Louise Ryan is an internationally recognized statistician with an outstanding ability to balance deep engagement in applications with fundamental methodological development. She is also well known for her leadership ability and passion for developing young scientists. After 25 years as a faculty member at Harvard University, she returned to Australia in 2009 as Chief of CSIRO’s Division of Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics. Ryan’s contributions to public health research have been recognized through prestigious awards and election to the US Institute of Medicine. She has also made important methodological contributions in survival analysis and the analysis of correlated and multivariate data.