Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD)

The Delaware Valley Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (DVICTS) will establish to ensure the conduct of high-quality translational research through focus on precise and coordinated application of expertise in study design, data handling, biostatistics, and educational efforts across all partner institutions, investigators, and collaborators. Four institutional partners are collaborating to develop DVICTS: the University of Delaware (UD), Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), Christiana Care Health System (CCHS), and Nemours—specifically including the A. I. duPont Hospital for Children (Nemours/AIDHC). Each of the four partner institutions has significant individual strengths in each area of translational research and education; however, overall effectiveness has been limited by the lack of organized inter- and intra-institutional coordination of translational activities.

DVICTS has established and will continuer to develop the Delaware Valley Unit for Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) to coordinate data management and epidemiologic and biostatistical resources across the four partner institutions. BERD will have a comprehensive and responsive organizational structure to support clinical and basic science groups within the Delaware Valley Unit for Pilot and Collaborative Translational and Clinical Studies (PCTCS) in T1 and T2 research and to work especially in cooperation with the Delaware Valley Unit for Community Engagement and Research (CER), the Delaware Valley for Participant and Clinical Interactions Resource (PCIR), and the Delaware Valley Unit for Biomedical Informatics (BMI), to develop T3 research in the State of Delaware and the surrounding areas of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey. These T3 resources, unique to our CTSA, will be important in (a) demonstrating the usefulness of outcomes achieved through research and evidence-based care and (b) showing that implementation studies can lead to better public and overall health. Because the demographics of the State of Delaware and the surrounding Delaware Valley mimic the nation at large, lessons learned here will be broadly applicable elsewhere (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/10000.html. Accessed 4/13/2009). The specific aims of BERD are as follows:

  • Aim 1. Drive the translational cycle by coordinating epidemiologic design, data handling, and biostatistical capabilities across the four DVICTS partner institutions and other collaborators.

  • Aim 2. Adapt existing methods and develop new methods for translational and population science research through multidisciplinary collaboration.

  • Aim 3. Leverage advanced information technology systems to develop epidemiologic and implementation studies in the Delaware Valley.

  • Aim 4. Educate and mentor the next generation of quantitative and population scientists in the Delaware Valley.



Biostatistic Seminars:


Steffanie Halberstadt, PhD candidate, UPenn Item reduction and validation using a joint latent variable model: An investigation of the Penn premenstrual syndrome daily symptom report ( Abstract ) 4/21/2010
Susan Halabi, Assoc Prof, Duke U Estimation and Testing of the Relative Risk of Disease in Case-Control Studies with a Set of k Matched Controls per Case with Known Prevalence of Disease 3/31/2010
George Luta, Assist Prof, Georgetown U Empirical Likelihood Based Covariate Adjustment Methods 3/10/2010
Jeff Morris, Prof, MD Anderson Cancer Center Automated, Robust Bayesian Analysis of Functional and Quantitative Image Data Using Functional Mixed Models and Isomorphic Basis-Space Modeling 1/6/2010
Arzu Onar-Thomas, Assist Member, St Jude Children's Hospital A range of practical issues in pediatric early phase trials: Dosing approaches and empirical vs. model-based phase I designs 11/11/2010
Tingting Zhan, PhD candidate, Temple U Robust two-stage modeling with finite mixture conditional distributions: An application in tendon fibrilogenesis data 10/14/2010
Charalampos (Babis) Papachristou, Laura Pontiggia, Carl Walasek, U of the Sciences   9/23/2010