Overview
The Biostatistics Shared Facility (BSF) provides statistical support to cancer-related research for all members of Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. The specific aims are to:
- Provide support to investigators in the development and design of clinical and basic science projects and grant proposals aimed at the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer, and cancer survivorship
- Provide analytic assistance for cancer-related projects; and
- Assist in the dissemination of results from cancer-related projects by supporting the development of manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed publications and scientific meetings
Activities
BSF brings statistical expertise and experience to collaborative research from basic science to clinical and translational research. Research activities provided by BSF are highlighted in the following:
Grant and Protocol Development
BSF statistician will collaborate with the PI and other investigators to develop the grant proposal and provide assistance in all stages of grant and protocol development including:
- Formulation of testable research aims and hypotheses
- Development of study design and experiment plans
- Definitions of variables including outcome measures and endpoints
- Development of statistical plans and methodologies
- Justification of sample size and estimation of statistical power
Review of Cancer Institute Clinical Trial Protocols
BSF faculty are members of Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC) and provide review and comments on cancer research clinical trial in terms of testable specific aims, study design, measurements, statistical plans and sample size justification.
Manuscript Preparation and Submission
BSF statistician offers statistical support on manuscript preparation as a co-author and provide assistance in the following areas:
- Inspect the datasets to ensure variables are well defined and meet the conditions for statistical analysis, and observed values are accurate
- Develop statistical plans to address hypotheses in the manuscript
- Conduct statistical analysis and computation
- Present results using tables and figures
- Interpret findings with the leading author and other co-authors
Early Stage Development and Consultation
BSF statistician will provide short-term support to investigators to develop pilot data and analysis that can be used for grant development in the future. Services related to this category include:
- Preliminary analysis on pilot data
- Abstract preparation and submission
- Poster or oral presentation preparation
- Consultation on statistical models and computation methods
Education and Training
BSF provides a set of lectures on clinical trial methodology and examples as part of the Hematology/Oncology training program. These lectures are offered in the spring each year and they are intended to assist Hematology/Oncology fellows prepare for the board examination since clinical trial methodology questions can appear on the exam. In addition, BSF faculty will participate in educational and training activities to junior investigators in the Cancer Institute. Various educational and training methods might be considered:
- Workshop and short courses
- Journal clubs
- One-on-one statistical training
- Mentorship and advisory
Team
BSF has six experienced statisticians who can provide support for various needs in cancer-related research. All team members are also faculty and staff of Department of Biostatistics at UAMS.
- Milan Bimali, Ph.D.
- Jeannette Y. Lee, Ph.D.
- Paula K. Roberson, Ph.D.
- Eric R. Siegel, M.S.
- Horace J. (Trey) Spencer, III, M.S.
In addition, for a research project requiring specific areas of statistical methodology, the BSF will refer the PI to additional faculty and staff members in the Department of Biostatistics whose expertise and experience can be matched.
Technology
BSF has access (via servers, intranet, and individual PCs) to all major statistical software including:
- SAS
- R
- Mplus
- StatXact
- LogXact
- JUMP
- PASS
- SUDAAN
- STATA
- nQuery
- MINITAB
- MATLAB
- Python
- REDCap
- WinBugs
- MD Anderson Biostatistics Software
Policies
- The biostatistician who provides statistical support in grant development is expected to be the co-investigator or collaborator in the grant and the FTE will reflect the efforts in the grant development in addition to the needs in the proposed statistical plans
- The biostatistician who provides statistical analysis and computation in manuscript preparation is expected to be a co-author of the manuscript
- The biostatistician who provides statistical analysis and computation in abstract and poster/oral presentation is expected to be listed as a co-author
- For grant and protocol development, the BSF should to be notified at least one month in advance of a submission deadline to secure its involvement and ideally 3 months prior to submission. The same timeline applies to an abstract submission or a scheduled oral/poster presentation. Longer timeline may be needed for a manuscript preparation and submission. Requests on a short notice may still be accommodated only if there are available resources at the BSF. In general, the PI should contact the BSF at the earliest notification to ensure the requested statistical work-products are delivered timely and in high quality.
- All manuscripts, abstracts and poster/oral presentations that have received BSF services are required to acknowledge the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Biostatistics Shared Facility using the following statement: The research was supported by the Biostatistics Shared Facility of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
Request for Biostatistics Activities
To start the request, please complete an online form and you will be contacted by a statistician in two business days.