ENAR 2023 Educational Program | ROUNDTABLES
Roundtables are conversations centered around a predetermined topic and led by a discussion leader. Due to the small group size, all attendees are able to participate equally, providing a more intimate discussion than a larger scientific session. All Roundtables take place Monday, March 20 from 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT1 | Preparing for the Job Market: Careers in Industry
Leader:
Portia Exum, SAS Institute Inc.
Description:
From interviewing, negotiating, deciding what offer to accept, or even dealing with rejection, navigating the job market can feel quite overwhelming. During this roundtable we will discuss strategies to help you feel confident during the job search and land a position at an organization where you can add value and feel valued. Please feel free to bring specific questions to allow the conversation to be more dynamic.
Leader Bio:
Portia is a Quality Engineering Manager for CI360, SAS' marketing analytics cloud solution. She joined SAS as an intern in 2011 and was hired full-time after graduating with her MS in Statistics from North Carolina State University. She also holds a BA in Mathematics & Statistics and Economics from Smith College. She has served in a variety of testing roles throughout her career such as testing procedural code, user interfaces, open-source integration, test automation in addition to numerical and statistical model validation. She has also collaborated with clinicians on sleep and obesity studies as a consultant.
Portia has been identified as a high potential leader and is one of 25 global winners of SAS' 2022 CEO Award of Excellence. She is a past co-chair of the ENAR Diversity workshop and an active participant in the JSM Mentoring program and STATFest, initiatives of the ASA Committee on Minorities in Statistics. Portia is invested in creating a diverse pipeline into the field and collaborates to recruit and retain the next generation of statisticians.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT2 | F Grants: What Are They and How Do I Get One?
Leader:
Sarah Hanks, University of Michigan
Description:
F grants (F30, F31, and F32) are NIH-sponsored individual fellowships that support graduate- and postgraduate-level research training for US citizens and permanent residents. Independent of the final funding outcome, benefits to F grant applicants include thoughtful development of career goals and training needs, meaningful interactions with faculty sponsors, better understanding of the NIH grant review process, and improved confidence as a researcher. In this roundtable, we will present an overview of the F grant application process from the perspective of an F31 recipient in a Biostatistics department. In particular, we will discuss tips for identifying the appropriate institute, strategies for the overall approach and organization of the application, and application review criteria, as well as answer any participant questions. Participants will leave with a better understanding of how F grants may fit with their training goals (or the goals of their trainees) and how to begin the application process.
Leader Bio:
Sarah Hanks is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan. She received her BA in Mathematics and Statistics from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2016. Her dissertation research focuses on the development of statistical methods for the analysis of genetic and genomic data. Following support on the University of Michigan Training Program in Genomic Science T32, she received an F31 grant from the NHGRI titled "Statistical Methods for the Analysis of Long-Read Sequencing Data."
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT3 | Pathways to Success for Early Career Statisticians
Leader:
Lance A. Waller, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Description:
A career in the fields of Statistics and Biostatistics can be rewarding but also a challenge to navigate early in one's career. Some parts of the fields are changing quickly, others seem to stay the same. Departments and research groups grow and shrink, scientific (and funding!) priorities shift with new technology, new discoveries, and new approaches. In this roundtable, we will consider a range of issues related to beginning a career in Biostatistics. We will discuss the different "currencies of success" associated with careers in academic, industry, and government organizations. We will discuss communication skills, funding strategies, collaboration skills, and opportunities to contribute to the field in multiple ways. Please feel free to bring questions (or send them to the facilitator beforehand!) to allow the discussion to address your needs as well as the general topics above.
