Elisa Priest, a doctoral student in epidemiology at the University of North Texas, was selected as one of nine SAS Student Ambassadors for 2009.

She also won the "Best Contributed Paper" in the Statistics Section.

Her presentation, Easier Exploratory Analysis for Epidemiology: A Grad Student How-To Paper, was very well received. She even made folks laugh several times during her talk!

Priest sited Art Carpenter's macro book in her presentation, and recommended it as a reference. She was thrilled to later have the opportunity to meet Art, and get a photo with Art and Ron Cody!

Originally from Brazil, Priest is a doctoral student in epidemiology, with a focus in chronic diseases and clinical trial design and processes, at the University of North Texas. She completed her bachelor’s degree in molecular and cell biology at Texas A&M University.

Eight years ago, Priest first used SAS while completing her master’s in community health at the University of Texas. She is most familiar with Base SAS® and SAS/STAT® software and is a SAS Certified Professional in SAS Base Programming. Priest has presented at several South Central SAS Users Group (SCSUG) conferences and epidemiology conferences.

She authored a book chapter on obesity and inflammation and has published several articles in epidemiology and chronic disease journals, including Contemporary Clinical Trials and Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
She plans to continue supporting clinical trials and teaching efficient clinical trials design and methods after graduation. During SAS Global Forum 2009, Priest learned many SAS tips and tricks that she’ll take back to her fellow students.