year! The Division of Biostatistics in the Department
of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis,
Tennessee invites applications for paid internships in Biomedical Data Science. Applications
for summer 2026 will be reviewed starting October 16th, 2025 and will continue until
positions are filled. We expect to have at least two positions for summer 2026.
Interns will work with one or more of our faculty members on a statistical project
of mutual interest. The work is expected to lead to a tangible research product such
as software package or methodological paper. Interested individuals must have strong
programming skills in at least one language (eg. R, Python, Julia, C/C++, SAS), possess
basic data analysis skills, and have a willingness to learn biomedical science. Applicants
should possess a relevant (eg. statistics, mathematics, computer science) bachelor’s
or master’s degree; undergraduate students must be rising juniors or seniors.
Most internships are 20-40 hours per week for 10 weeks, but total hours are negotiable.
Internships may be paid or for credit at the student's home institution depending
on institutional policies, student and faculty mentor preference. Housing can be arranged
through the University of Memphis at a reasonable rate, paid for by the student.
Please send a cover letter with a resume/cv to biostatintern27@uthsc.edu. In your cover letter please explain your training goals, research interests, statistical
training, and computer programming experience. Applications will be accepted on a
rolling basis.
Since 2016, the division has hosted 22 interns. The most recent interns are below,
or click here for our Internship Alumni page.
Biomedical Data Science Interns with the UTHSC Summer Research Scholars at the Community
Science Exhibition July 26th, 2025
Our Interns Success Stories
Department of Preventive Medicine interns in the news:
Internship Alumni Page
| Year |
Name |
Affiliation/Mentors |
Project |
| 2026 |
Abhisek Banerjee |
PhD Student, University of Missouri-Columbia; Mentor Gregory Farage; Co-mentors Harsh
Vardhan Dubey and Saunak Sen |
During his internship, Abhisek contributed to BigRiverEssence.jl and BigRiverPlots.jl,
Julia packages for analyzing and visualizing high-dimensional omics data. BigRiverEssence.jl
implements multivariate methods using efficient linear algebra to reduce computation
time and memory use. Benchmarks showed speedups ranging from 1.1-fold to 160-fold
compared with corresponding R and Julia reference implementations while maintaining
numerical accuracy. BigRiverPlots.jl complements these methods with lightweight tools
for exploring and communicating multivariate results. |
| 2026 |
Jovan Radovic |
Undergraduate Student, University of California, Davis; Mentor Yuru Huang; Co-mentors
Gregory Farage and Saunak Sen |
During his internship, Jovan investigated how Uber Eats personalization influences
the healthfulness of restaurant recommendations. The two-week audit used 36 accounts
at four addresses in Shelby County, Tennessee. Accounts followed healthy or indulgent
food-seeking behaviors alongside controls. The dataset included more than 1,000 sessions
and over 100,000 menu feed cards. Recommendations shifted relative to controls in
the direction predicted by assigned behaviors, demonstrating how personalization may
shape the online food environment. |
| 2026 |
Yue Shan |
PhD Student, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Mentor Yuan Zhang; Co-mentor Fridtjof
Thomas |
During the internship, Yue worked on a multistate framework for comparing immediate
versus delayed dialysis initiation in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.
The approach unites longitudinal biomarker trajectories with survival models to estimate
expected remaining survival under alternative treatment strategies. It accounts for
death before treatment and survival after treatment, with the aim of supporting individualized
decisions. Simulation studies evaluate parameter assessment, predicted survival benefits,
and the accuracy of treatment decisions. |
| 2026 |
Sohan Shankar |
Medical Student, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Mentor Saunak Sen;
Co-mentors Harsh Vardhan Dubey and Gregory Farage |
During his internship, Sohan investigated whether ChemBERTa-derived molecular representations
could improve biomarker–metabolite association estimation using matrix linear models.
The study included 784 participants and 535 metabolites. Although conventional regression
performed best for predicting metabolite levels, ChemBERTa-informed subspaces improved
association estimation relative to rank-matched random subspaces across most balanced
data splits. The results support using chemical structure to inform biomarker discovery
and biological interpretation. |
About Memphis
Memphis is a mid-sized city with a distinctive cultural identity, mild climate, and
affordable cost of living. It is the home of blues music, Elvis Presley, and barbecue.
It offers the amenities of city life (zoo, museums, concerts, parks, restaurants)
in a laid-back environment. The UTHSC campus is about 5 minutes from downtown and
the popular Midtown neighborhood; there are many affordable apartments nearby. Most
desirable residential neighborhoods within the city and suburbs are less than 40 minutes
away.
