Dr. Madhu Mazumdar (Cornell University)

Title: Role of Biostatistician in a Medical College:Examples of Impactful Clinical Applications and Valuable Statistical Methods Development

Abstract: Nationally representative studies of perioperative outcomes including, morbidity, mortality, and safety for major surgery is important to clinicians, researchers, patients, and administrators alike. However, despite the staggering numbers of orthopedic procedures being performed in the United States each year, there is a paucity of literature in these areas. Available studies on perioperative morbidity and mortality primarily report data from single, specialized and often academic institutions with relatively small cohorts. These studies are limited by their low external validity and their inability to effectively study subpopulations and low incidence outcomes. To address this void, our interdisciplinary team has used nationally representative databases (NHDS, HCUP-NIS, NSAS, and Premier Inc.’s Perspective) to study various aspects of the perioperative epidemiology including the incidence, risk factors and trends of morbidity and mortality, changes in the population receiving care and –following the concept of comparative effectiveness research- outcomes associated with different surgical approaches and anesthetic techniques for the same medical problem. Some of the results have led to supplemental clinical studies and in some cases policy for patient selection has changed at the institutional level. Efforts towards consensus building to transport the policy change at national level are underway.

During the research process, inadequacies in the current availability and incorrect uses of statistical methodologies prompted the team statisticians to develop new approaches for performing meta-analysis, to write tutorial paper on best possible ways of modeling longitudinal data, and to provide guidelines for optimal methods in comparative effectiveness research and in ideal ways of reporting statistical research in clinical journals. In this talk, I’ll explain the important role biostatisticians are playing in inter-disciplinary research while remaining true to their own disciplinary research. I’ll also highlight the importance of ‘team science’ and how students in statistics wanting to be biostatistician in medical college need to develop communication, leadership, and time-management skills in addition to their skills in mathematical statistics.