Growing up as a self-described “hillbilly” in the Ozark Mountains in Southwestern
Missouri, O. Dale Williams most likely never envisioned himself heading up two academic
departments at a major state university in Florida. But that’s exactly what happened.
Williams was spotted in his small hometown by a traveling “blue jean salesman” and
recruited to play college football at Southeastern Louisiana University. Majoring
in math, he played ball for four years and got his B.S. in mathematics at Southeastern
Louisiana. He then went on to obtain a Master of Public Health and a doctorate in
biostatistics from the University of North Carolina.
Williams joined FIU in the summer of 2011 from University of Alabama at Birmingham,
where he served as dean of the School of Public Health and as professor of medicine
and biostatistics in the Division of Preventive Medicine.
Williams was then chair of the Department of Biostatistics and interim chair of the
Department of Environmental Occupational Health in FIU’s Robert Stempel College of
Public Health. “The College is fortunate to have Dr. Williams join our team. He is
an internationally recognized leader in clinical trials and collaborative studies
and has an extraordinary research portfolio,” says College of Public Health Interim
Dean Michele Cicazzo. “The wealth of information and experience he brings is truly
an asset to help FIU showcase the research capabilities of our faculty.”
He has been combining numbers and people in projects for more than 35 years, including
a stint on the steering committee for the multi-national World Health Organization
Monitoring Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease Project, for which he
led much of the design for the data collection and handling systems synchronizing
diverse data from multiple sites in multiple languages over 26 countries. He is the
principal investigator for the Fogarty International Center sponsored Clinical Research
training in Non-Communicable Diseases in India program, which is enhancing clinical
research expertise. Funding for the project was recently renewed for an additional
five years.
He was selected as the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year at Southeastern in 1991 for
his outstanding accomplishments. Dr. Williams has generously endowed a scholarship
for an athlete at Southeastern.