Leader Bio:
Lance A. Waller, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Science Board on Mathematical Sciences and Analytics, and co-chair of National Academis' Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics. Dr. Waller is also a member of the U.S. Census Scientific Advisory Committee. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His research involves the development of statistical methods for geographic data including applications in environmental justice, epidemiology, disease surveillance, and disease ecology. His research appears in biostatistical, statistical, environmental health, and ecology journals and in the textbook Applied Spatial Statistics for Public Health Data (2004, Wiley). Dr. Waller currently leads planning for the Data Science Initiative in Emory University's Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT4 | Strategies for Success: Grant Writing as an Early Career Researcher
Leader:
Harrison Quick, Drexel University
Description:
For many early career researchers, obtaining external funding to support your research is an increasingly important component for career advancement and promotion. Meanwhile, grants from NIH and NSF remain highly competitive, with funding rates at or below 20% for many institutes and agencies. In this roundtable, we will discuss topics ranging from the pre-proposal stage (when/where to apply for funding), strategies for writing your proposal, and strategies for preparing a resubmission. A key theme of the discussion will be the importance of mapping out a five-year strategy and working in reverse – e.g., where do you want to be in five years, where do you need to be in three years to help you get there, and what steps do you need to take today to put that plan in motion?
Leader Bio:
Dr. Harrison Quick is an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. In 2020, Dr. Quick received an NSF CAREER award to pursue research at the intersection of spatial statistics and data privacy with an emphasis on developing methods for disseminating spatially referenced public use datasets with reduced disclosure risks. More recently, Dr. Quick was awarded an R01 from NHLBI to develop spatial statistical methods to help state and local health departments better assess health disparities. In addition, Dr. Quick has obtained external funding as Principal Investigator from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Health Statistics, and County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program. Dr. Quick is also active in service, both in his longtime participation in the alumni mentoring program at the University of Minnesota and through service to ENAR, acting as the Program Chair for the 2022 ENAR Spring Meeting and a member of the Regional Advisory Board from 2020-2022.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT5 | Causal Inference in Collaborative Research
Leader:
Nandita Mitra, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania
Description:
Are you excited about causal inference methods, but your basic science or clinical collaborators are resistant to using new methods? Do your collaborators insist on claiming a causal relationship when you are only comfortable with reporting a correlation? In this roundtable we will discuss challenges and opportunities to using causal inference approaches in applied research. We will share past experiences from collaborative projects in areas such as cancer outcomes, health policy, and health disparities. We will also discuss methodological development opportunities in causal inference that stem directly from interdisciplinary collaborative research.
Leader Bio:
Nandita Mitra, PhD is Professor of Biostatistics, Professor of Statistics and Data Science, Vice Chair of Education, and Co-Director of the Center for Causal Inference at the University of Pennsylvania. Her primary research area is causal inference with a focus on developing semiparametric approaches for cost-effectiveness, instrumental variable analysis, and difference in differences approaches under interference. Her primary collaborations are in cancer, dermatology, health policy, and health economics. Dr. Mitra has published over 275 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Biometrics, Biostatistics, Annals of Applied Statistics, JRSS C, Statistics in Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature, and JAMA. She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Observational Studies, Chair of the IBS Budget & Finance Committee, Fellow of the American Statistical Association, and a recipient of the 2022 ASA Mentoring Award.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT6 | Statistical Concepts to Teach to Non-Statisticians
Leader:
Frank Harrell, Vanderbilt University Department of Biostatistics
Description:
The roundtable discussion will cover what we've learned from experience in teaching non-statisticians, especially in a biomedical or pharmaceutical research setting. Emphasis will be given to concepts that tend to be under-emphasized in traditional statistics education, and discovering what investigators tend to take for granted that turns out to be problematic from a study design, measurement, or analysis viewpoint.
