Russek-Cohen graduated from Stony Brook University in 1972, with a double major in biology and mathematics. She completed her Ph.D. in biostatistics at the University of Washington in 1979.[1][2] Her dissertation was entitled Overspecification in linear discriminant analysis.[3]
She joined the faculty of the University of Maryland as an assistant professor in 1978, affiliated with the university's Department of Animal Sciences and Department of Microbiology.[1][4] She eventually became full professor and director of the university's program in biometrics. She moved to the Food and Drug Administration in 2004, initially with the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health. In 2010 she became deputy division director for biostatistics in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and in 2014 she became division director. She left federal service in 2020 and has been principal of a consulting firm since.[1]
