Grace studied mathematics at Sichuan University in the People’s Republic of China, where she obtained a B.Sc. in 1986 and an M. Sc. in 1989. She then came to Canada to study statistics. She received an M.A. from York University in 1996 and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 2000, under the supervision of Don Fraser. After postdoctoral studies with Richard J. Cook, she was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo in 2001. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and will become a Full Professor on July 1 this year. In 2004, Grace received a University Faculty Award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Her research has been supported by this funding agency since the beginning of her career.

Grace has been quite successul in advancing foundational work and developing novel methodology for health and medical research applications. She was invited to present her work at numerous national and international conferences, including the Annual Meeting of the Statistical Society of Canada, the Joint Statistical Meetings, the Statistics Canada Symposium, and meetings of the International Biometrics Society and the International Chinese Statistical Association. She has served as an Associate Editor for The Canadian Journal of Statistics and the Journal of Applied Probability and Statistics. Grace has also been a Biostatistics and Research Methods Advisor and an external Biostatistics reviewer for the Grant Review Panel of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Ontario Region. She has done extensive refereeing work for statistical journals and grant agencies. To date, she has supervised 4 M.Sc. and 5 Ph.D. students.

Grace credits her success to her family, which has been supportive of her career, and to inspirational collaborators and colleagues at the University of Waterloo. She is grateful to her husband, Wenqing He, Professor in the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, who deserves credit for extensive collaborations and personal support. Grace and Wenqing have a son, Morgan, who enjoys hockey, swimming and playing cards, and a daughter, Joy, who loves figure skating, singing and gymnastics.