Anita DeStefano

Graduate Affairs Faculty Fellow for Diversity & Inclusion

Professor of Biostatistics

Professor of Neurology

Boston University

Dr. Anita L. DeStefano earned an MS in Dairy Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a PhD in Quantitative Genetics from Cornell University.  She completed two years of postdoctoral studies at Boston University before joining the faculty there. Her main research interest is statistical genetics and she focuses on using large scale genomic data to identify genes conferring risk or protection for Alzheimer disease and related measures. She has a long-standing interest in graduate education, having previously served as a co-director of the Biostatistics graduate program for 10 years. Dr. DeStefano also contributed to the NIH funded BU Summer Institute for Biostatistics, a pipeline program to encourage graduate studies in biostatistics, as either a faculty member or co-PI for 18 years. She has served as Graduate Affairs Faculty Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion since 2018.  In that role, she works with her co-faculty fellow and the Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs to broaden recruitment, encourage implementation of equitable admissions practices, and create an inclusive environment across all graduate programs at BU. Drs. Posselt and Miller have been providing workshops at BU since 2019 and Dr. DeStefano is excited for new avenues to share information about equitable admissions with her BU colleagues.