Mohammad H Rahbar
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA
Title: Characteristics of biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design programs in institutions with clinical and translational science awards
Biography
Biography: Mohammad H Rahbar
Abstract
Limited information is available regarding the structure and scholarly output of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) units in the US academic health centers (AHCs), presenting a barrier to understanding common practices. Using four years of survey data from AHCs that were members of the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Consortium during 2010-2013, we describe the size, composition, and scholarly output of CTSA-related BERD units. Overall, the size of BERD units ranged from 3-86 individuals. The median Full Time Equivalent (FTE) in BERD units remained similar and ranged from 3.0 to 3.5 FTEs over the years. BERD units reported more availability of doctoral-level biostatisticians than doctoral-level epidemiologists. In 2011, 2012, and 2013, more than a third of BERD units provided consulting support on 101 to 200 projects. A majority of BERD units reported that between 25% and 75% (in 2011) and 31% - 70% (in 2012) of their consulting was provided to junior investigators. More than two-thirds of BERD units reported their contributions to the submission of 20 or more non-BERD grant or contract applications annually. Nearly half of BERD units reported 1 to 10 manuscripts submitted annually with a BERD practitioner as the first or corresponding author. We describe the size, composition, and scholarly output of CTSA-related BERD units for the period 2010-2013. This characterization provides a benchmark against which to compare BERD resources and may be particularly useful for those institutions planning to develop new units in support of programs such as the CTSA