Biostatistics is the discipline developing statistical methods for and applying statistical principles to biomedical research. It is pivotal in advancing pediatric research and practice by extracting useful information from clinical trials or observational databases. This involves asking the right questions with the right target populations and data sources, assessing quality control of data collection, analyzing, and interpreting the collected data. Biostatistics plays a vital role in decision-making to improve children’s health and health care.

The Biostatistics pillar strives to provide the most meaningful statistical expertise to studies conducted at Clinical Futures, formerly the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness (CPCE), at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Our biostatistics experts provide advice on the most methodologically sound statistical approach, which involves choosing an appropriate tool among many existing ones or developing a new analytic method to better answer the research question. Our biostatistics experts collaborate effectively and efficiently with pediatric clinicians.

Areas of work include:

•   Trial designs

•   Causal inference of clinical trials and observational studies

•   Analytic methods for pharmacoepidemiology

•   Survival analysis

•   Machine learning

•   Statistical software development

By synergizing statistical knowledge with clinical and epidemiologic expertise, together with cutting-edge pediatric databases from a world-leading children’s hospital, we are extending our impact both within and beyond the center. We are working towards the best practice of pediatric biostatistics.

In partnership with the DSBU group in the Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics (DBHi), we provide biostatistical support for study consultation, grant applications, identification of data sources, automated data extraction, and statistical analysis to Clinical Futures faculty.