Assistant Professor

Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Division of Integrative Genomics

Duke University

 

Dr. Wenpin Hou is an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University School of Medicine. She develops artificial intelligence, machine learning, and statistically principled computational methods to decode gene regulatory programs from single-cell and spatial multi-omics data. Her research aims to characterize developmental processes, uncover regulatory alterations underlying complex human diseases, and identify actionable targets for precision medicine.

Her group focuses on building foundation models and AI-driven analytical frameworks for regulatory genomics, alongside computational approaches for inferring DNA methylation and its spatial organization and models that capture temporal and spatial biological dynamics. By integrating modern AI with rigorous statistical methodology, her work seeks to transform how large-scale genomic data are interpreted and translated into biological insight.
 

Before joining Duke, Dr. Hou was a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Columbia University and an affiliated member of the Columbia Data Science Institute. Her research has been supported by the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) from NHGRI and the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (R35 MIRA) from NIGMS. She was also recognized with the 2025 Mentor of the Year Award at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
 

Dr. Hou collaborates across biomedical domains including cancer, immunology, infectious diseases, and large-scale functional genomics initiatives such as the ENCODE4 consortium. Her interdisciplinary work bridges statistics, AI, and biomedical science to advance understanding of gene regulation in health and disease.
She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from The University of Hong Kong. She completed postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University, where she developed computational and machine learning methods for single-cell epigenomics and regulatory inference, mentored by Drs. Stephanie Hicks, Hongkai Ji, Andy Feinberg, Suchi Saria, and Aravinda Chakravarti.

 

(Source: Duke Univeristy)