The Department of Mathematics & Statistics would like to welcome:
Dr. Brian L. Egleston on Tuesday, February 11 at 4:00pm in SCP 229.
Title: Being a Biostatistician: Summarizing the effects of multiple diseases on health outcomes
Abstract: Biostatisticians are employed in academia, industry, and government. As technology and data storage have improved, there has been an increased need for the services of biostatisticians to analyze data. According to a National Science Foundation report, fewer than 200 Ph.D. degrees in biostatistics are awarded in the entire United States each year. Compare this to the 800+ students who may enter a single business school each year. The small number of biostatisticians and increase in demand has historically created a shortage of biostatisticians, and consequently excellent career opportunities for those who obtain a Ph.D. in the field. In this talk, I will describe how I assist clinicians examine the effects of multiple diseases on a person’s health outcomes. When a patient has several diseases, it may be difficult for clinicians to determine how the diseases affect an individual’s health in unison. I will provide an example of how summary measures can be used to capture the ef fects of multiple diseases using linked cancer registry (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) and Medicare claims data.
Brian Egleston, PhD is an Assistant Research Professor at Fox Chase Cancer Center. He received his doctorate in biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins University. He also has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago. His interests include the development of methodology for causal inference, accounting for missing data, and investigating the effects of survey response fatigue. Many of his collaborative analyses have involved the application of state of the art approaches including hierarchical Bayesian, propensity score, competing risk, cost effectiveness, and latent variable methods.
All are invited to attend.