Engaging the Next Generation of Biostatisticians

North Carolina State University Raleigh, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The role of biostatisticians in the advance of research in medicine and public health is indisputable. Statistical principles are the cornerstone for the design and conduct of clinical trials and epidemiological studies, for regulatory policy, and for the conception of basic biological science experiments. Ongoing advances in genetics and genomics, the growing emphasis on evidence-based medicine, and the increasing ability to collect and store massive amounts of complex data in vast registries underscore the need for highly-skilled biostatisticians trained to address the resulting new methodological challenges and to collaborate with investigators in a multidisciplinary context. Despite the demand for biostatisticians with the graduate training required, there is a continuing shortage;particularly alarming is the fact that quantitatively talented US and Permanent Resident (PR) undergraduates are not entering graduate programs in biostatistics and statistics in the number necessary to serve the nation's expanding biomedical research needs. A major factor is that many are unaware of biostatistics as a discipline, of the exciting career options open to those with graduate training, and of the existence of such training in departments of biostatistics and statistics nationwide. Our team, comprising investigators at the North Carolina State University Department of Statistics and at Duke Clinical Research Institute, has offered a Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics (SIBS) in the summers of 2004-2006, which has already achieved considerable success in addressing the objectives of the original SIBS RFA, with a number of former participants now attending or applying to graduate school in biostatistics and statistics. This application, which is submitted in response to the limited competition request for continuation of the existing SIBS programs, proposes to continue to offer our six-week SIBS program during the summers of 2007-2009 for up to 25 US and PR undergraduates;to cooperate with the other SIBS programs to recruit and enroll the most talented students;to follow-up with participants to evaluate the success of the program at inspiring them to enroll in graduate programs;to continue to develop and refine the program so it can serve as a model for future such training programs;and to undertake vigorous, targeted efforts to attract greater participation among undergraduates from underrepresented groups. (End of Abstract)