Ross Prentice

{{Short description|Canadian-born statistician}}

{{Use American English|date=December 2018}}

{{use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}

{{Infobox scientist

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| name = Ross L. Prentice

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| birth_date = {{birth date |1946|10|16}}

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| fields = Biostatistics, epidemiology

| workplaces = {{ublist| Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | University of Waterloo}}

| education = {{ublist| University of Waterloo| University of Toronto }}

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| thesis_title = Dilution, bio-assay, discrete reaction, and the structural model

| thesis_url = https://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?406867

| thesis_year = 1970

| doctoral_advisor = Donald A. S. Fraser

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| awards = {{ublist|COPSS Presidents' Award (1986) |R. A. Fisher Lectureship (2008)}}

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Ross L. Prentice (born October 16, 1946){{cite web|accessdate=2018-12-27|title=Prentice, Ross L. |website=LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies|publisher=Library of Congress |url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79104710.html}} is a Canadian statistician known particularly for his contributions to survival analysis and statistical methods for epidemiology.{{cite journal|first1=D. Y.|last1=Lin|title=An overview of Ross Prentice's contributions to statistical science|journal=Statistics in Biosciences|date=1 November 2013|volume=5|issue=2|pages=224–231|pmid=24223073|pmc=3821774|doi=10.1007/s12561-013-9095-8}} Since 1974, he has worked at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and is also a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health.{{cite web|accessdate=2018-12-26|title=Ross L. Prentice, PhD| url=http://www.fredhutch.org/en/labs/profiles/prentice-ross.html|publisher=Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center}}

Prentice studied mathematics at the University of Waterloo from where he graduated in 1967, then obtained an MSc and PhD in statistics from the University of Toronto. He taught at the University of Waterloo before moving to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 1974.

Prentice proposed the case-cohort design in 1986.{{cite journal|last1=Prentice|first1=R. L.|title=A case-cohort design for epidemiologic cohort studies and disease prevention trials|journal=Biometrika|volume=73|issue=1|year=1986|pages=1–11|issn=0006-3444|doi=10.1093/biomet/73.1.1}} His most cited statistical paper, published in 1989, concerns a criterion for the valid use of surrogate endpoints.{{cite journal|last1=Prentice|first1=Ross L.|title=Surrogate endpoints in clinical trials: Definition and operational criteria|journal=Statistics in Medicine|volume=8|issue=4|year=1989|pages=431–440|issn=0277-6715|doi=10.1002/sim.4780080407|pmid=2727467}} He was one of the leaders of the Clinical Coordinating Center of the Women's Health Initiative from its beginning in 1993.

He received the COPSS Presidents' Award in 1986{{cite web|accessdate=2018-12-26|title=Presidents' Award| url=https://community.amstat.org/copss/awards/presidents#PresPastWinners| publisher=Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies}} and the R. A. Fisher Lectureship in 2008, for which the citation read:{{cite web|accessdate=2018-12-26|title=R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship|url=https://community.amstat.org/copss/awards/fisher-lecturer#FisherPastRecipients|publisher=Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815201050/http://community.amstat.org/copss/awards/fisher-lecturer#FisherPastRecipients|archive-date=August 15, 2018|url-status=dead}}

{{quote|For fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of statistical science; for his influential and innovative research in the areas of survival analysis, life history processes, case-control and cohort studies; and for his influential role in the conception, design, and implementation of the Women's Health Initiative.}}