Leader Bio:
Dr. Harrell received his PhD in Biostatistics from UNC in 1979. Since 2003 he has been Professor of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and was the department chairman from 2003-2017. He is Expert Biostatistics Advisor to FDA CDER and was Expert Biostatistics Advisor for the Office of Biostatistics for FDA CDER from 2016-2020. He is Associate Editor of Statistics in Medicine, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Science Translational Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and winner of the Association's WJ Dixon Award for Excellence in Statistical Consulting for 2014. His specialties are development of accurate prognostic and diagnostic models, model validation, clinical trials, observational clinical research, cardiovascular research, technology evaluation, pharmaceutical safety, Bayesian methods, quantifying predictive accuracy, missing data imputation, and statistical graphics and reporting.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT7 | Balancing Methodological & Collaborative Research
Leader:
Nichole Carlson, Professor and Associate Chair for Research, Department of Biostatistics and Informatics Colorado School of Public Health; Director, Center for Innovative Design & Analysis
Description:
Biostatisticians are often expected to be good at many things, including both collaborative and methodological research. However, being a successful collaborator while also excelling in methodological research is challenging, as each requires different skillsets. Further, finding the time to pursue both collaborative and methodological work can be difficult. In this roundtable, we will discuss the benefits of developing both collaborative and methodological skills, strategies for making time to engage in both, and how to engage with researchers in both areas. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and engage in conversations about their research obstacles and successes.
Leader Bio:
Dr. Nichole Carlson's is a Professor of Biostatistics and Informatics in the Colorado School of Public Health and Director of the Center for Innovative Design and Analysis (CIDA), the campus wide biostatistics collaboration and research center, and the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Program of the Colorado Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Combined these programs support 45 PhD, Master's, and student collaborative biostatisticians and trainees. She has over 20 years of experience as a collaborative biostatistician actively maintaining both methodology funding from NIH and co-investigator funding with clinical research partners. Her statistical research areas are in Bayesian methods for the analysis of neuroendocrine hormone data and new approaches for analyzing CT imaging in lung disease. Her collaborative experiences are varied across many clinical research areas. She enjoys team science, multiple-PI research projects, and mentoring junior collaborative biostatisticians and graduate students to help them achieve their individual goals.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT8 | Running an Effective Research Group
Leader:
Eric Laber, Duke University
Description:
The research laboratory model has students, postdocs, and staff working together on a series of related problems to advance a focused research agenda. The laboratory model is standard in many fields in the natural sciences and has recently become more common in statistics and data science. A research lab can provide numerous benefits including the creation of a learning community that encourages mentoring and increased access to high-impact research problems. However, managing a lab is not without its challenges. The lab's principal investigator (PI) must play multiple roles including researcher, mentor, administrator, editor, and fundraiser. The many responsibilities beyond 'pure research' can increase the risk of burnout and add distance between the PI and the scientific problems that led them to create the lab in the first place! In this roundtable, we will discuss how to setup and grow a research lab while mitigating risk of burnout and administrative overload.
Leader Bio:
Eric Laber is Professor of Statistical Sciences and Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University. He is former director of research translation and engagement in the College of Science at NC State University and has run a large research lab for the past 10 years. You can learn more about his group at: https://laber-labs.com/.
Monday, March 20 | 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
RT9 | Winner! Winner! How to Nominate and Get Nominated
Leader:
Elizabeth A. Stuart, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Description:
There are few things more satisfying than seeing a deserving individual get recognized for their life and work—and sometimes that individual is you! This roundtable will discuss the ins and outs of nomination procedures with a focus on professional awards. Discussion will include how to find relevant awards, how to ask others to nominate you, how to write a strong nomination package, and how to find the courage to nominate yourself or a colleague!
Leader Bio:
Elizabeth Stuart, Ph.D. is Bloomberg Professor of American Health in the Departments of Mental Health, Biostatistics, and Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her Ph.D. in statistics in 2004 from Harvard University. Her primary research interests include the trade-offs in different study designs for estimating causal effects, and the use of causal inference methods in public health, mental health, and education. She received the mid-career award from the Health Policy Statistics Section of the ASA, the Gertrude Cox Award for applied statistics, Harvard University's Myrto Lefkopoulou Award for excellence in Biostatistics, and the inaugural Society for Epidemiologic Research Marshall Joffe Epidemiologic Methods award (and has been nominated for but not received many others!). She has also nominated many colleagues for similar awards (sometimes successfully, sometimes not!), and has served on award selection committees for the American Statistical Association, Johns Hopkins, and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness.