Dr. Gilbert is currently a professor at the Public Health Science Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Washington. Additionally, he serves as the Principal Investigator for the Statistical Data Management Center within the HIV Vaccine Trails Network. 

At Fred Hutch, Dr. Gilbert is involved in various research initiatives that explore innovative approaches to cancer treatment and the use of vaccines for cancer prevention. His work is crucial in the ongoing effort to improve patient outcomes and develop more personalized treatment options.  His expertise in biostatistics and epidemiology enable  him to analyze complex data and contribute to the design of clinical trials, ensuring that new therapies are both safe and effective.

Dr. Gilbert completed his Ph.D. in Biostatistics at the University of Washington in 1996. In 1998, he started his academic career as an assistant professor in Dr. Zelen’s Department of Biostatistics here at the Harvard Chan School. In 2001, Dr. Gilbert left HSPH for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as part of an effort to grow the Statistical Data Management Center (SDMC) supporting the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), an international consortium charged with leading the development and evaluation of vaccines against HIV. In 2004, he was appointed Co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) of the HVTN, and, by 2011, he had taken on the role of lead PI of the HVTN SDMC, a capacity in which he continues presently.

Under Dr. Gilbert’s leadership, the biostatistical arm of the HVTN has built an international reputation for excellence—advancing the field with new statistical methods while applying them in practice in the effort to stop HIV.  His high ethical standards and collaborative spirit has served to increase the influence of (bio)statisticians in HIV science. Simultaneous to his efforts in combatting HIV, he has successfully served as chair of the Program in Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division of the Fred Hutch from 2013 to 2019, a period in which the program grew and strengthened its ties with the University of Washington. 

Dr. Gilbert has received several prestigious awards and honors throughout his career. In 2014, he was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association. In 2018, he was recognized as a highly cited researcher by Clarivate Analytics, placing him in the top 1% of citations in the “Cross- field” category. In 2019, he was awarded the ASA SPAIG Award for the Fred Hutch/Sanofi Pasteur academic/industry partnership, acknowledging his contributions to addressing critical public health concerns regarding the safety and efficacy of a dengue vaccine through novel statistical methods. In 2021, he was honored with the Statistics in Biosciences Best Paper Award for the publication “Generating survival times using Cox proportional hazards models with cyclic and piecewise time-varying covariates” co-authored with Yunda Huang, Yuanyuan Zhang, and Zong Zhang. In addition, he also co-authored a paper titled “Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine,” which was featured in the NIH Director’s Blog on December 7, 2021.  

Dr. Gilbert has made significant contributions to clinical trial design and statistical methodologies in the context of medical research, particularly in the areas of cancer and infectious diseases. His leadership is characterized by his ability to drive innovation in statistical methods, his collaborative approach in tackling global health issues, and his role in shaping public health policy through evidence-based research. He leads by example, guiding research teams, mentoring future scientists, and contributing to the design of clinical trials that have a direct impact on global health. His influence reaches across the academic, research, and policy-making sectors, establishing him as a key figure in the ongoing fight against infectious diseases, and making him a deserving recipient of the 2025 Zelen Award.