Engaging, Inspiring, and Preparing the Next Generation of Biostatisticians

 描述(申请人提供)：生物统计学家在健康科学研究中起着基础性的作用。几十年来，生物统计学家的基本贡献塑造了临床试验和观察性研究的设计、实施和分析；监管政策的制定；以及实验室实验的概念。遗传学、基因组学和其他学科的进步--组学、医学成像技术和计算生物学；对精确和循证医学的日益重视；电子健康记录的广泛采用；以及收集海量数据资源的设施，需要经过培训的生物统计学家在多学科环境中有效协作的技能，并开发新的方法来应对这个健康科学研究的革命性时代带来的挑战。接受过高级培训的生物统计学家将是至关重要的，以确保开发出对从如此大的生物医学数据中发现新见解至关重要的方法，并确保认识到和解决混淆和偏见的潜在陷阱。事实上，在国家生物医学和公共卫生研究事业的各个方面，对高素质生物统计学家的需求将继续在更普遍的范围内升级，无论是传统的还是新的角色。因此，迫切需要鼓励美国公民和永久居民接受生物统计学方面的研究生培训。在数量上有天赋的学生有各种各样的职业选择，与生物统计学竞争，许多人不知道这个领域的存在和它带来的机会。申请中提出的为期六周的研究教育项目将于2016-2018年夏季举行，将招收来自全国各地的20名这样的参与者，通过讲座、实地考察和使用统计软件分析真实健康科学研究的数据的机会，向他们介绍生物统计学和该领域提供的无数机会，并激励他们继续研究生培训。该计划将利用北卡罗来纳州立大学统计系和杜克大学生物统计和生物信息学系的大量和互补的资源，为参与者提供该领域无与伦比的视角，包括获奖的讲师、国际知名的方法学和临床研究人员，以及一个充满展示生物统计职业机会的当地地区。将作出特别努力，招收代表人数不足的群体的参与者。完成后将对参与者进行跟踪，并将记录在读生物统计/统计研究生院和从事生物统计职业的人数。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Biostatisticians play a fundamental role in health sciences research. The design, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials and observational studies; the setting of regulatory policy; and the conception of laboratory experiments have been shaped by the fundamental contributions of biostatisticians for decades. Advances in genetics, genomics, and other -omics, medical imaging technologies, and computational biology; the increasing emphasis on precision and evidence-based medicine; the widespread adoption of electronic health records; and the facility to collect massive data resources demand the skills of biostatisticians trained to collaborate effectively in a multidisciplinary environment and to develop new methods to address the challenges presented by this revolutionary era of health sciences research. Biostatisticians with advanced training will be essential to ensure that methods critical to uncovering new insights from such big biomedical data are developed and that the potential pitfalls of confounding and bias are recognized and addressed. Indeed, the demand for highly qualified biostatisticians will continue to escalate more generally in both traditional and new roles across all facets of the nation's biomedical and public health research enterprise. There is thus an urgent need to encourage US Citizens and Permanent Residents to pursue graduate training in biostatistics. Quantitatively talented students have a variety of career options competing with biostatistics, and many are unaware of the existence of this field and the opportunities it presents. The six week research education program proposed in this application, to be held in the summers of 2016-2018, will enroll up to 20 such participants from across the nation and, through lectures, field trips, and opportunities to analyze data from real health sciences studies using statistical software, introduce them to biostatistics and the myriad opportunities the field offers and inspire them to pursue graduate training. The program will draw upon the considerable and complementary resources of North Carolina State University's Department of Statistics and the Duke University Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics to provide participants with an unparalleled view of the field, including award-winning instructors internationally known methodological and clinical researchers, and a local area rich in opportunities to showcase biostatistical careers. Special efforts will be made to enroll participants from underrepresented groups. Participants will be followed after completion, and the numbers attending graduate school in biostatistics/statistics and pursuing biostatistics careers will be documented.