UNM CCC biostatisticians help scientists conduct research on cancer

In contrast to most people, Ji-Hyun Lee, DrPH, doesn't find statistics difficult or boring. For her, statistics is fulfilling because it's how she helps people fight cancer. "People think biostatistics is purely numbers," Lee says, "but my work helps to improve patients' care." She recalls a visit to a hospital patient as a young statistician working for a cystic fibrosis research team. "A very senior medical doctor introduced me to the cystic fibrosis patient who was lying down in bed at the time. He told me that my research was helping these patients."

Statistics is its own scientific area of research and training. It is the science of collecting, summarizing, analyzing and interpreting data to make decisions. Statisticians help teams of scientists through the entire scientific process; biostatistics applies to health science areas, like cancer. Teams of scientists use the scientific process to improve cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment.

The scientific process begins with the initial idea to test. At this beginning stage of the work, a statistician's help can be invaluable. "Biostatisticians help scientists to clearly express what they want to learn and how they will measure it through the correct statistical prism," Lee says. "We are collaborators working together to draw the best scientific conclusion." Then, based on these goals, biostatisticians help to design the study: how many people are needed, how to decide who will receive which treatment, how to gather the measurements. After the study finishes, biostatisticians analyze the measurements to help the scientists draw their conclusions.

In clinical research, where scientists have limited access to patients and treatments, biostatisticians help clinical researchers to make the best of what they have. "No one knows which treatment is better," says Lee, "so we provide the most efficient and effective number of people needed [to test the treatments]." Some studies may require 100 people while other studies may require only 30; that's why the researcher and the statistician must work together at the study planning stage.
Biostatisticians also help scientists by asking about how their data will be measured. For things like drug levels in blood, the measurements can be straightforward. But for research based on asking people questions, the questions themselves need to be vetted. "We need to ask whether the question is a scientifically proven tool," says Lee.

With more focus on clinical trials, biostatisticians — and statisticians in all scientific fields — are enjoying more opportunities. Lee wants more girls to get interested in this growing field, a field they haven't been traditionally drawn to. She has spoken to student groups about careers in statistics and was recently elected President of the Caucus for Women in Statistics, a group dedicated to helping women enter and excel in the statistics field. "People think that statistics is mostly numbers, difficult and boring," Lee says. "But I have always believed that my work is directly and indirectly associated with the improvement of patients' care."