Dr. Howard Cabral and Dr. Jungwun Lee, faculty in the Department of Biostatistics, lead the consulting sessions. Please submit a request for an individual biostatistics consulting session here.
Virtual Drop-In sessions are now available on Tuesdays from 11am – 12pm from January 7th to March 25th, 2025. Please signup for a 30 minute session via the Sign-up Genius form. Once you have signed-up for a slot, you will be sent a Outlook Meeting request with Zoom Link shortly after.
The CTSI’s Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Research Design (BERD) program provides researchers with comprehensive support in designing and carrying out research at the design, implementation, and analysis stages. As biostatistics assistance ranks among the top requests for CTSA services, BERD has generated a portfolio of solutions for the most common needs to ensure participation in the earliest stages of study development.
- BERD consulting services and collaboration are available to all BU investigators free of charge for the first hour. Junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and residents are eligible for additional consultation depending upon the nature and scope of the project. This, however, does not include consultation on student projects beyond an initial consultation. We will assist in connecting students to student analysts from graduate programs at Boston University in Biostatistics and Statistics.
BERD Aims
- Collaborate and consult with research teams to help them design and carry out high-quality research. We offer free biostatistics and data management drop-in sessions on both the Medical and Charles River Campuses. For those investigators who cannot attend a drop-in, we can schedule a separate meeting through our request for consultations. If services requested go beyond what can be provided through CTSI consulting, we offer fee-for-services, as well as collaboration on grants and funded projects. The goal of BERD collaboration and consultation is to develop research for future external funding. This, however, does not include consultation on student projects beyond an initial consultation. We will assist in connecting students to student analysts from graduate programs at Boston University in Biostatistics and Statistics.
- Educate and train research teams in proper approaches to design studies, collect and manage data, perform analyses, and present results. We provide education, collaboration, and consultation on design and analysis through our regularly scheduled BERD seminars.
- Identify novel methods for design, implementation, and analysis through collaboration with methods and experts. We invite you to attend one of our drop-in sessions, schedule a meeting, or attend a seminar to learn more about the novel methods provided and facilitated by our Program.
BERD Highlights
- Monthly seminars on a variety of topics
- Weekly Study Design and Statistical Analysis Studios: drop-in sessions where investigators can receive assistance with research study design, design of data collection systems and instruments, data entry and validation, data management and quality assurance, statistical analysis, and data interpretation, and professional and scientific report writing.
- Creation of the BERD software toolkit which includes REDCap and other research data management tools and resources.
- Collaboration through the New England Research Institute (NERI) in a large number of diverse multicenter trials and observational studies (e.g., the interplay of genetics and environment on the development of disease traits).
- Addition of new areas of statistical design and analysis such as adaptive trial design and network-based analyses of cell-line data (e.g., stem cell studies using iPSC cell lines)
- Cross-departmental collaboration, e.g., BERD staff work closely with colleagues from the CTSI Informatics Program to develop statistical models for use with the “HOME cell” and the Regulatory Knowledge and Support Program to pre-review IRB proposals before they undergo full board review.
Clinical Research Informatics
