Statistical and Quantitative Training in Big Data Health Science

 描述(申请人提供)：20世纪下半叶，数字技术取得了前所未有的进步，这场革命正在改变包括健康和生物医学研究在内的科学，提供了前所未有的复杂数据，其数量和速度是以前无法想象的。美国国家研究委员会(NRC)海量数据分析委员会的成员在2013年的《海量数据分析前沿》报告中得出结论，与“大数据”相关的挑战远远超出了数据管理的技术层面，并强调，如果我们要将这些数据用于他们的优势，开发严格的量化和统计方法至关重要。在……里面 我们描述的这一应用程序是一个综合计划，旨在为学生提供量化和计算技能以及沟通和跨学科研究技能及其应用方面的培训，这些技能是这些学生成为健康和生物医学研究领域的下一代领先大数据科学家所必需的。在哈佛大学陈天佑公共卫生学院，我们在应对这些挑战方面进行了大量投资，包括推出新的计算生物学和数量基因组学正式硕士学位课程，修改生物统计学课程以更加重视计算方法和大数据，正在进行内部审查的提议将计算作为我们学生的核心能力领域，以及将大数据分析作为学院正在进行的资本活动的核心重点。我们请求为六名博士前学生提供支持，他们将从该项目中脱颖而出，拥有尖端统计和计算方法开发方面的专业知识，对基础科学、公共卫生和临床科学有透彻的了解，并在健康和生物医学研究的广泛领域中展示了应用这些方法的技能。我们的学生将参加一个旨在为他们提供跨学科研究经验的项目，培训他们进行有效的协作和沟通，并理解数据来源和可重复研究的重要性。培训计划涉及经验丰富的多学科教员的积极参与，包括生物统计学家、生物信息学科学家和计算生物学家、计算机科学家、分子生物学家、公共卫生研究人员和临床医生。它结合了课程工作、生物统计学、计算生物学、计算机科学、分子生物学、人口科学和临床科学的实验室轮换培训元素。学生将参与定向和独立的方法论研究，参与基础广泛的协作研究项目，并将在激励和培养的跨学科环境中获得丰富的职业发展机会，这将使他们成为量化大数据健康科学研究的领导者。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Unprecedented advances in digital technology during the second half of the 20th century have produced a revolution that is transforming science, including health and biomedical research, by providing data of unprecedented complexity in volumes and at a rate that was previously unimaginable. Members of National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee on Massive Data Analysis concluded in their 2013 "Frontiers of Massive Data Analysis" report that the challenges associated with "Big Data" go far beyond the technical aspects of data management and emphasized that development of rigorous quantitative and statistical methods was crucial if we are to use these data to their advantage. In this application we describe an integrated program designed to provide students with training in the quantitative and computational skills and communication and interdisciplinary research skills-and their application-required for those students to become the next generation of leading Big Data scientists in health and biomedical research. At the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, we have made a substantial investment is addressing these challenges, including launching a new formal Master's Degree program in Computational Biology and Quantitative Genomics, revamping the curriculum in Biostatistics to include a greater emphasis on computational methods and Big Data, a proposal undergoing internal review to include computation as an area of core competency for our students, and the inclusion of Big Data analytics as a central focus of the School's ongoing capital campaign. We are requesting support for six pre-doctoral students who will emerge from the program with expertise in cutting-edge statistical and computational methods development, a thorough understanding of fundamental basic science, public health, and clinical science, and demonstrated skills in the application of those methods in a wide range of areas in health and biomedical research. Our students will participate in a program designed to provide them with interdisciplinary research experience, to train them to collaborate and communicate effectively, and to understand the importance of data provenance and reproducible research. The training program involves active participation by accomplished and experienced multidisciplinary faculty members, including biostatisticians, bioinformatics scientists and computational biologists, computer scientists, molecular biologists, public health researchers, and clinicians. It combines elements of training in coursework, lab rotations in biostatistics, computational biology, computer science, molecular biology, population science and clinical science. Students will participate in directed and independent methodological research, will be involved in broad-based collaborative research projects, and will have rich career development opportunities in a stimulating and nurturing interdisciplinary environment that will prepare them to be leaders in quantitative Big Data health science research.