Summary: The Center of Biostatistics is a new resource available to researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. It is the result of initiatives by the Vice Chancellor's Office and the Office of Research. The Center will promote the highest standards in research and education by providing consummate biostatistical expertise in support of research.

Mission: Our mission is to provide biostatistical and information science expertise in collaborative support of biomedical research.

Objectives: Biostatistics provides collaborative statistical support and expert consultation for the planning, design, development and execution of studies; the analysis and interpretation of data; and the preparation of reports and manuscripts for basic science, clinical, translational and population health research projects. Biostatistics will also offer courses, workshops and seminars on methodology when needed.

Services provided: We promote the development of long term collaborative relationships between our team members and investigators. Not only does this increase efficiency through familiarity with specialized areas and issues within disciplines, it additionally results in more responsive, comprehensive, and productive service to our collaborators.

Specific service areas include:

• Study design
• Grant preparation and contract proposals
  

  Formulating testable hypothesis
  Experimental design
  Power / Sample size calculation
  Setting up analysis plan
  Writing statistical sections
  Working on revisions for resubmission

• Protocol development
• Data monitoring
• Interim analysis
• Design and development of case report forms
• Methods development
• Data analysis
• Results interpretation
• Report / manuscript preparation
  

  Describing the statistical methods
  Summarizing the statistical analysis
  Reviewing manuscript before submission
  Addressing questions from the reviewers

• Lectures, workshops and courses on biostatistical methodology

Contact: Interested investigators are encouraged to contact the Center's director Michael Griswold at mgriswold@dor.umsmed.edu to set up an initial meeting. Please note that for grant submissions, we request an initial meeting to occur a minimum of three weeks prior to grant proposals being due at the office of research.