Title:  Many roads lead to Biostatistics, opening many ways to impact health

Speaker: Laura Scott

Date & Time: Friday, 10/20 at 2 pm, Nelson Room (1146 Faculty/Administration Building)

Abstract:  Biostatistics develops and applies statistical designs and analysis methods to biomedical research data to generate knowledge that will improve health and lead to better understanding of the underlying biological processes. Housed within Biostatistics, health data science focuses on analysis of large health-related data sets and efficient computational methods.  Research topics in biostatistics and health data science include clinical trials, imaging data, electronic health records, health surveys, health disparities and statistical genetics.

 Students enter into biostatistics and health data science from a variety of backgrounds including: math, statistics, economics, computer science and the biological sciences. Students from each academic background bring unique strengths to their work as a biostatistician or data scientist. 

 This seminar will give a brief introduction to the field of biostatistics and health data science. As an example, I will highlight my work in statistical genetics on a study of sex differences in messenger RNA levels in different muscle cell types.  Statistical genetics is the study of genetic determinants of health at a population level. Identification of disease-associated genetic variants can provide insights into the biology of disease, allow quantitation of disease risk and lead to novel therapies.