Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology
Our Services
The Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology is organized into the Laboratories of Biostatistics and Computing. Our program combines independent research, collaboration, and consultation in quantitative methods as they apply to cancer, the environment, and research into the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
The Department is one of the nation's major statistical centers for carrying out multicenter clinical trials by virtue of being the statistical center of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG). Members of the Department are working closely with the AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) by leading the coordination of statistics for pediatric AIDS and immunologic markers for detecting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
The Biostatistics Core research component is a shared facility that supports consultation on quantitative methods throughout the Dana-Farber/Harvard Comprehensive Cancer Center (DF/HCC). The Biostatistics Core has been a key part of DF/HCC since 1978. The department supports the DF/HCC by providing:
- Expertise for the planning, conduct, analysis and reporting of clinical trials, epidemiologic and population based studies, studies in genetic susceptibility of cancer, and experiments in basic research in the biology of cancer;
- Advice and consultation to the Quality Assurance Office for Clinical Trials (QACT) and the Office for Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS) in efficient and accurate database design and management of clinical research data;
- Scientific computing for data analysis and scientific graphics; and
- Education for members of the DF/HCC in the areas of study design, data collection, computerization, and statistical methods for laboratory, clinical and population based studies.
The Biostatistics Core provides support for all of the programs in the DF/HCC with the exception of the imaging core, which has its own technology assessment program, Radiology Information Management Program, Diagnostic Imaging Clinical Trials Center, and Decision Systems Group.
Teaching
The department continues to have a close partnership with the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health, where the majority of our faculty hold primary academic appointments, teach in the degree programs, and direct doctoral students dissertations. During the past two several years, our faculty have chaired major academic committees, such as the Curriculum, Degree Program, and Doctoral Qualifying Examination committees, and have also become involved with undergraduate teaching in the Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Department members teach such classes as:
- BIO222 Basics: Statistical Inference
- BIO232: Methods I
- BIO248: Advanced Statistical Computing
- BIO250: Probability Theory and Applications II
- BIO271: Statistical Computing Environments
- BIO277: Computational Biology
- BIO280: Intro to Comp Molecular Bio I
- BIO281: Intro to Comp Molecular Bio II
- BIO289: Reading Medical Literature for Statisticians
- BIO502: Intro to Stochastic Processes
