Cancer Biostatistics Shared Resource

The Cancer Biostatistics (CB) Shared Resource provides state-of-the-art biostatistics and research design support to laboratory, translational, clinical, and population sciences investigators at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). CB Shared Resource members also develop new statistical methods and computational tools for use in cancer research. They support cancer researchers by providing didactic and one-on-one mentoring to collaborate with HCI investigators or young scientists in principles of study design, development of analysis plans, and interpretation of data.

Services

Staff of the CB Shared Resource retain a primary subject matter focus on cancer research. They provide either direct on-site access or virtual zoom meetings to HCI investigators throughout all stages of the research process:

• Clarification of research hypotheses and study aims
• Assistance in the selection of the appropriate study designs and outcome measurements
• Sample size/power estimation to evaluate tradeoffs among sample size, power, and the minimum detectable treatment effects
• Grant application writing
• Advice regarding data collection methods
• Conduct of statistical analysis on existing data sets
• Advice on collection and analysis of qualitative data
• Interpretation of results of data analyses
• Collaboration in writing statistical aspects of manuscripts
• When appropriate, facilitating contacts with other methodologists/researchers in the University community

The CB Shared Resource is directed by Ann Chen, PhD, and co-directed by Kenneth Boucher, PhD. The CB Shared Resource includes faculty and staff with specialized cancer research expertise. Drs. Chen and Boucher are both accomplished biostatisticians; Dr. Chen joined HCI in 2023, and Dr. Boucher has been a Cancer Center member since 1996.

Members of the CB Shared Resource also collaborate with colleagues in the Study Design and Biostatistics Center (SDBC), the biostatistics core of University of Utah Health and its National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA)-supported Utah Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Through this collaborative relationship, HCI investigators have an extremely broad range of specialized expertise at their disposal—including biostatisticians, epidemiologists, health economists, psychometricians, survey design experts, qualitative research experts, and program evaluation experts.