Born in the Jiangsu province in China, Bing Zhang arrived in the United States to study at UK in 1989. Zhang flourished at UK, diving deep into graduate statistics courses and work, tutoring in English, pursuing an active life in the Department of Statistics and experiencing life among a growing Chinese student population on campus and in the community. A successful student, Zhang earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in statistics in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He also earned a master’s in computer science from UK in 1993.

Zhang began his professional career in Lexington as a biostatistician and then moved his young family to the Philadelphia area to begin work at AstraZeneca. He founded MacroStat Inc., a statistics consulting firm that serves pharmaceutical companies, in 2002. He cofounded MacroStat (China) Clinical Research Ltd. in 2005. The company has since merged with Tigermed, the leading clinical Contract Research Organization in China. Throughout his career, he has applied statistical expertise to the development of new drugs in various therapeutic areas and contributed to a number of new drugs approved for the treatment of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, asthma, psychiatric disorders and pain.

Zhang is passionate about giving back. Zhang and his wife, Rachel, founded a private foundation to support community services, scientific research and education. Zhang has also been an engaged and generous supporter of his alma mater and especially the Department of Statistics. In 2020, the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees named the department the Dr. Bing Zhang Department of Statistics in recognition of his philanthropy.

Bing and Rachel currently live in Orlando, Florida, and have two children, Emily and Brian, both born in Lexington.