Abstract:
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There are 69 NCI designated cancer centers (CC) in the US and biostatistical collaboration is pivotal in cancer research. Most academic health centers have developed statistical units but existence of a unit does not guarantee a strong Cancer Biostatistics Core (CBC). Here, we identify 10 elements for a successful CBC: 1)Director's full involvement in CC leadership team; 2)Statisticians fully dedicated to cancer research; 3)investigator-statistician dyads based on common interests in research; 4)financial support plan with a balance of institutional funding, NCI/contract grant funding, and fee-for-service; 5)engaged investigators for adequate support for statisticians in grant applications; 6)educational activities for statisticians; 7)and for investigators; 8)protected time for statistician's career growth; 9)website with information on personnel, services, and policies; 10)availability of EDC for logging/tracking services. We followed these steps to create a CBC for a newly designated CC. Success is quickly emerging with increases in annual rates from (2014 to 2015) in: service requests (131 to 155); funded grants (13 to 19); % FTE on grants (5% to 17%); publications (11 to 21).
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