Purdue News

March 26, 1999 Lecturer to discuss fat intake and breast cancer WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Raymond Carroll, a Purdue alumnus and distinguished professor at Texas A&M University, will lecture in April at Purdue University about the controversial theory that breast cancer is statistically related to dietary fat intake. His presentation, "The Statistical Problem of Relating Nutrient Intake and Disease," at 4 :30 p.m. Friday, April 16, is the 1999 Myra Samuels Biostatistics Lecture. Carroll's research focuses on health outcomes when exposures, such as dietary fat intake, are difficult to measure accurately. Carroll is one of the leading researchers of this so-called "measurement error problem" and has worked for more than a decade on the problem of measuring dietary fat intake and its statistical ramifications. He will discuss the controversy about whether there is a relationship between breast cancer and total fat intake as measured by the Food Frequency Questionnaire, and current plans to help resolve the controversy. The lecture will be in the Mathematical Sciences Building Auditorium (Room 175), followed by a reception from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Room 304, the Math library lounge. Carroll has a primary appointment in the Department of Statistics, a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and is a member of the universitywide Faculty of Nutrition at Texas A&M. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue in 1974, working under the direction of Professor Shanti Gupta. Carroll has won many honors, including the COPSS President's Award in 1988, given annually to the leading statistician under the age of 40. The lecture series is named after Myra Samuels, who at the time of her death in 1992 was an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology in Purdue's Department of Veterinary Pathobiology and associate head of statistical consulting in the Department of Statistics. She taught at Purdue for 24 years, and her textbook, "Statistics for the Life Sciences" (1989), still is widely used. CONTACT: Norma Lucas, administrative assistant, Department of Statistics, (765) 494-3141; nlucas@stat.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page