Biostatistician

Biostatisticians utilize and manipulate data to create metrics that describe phenomena related to the life sciences.

Summary

The healthcare, biomedical, and pharmaceutical fields employ biostatisticians who are responsible for analyzing large data sets to assist in making hard choices. In some cases such as public health, biostatistics is used to as a public education tool to engage with an audience who is less informed on topics related to life sciences. A fantastic use of biostatistics in public health is data from clinical trials testing new medications and vaccines.

Research problems are as diverse as the study of factors affecting heart and lung disease, testing new drugs to combat AIDS, assessing indoor air quality in schools, working with various cancer studies, evaluating dental health and dental procedures, evaluating psychiatric symptoms and drug and alcohol use, transplanting organs and bone marrow, and studying inner ear infection. Biostatisticians also help develop statistical techniques. Active areas of research include Bayesian methods, high-speed computing and simulation, survival analysis, analysis of geographical patterns of disease, longitudinal data analysis, and methods for analyzing data from epidemiologic studies and clinical trials.

When Math Is Used

Biostatisticians collaborate with researchers as they design studies, helping them find the best approach to data gathering given the question the researchers are trying to answer. These statisticians provide advice on such topics as sample size and data collection (what methods will be used to gather the data). Once the raw data have been gathered, biostatisticians use statistical software to turn the data into useful information. They use standard statistical procedures and terms to help researchers pinpoint which results were significant and which were inconclusive, warranting further study. Biostatisticians sometimes find themselves cleaning up an imperfect data set to help researchers glean conclusions from it.

Salary Information 2023

According to salary.com, the average salary for a biostatistician in 2023 was $75,505.

Educational Requirements

A bachelor's degree is sufficient for entering the field of Biostatistics as an assistant. However, most Biostatisticians have M.S. or Ph.D. degrees in Biostatistics, Statistics, or Applied Mathematics. Attaining higher credentials will allow for freedom in choosing job titles and positions.

Potential Employers

Biostatisticians may be hired by a number of different employers. For instance, they may work at universities or large health care institutions. They may be employees of federal or state government agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services. Or they may work in private companies' research and development groups. Biostatisticians with advanced degrees can look forward to excellent career opportunities in government, industry, and academia. The shortage of biostatisticians is noted in Objectives for the Nation and the Seventh Report to the President and Congress on the Status of Health Personnel in the United States.

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Information retrieved from We Use Math: Biostatisticians and American Statistical Association.