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I have worked at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit
for over five years as a statistician in the HIV Group. I’m a
lead statistician for trials in children in Europe. This
involves collaborating with doctors and trial teams to conduct
trials looking at new strategies to treat children with HIV.
Before a trial begins, I have to advise the
teams on how many children are needed in a trial and the design of
the trial. I also have to advise on the appropriate
statistical methods to answer their question. During a
trial, I monitor the quality of the data and liaise with the trial
team. The safety and conduct of the trial is monitored
regularly by an independent
committee. It’s my responsibility to produce reports
summarising the data collected so far for the committee to review.
When a trial is finished, we do a full analysis and write a final
report.
I also work on a study which measures
resistance to anti-HIV drugs in adults with HIV in the UK.
The database currently holds over 28,000 results. I work with
doctors and virologists to answer questions about resistance in the
UK.
It is important to share our findings from the
trials and resistance studies, so a big part of my work is to write
papers for medical journals and present the results at HIV
conferences. I’m involved with developing new statistical
methods as questions arise during the course of my work, and I
attend statistical conferences.
There are many other aspects to my job,
including reviewing other research and teaching basic statistics
and principles of clinical trials to both doctors and undergraduate
medical students.
I have an undergraduate degree in Mathematics
and a masters degree in Medical Statistics. Good organisation
and communication skills are essential for my job, in particular
the ability to convey statistical ideas to the general
public. It’s not necessary to have a medical background, but
the opportunity to learn about HIV and its treatment is something I
particularly enjoy. That’s encouraged by the MRC Clinical
Trials Unit.
I’m about to start studying part time for a
PhD in the MRC Clinical Trials Unit looking at the transmission of
resistance to anti-HIV drugs in the UK. This will enable me
to further my career as a statistician.
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