In Memoriam: Janet Suzanne Sinsheimer

Janet Sinsheimer, a long-time faculty member at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed away on March 14. She had been part of the UCLA Health Sciences community for over 35 years.

Professor Sinsheimer was a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she majored in chemistry. She held a master’s degree in biochemistry from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, as well as a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biomathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Sinheimer began teaching at UCLA in 1995 and was named an assistant professor of human genetics in 1999. She was granted tenure in 2002 and appointed to full professor in 2007. Dr. Sinheimer was a member of the faculty of three departments: biostatistics, computational medicine, and human genetics. She published over 200 research articles, with over 13,000 citations, in statistical genetics (including outstanding work in gene mapping, gene interaction, epigenetic and microbiome analysis), Bayesian methods for phylogenetics, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.

Dr. Sinheimer mentored 14 students to their Ph.D.s, including 10 women, most of whom are now professors themselves. She was a fellow of the American Statistical Association and the Linnean Society of London. In 2017, she was awarded the L. Adrienne Cupples Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service in Biostatistics.