Category Archives: Biostatistics
Industry Spotlight: Hospitals
Hospitals are a major employer of statisticians and analytics professionals, both in support of clinical research like the retinopathy study described earlier, and to improve hospital operations (outcomes, cost management, etc.). Here are a few quick facts about the hospital industry: US hospital revenue totals over $1 trillion – about 5% of GDP. This isContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: Hospitals”
Course Spotlight: Survival Analysis
Convinced that he, like his father, would die in his 40’s, Winston Churchill lived his early life in a frenetic hurry. He had participated in four wars on three continents by his mid-20’s, served in multiple ministerial positions by his 30’s, and published 12 books by his 40’s. Little did he know that more thanContinue reading “Course Spotlight: Survival Analysis”
Instructor Spotlight: David Kleinbaum
David Kleinbaum developed several courses for Statistics.com, including Survival Analysis, Epidemiologic Statistics, and Designing Valid Statistical Studies. David retired a little over a year ago from Emory University, where he was a popular and effective teacher with the ability to distill and explain difficult statistical concepts with clarity and concision. David had a flair forContinue reading “Instructor Spotlight: David Kleinbaum”
Student Spotlight: Barry Eggleston
Barry Eggleston is a health research statistician who has worked on both clinical trials and observational studies, and is currently with RTI in North Carolina. In his early career, his work was solely designing and analyzing clinical trials using typical biostatistics methods ranging from t-test to survival analysis and mixed models. After moving to RTIContinue reading “Student Spotlight: Barry Eggleston”
Darwin’s Legacy in Statistics
Charles Darwin, the most famous grandson of the Enlightenment thinker Erasmus Darwin, published his ground-breaking theory of evolution, “The Origin of Species,”160 years ago. Another grandson of Erasmus, Francis Galton, became one of the founding fathers of statistics (correlation, the “wisdom of the crowd,” regression and regression to the mean are all Galton’s ideas). HeavilyContinue reading “Darwin’s Legacy in Statistics”
Industry Spotlight: CROs
CRO’s, or contract research organizations, are a $40 billion industry, growing at close to 12% per year. They provide contract services to the pharmaceutical industry, including statistical design and analysis, laboratory services, administration of clinical trials, and monitoring of drugs once they are on the market. Developing a new drug and bringing it to marketContinue reading “Industry Spotlight: CROs”
The False Alarm Conundrum
False alarms are one of the most poorly understood problems in applied statistics and biostatistics. The fundamental problem is the wide application of a statistical or diagnostic test in search of something that is relatively rare. Consider the Apple Watch’s new feature that detects atrial fibrillation (afib). Among people with irregular heartbeats, Apple claims aContinue reading “The False Alarm Conundrum”
Instructor Spotlight – David Kleinbaum
David Kleinbaum developed several courses for Statistics.com, including Survival Analysis, Epidemiologic Statistics, and Designing Valid Statistical Studies. David retired a little over a year ago from Emory University, where he was a popular and effective teacher with the ability to distill and explain difficult statistical concepts with clarity and concision. David had a flair forContinue reading “Instructor Spotlight – David Kleinbaum”
Book Review: Active-Epi
ActivEpi Web, by David Kleinbaum, is the text used in two Statistics.com courses (Epidemiology Statistics and Designing Valid Studies), but it is really a rich multimedia web-based presentation of epidemiological statistics, serving the role of a unique textbook format for an introductory course in the subject. It is historically noteworthy – it dates back toContinue reading “Book Review: Active-Epi”
Survival Analysis
Convinced that he, like his father, would die in his 40’s, Winston Churchill lived his early life in a frenetic hurry. He had participated in four wars on three continents by his mid-20’s, served in multiple ministerial positions by his 30’s, and published 12 books by his 40’s. Little did he know that more thanContinue reading “Survival Analysis”
The Evolution of Clinical Trials
Boiling oil versus egg yolks One early clinical trial was accidental. In the 16th century, a common treatment for wounded soldiers was to pour boiling oil on their wounds. In 1537, the surgeon Ambroise Pare, attending French soldiers, ran out of oil one evening. He tried a substitute: egg yolks, turpentine and oil of roses.Continue reading “The Evolution of Clinical Trials”
Be Smarter Than Your Devices: Learn About Big Data
When Apple CEO Tim Cook finally unveiled his company’s new Apple Watch in a widely-publicized rollout earlier this month, most of the press coverage centered on its cost ($349 to start) and whether it would be as popular among consumers as the iPod or iMac. Nitin Indurkhya saw things differently. “I think the most significantContinue reading “Be Smarter Than Your Devices: Learn About Big Data”
Big Data and Clinical Trials in Medicine
There was an interesting article a couple of weeks ago in the New York Times magazine section on the role that Big Data can play in treating patients — discovering things that clinical trials are too slow, too expensive, and too blunt to find. The story was about a very particular set of lupus symptoms,Continue reading “Big Data and Clinical Trials in Medicine”