Biostatistics
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Unit Head
Professor Julie Simpson8344 0732
Research Overview
In the modern world of 'Big Data', researchers in population health and clinical medicine need to make sense of large amounts of data from a wide range of sources. Biostatistics is the discipline that underpins the use of statistical methods in the collection, preparation and analysis of data for research studies. It provides an essential foundation for much health research.
The Biostatistics Unit has an integrated program of methodological and collaborative research with networks of collaboration across the School, the Faculty and affiliated hospitals and institutes, as well as providing statistical training to build a skilled research workforce. Our group delivers the Master of Biostatistics(with the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia, BCA), as well as leading biostatistics teaching within the Master of Public Health and Master of Science (Epidemiology). We also established and lead the Biostatistics node of the Methods and Implementation Support for Clinical and Health research (MISCH) Hub, with the goal of strengthening clinical research across the University of Melbourne and its affiliated Hospitals.
Staff
Professor Julie Simpson (unit head)
Associate Professor Agus Salim
Collaborators
We collaborate on numerous clinical trials and epidemiological studies. We lead research in the development, application and interpretation of sophisticated statistical methods, including causal inference methods for observational studies, methods for handling missing data, approaches to synthesis data across a network of treatments (i.e. network meta-analysis), applied Bayesian methods, and novel experimental design and analysis for clinical trials.
Since 2012, our unit has co-led — along with units at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and Monash University — the Victorian Centre for Biostatistics (ViCBiostat), a Centre of Research Excellence in Biostatistics funded by the NHMRC.