Biomedical Statistics and Biostatistics are terms used to refer to the field of application of statistics to problems in the biomedical and public health sciences. Many such problems involve studies in humans, who, unlike experimental units in other settings such as agricultural and industrial applications, may not follow instructions regarding which treatment to take or stay in a study until it is completed, and who may enter a study over a period of several years in a "staggered" fashion. The result is that data planned to be collected in biomedical studies often end up missing or are otherwise impossible to observe. These issues complicate the design and analysis of biomedical and public health data, and specialized statistical methods that acknowledge the complications are needed.Biostatisticians work both on research to develop new statistical methods and theory for these and other problems arising in biomedical research and in collaboratiion with physicians and other health science professionals on the actual design and analysis of studies. We will give examples of real problems biostatisticians work on, explain how biostatisticians' contributions have been essential to advancing biomedical science and practice, and discuss the training required for a career in biostatistics. A rewarding aspect of working as a biostatistician is the unique opportunity to apply one's quantitative skills as a statistician to contribute to the betterment of human health.
Undergraduate Statistics majors considering graduate study in Statistics are especially encouraged to attend.
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