The inaugural Chair of the Lifetime Data Analysis Interest Group (LiDA-IG) was Ross Prentice (2014), who was succeeded by Mei-Ling Ting Lee (2015), Jack Kalbfleisch (2016) and Mei-Cheng Wang (2017). Through their collective vision and leadership the interest group quickly became active in sponsoring events such as the 2017 ICSA China Conference in Jilin City, China, the 2018 Workshop in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics in Atlanta, Georgia, the 2018 ICSA China Conference in Qingdao, China, and the 2018 International Workshop on the Statistical Analysis of Multi-Outcome Data in St. Louis, Missouri. The inaugural conference of the LiDA-IG was entitled Lifetime Data Science: Data Science, Precision Medicine and Risk Analysis with Lifetime Data. The scientific program committee was chaired by Mei-Cheng Wang and Jack Kalbfleisch, and the event was graciously hosted by the University of Connecticut.
The enthusiasm for the creation of the Lifetime Data Analysis Interest Group soon led to a membership of over 230 individuals, and this show of support and commitment was instrumental in the approval of our section! The ASA Council of Sections voted in the fall of 2018 to grant the Lifetime Data Analysis Interest Group official ASA Section status as the Section on Lifetime Data Science. We thank our members for joining the LiDA-IG and sincerely hope that current members will take action and join the new ASA Section on Lifetime Data Science when they renew their ASA membership. New members are also strongly encouraged to join so please spread the word!