Short Biography
Zdeněk Valenta (1955) was born in Chrudim, Czechoslovakia, graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague in 1988 with major in probability and mathematical statistics (Mgr.~MSc.). After successfully completing his studies he began working as mathematician-statistician at the Department of Preventive Medicine of the Institute for Clinical & Experimental Medicine in Prague. There he was primarily responsible for data analysis of the Czech component of international WHO-coordinated project MONICA ((Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease, http://www.thl.fi/monica/) aiming at globally reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease. In 1990 he paid a brief visit to MONICA Data Centre in Helsinki, Finland, where he worked jointly on analyzing mortality data.
In 1991 he earned his second Masters' degree in Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, U.K. The department was then headed by Prof. Stewart Pocock, well-known for his expertise in statistical methodology used in analyzing data from clinical trials. The first six months of 1995 he was honored the Visiting Fulbright Scholar fellowship at the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, Stanford University, CA, U.S.A. His fellowship was supported by the grant from the Fulbright Commission. He then continued in furthering his professional background by successfully completing Master’s course in Mathematical Statistics at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1997, and finally by successfully completing the Ph.D. Program in Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh (2002).
In 2006 he successfully habilitated at the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague as an Associate Professor of Medical Informatics. Since 2002 he works as research scientist at the Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
His professional interests include analysing data from clinical and epidemiological studies and teaching medical statistics from pre-graduate to postgraduate level. Apart from teaching introductory courses in medical statistics he also taught short courses in survival analysis, design and analysis of data from clinical studies, nonparametric statistical methods, discriminate analysis and decision support in medicine and health care. He also took part in teaching a course in forensic genetics. Results of his research are published primarily in international impacted journals.
Zdeněk appointments:
President of the ISCB (International Society for Clinical Biostatistics) for 2021-2022
Vice-President of the ISCB (International Society for Clinical Biostatistics) for 2019-2020
Officer (Treasurer) of the ISCB in 2015-16 & 2017-18
Member of the Executive Committe of the ISCB in 2011-12 & 2013-14
Chair of the ISCB's Subcommittee for the National Groups
Founding and currently serving chairman of the "Mezinárodní společnost pro klinickou biostatistiku v České republic, z.s.", which is also recognised as the Czech National Group of the ISCB
Member of the Faculty of 1000, Research Methodology. Since 2014
Member of the Advisory Board, Faculty of 1000 Research
Appointments
2017 →
Deputy Director for Strategic Development
Dept. of Statistical Modelling, Chair
Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Pod Vodarenskou vezi 2
182 07 Prague 8
Czech Republic
2016 →
Lecturer in Biostatistics (introductory and advanced graduate courses in Survival Analysis)
Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX)
Faculty of Science
Masaryk University in Brno
2015
ESF Fellowship (Oct 26-Nov 13, 2015): Visiting professor under the Project „Information technologies: Research and their interdisciplinary applications” within Sub-action 4.1.1 „Enhancing the teaching potential of universities”
of the Operational Programme Human Capital. Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. Białystok University of Technology, Poland
2002 - 2016
Dept. of Medical Informatics & Biostatistics
Institute of Computer Science AS CR
Pod Vodarenskou vezi 2
182 07 Prague 8
Czech Republic
2005 – 2011
1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague
Secondary teaching appointment (Medical Statistics)
2002 – 2007
Laboratory for Atherosclerosis Research
Institute for Clinical & Experimental Medicine
Prague
1995
Visiting Fulbright Scholar
Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention
Stanford University, CA, U.S.A.
1990
WHO MONICA Data Center, Helsinki, Finland
Mortality data assessment
1988 – 1995
Dept. of Preventive Cardiology
Institute for Clinical & Experimental Medicine
Prague
Education
2006 - Associate Professor of Medical Informatics, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague
1997–2002 - Ph.D. in Biostatistics. Doctoral dissertation on 'Estimating survival in the Gray’s model'. Dept. of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health,
University of Pittsburgh, 130 DeSoto St., Pittsburgh, PA 15261, U.S.A.
1995–1997 - M.S. in Mathematical Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University, Baker Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, U.S.A.
1990–1991 - MSc. in Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, WC1E 7HT London, U.K.
1983–1988 - MSc. in Mathematical Statistics, Dept. of Probability and Mathematical Statistics, Charles University in Prague