Welcome to JABSOM Biostatistics & Data Management Core (BDMC)!

Aloha! Thank you for visiting our website. After three years of hiatus, the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) has recently reestablished its Biostatistics & Data Management Core (BDMC).

Strong research design and biostatistics support plays a critical role in the long-term success of a clinical and translational research and education enterprise. Over the past decade UH has seen rapid expansion of its biomedical research program. But the availability and access to biostatistical consult and collaboration at JABSOM and UH has been limited and scattered, partially because of fiscal and structural barriers. Misconceptions about the utilities of biostatistics and misunderstandings on how to engage and interact with biostatistical professionals are still commonplace among biomedical and health researchers.

In the meantime, the biomedical research community at large has gradually moved away from "one gene-one enzyme" hypothesis towards a multidisciplinary approach in disease onset, progression and prevention investigation. More and more studies involve complex study design and generate complicated multivariate data, which cannot be adequately addressed by simple t-tests or chi-squared tests. Extramural funding has also become increasingly competitive. Funding agencies and study sessions have started to focus more and more on whether the research design of a proposal is optimal and whether data analysis plan is statistically sound and well thought through.

To help catalyze a fundamental change of the research culture at JABSOM and its affiliated institutes, and to meet the challenges of elevating JABSOM's research to the next level, there is an urgent need to transform current limited and fragmented biostatistical services into a comprehensive, integrated, reliable, and sustainable academic unit. The desire and commitment of JABSOM to build and enhance expertise in biostatistics and research design is reflected by the consensus from the strategic planning sessions and needs assessment surveys conducted over the past few years, involving department chairs, principal investigators of large program and center grants, and leadership at the institutional level, and is strongly endorsed by the recommendations of the JABSOM Biostat Task Force of 2008.

With the generous support from JABSOM Dean's Office and several major institutional infrastructural grants, e.g., RCMI Multidisciplinary And Translational Research Infrastructure eXpansion Program (RMATRIX), RCMI BRIDGES Program (G12), IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence Program (INBRE), UH JABSOM has started the process of building a critical mass of biostatisticians and supporting staff. The BDMC and the whole Hawaii Biostat 'Ohana would like to sincerely thank Dean Jerris Hedges, Vice-Chancellor Gary Ostrander, and other senior medical school faculty for their vision to establish this unit and for their commitment to grow and maintain biostatistical collaborative support in clinical, basic science, and translational research at JABSOM and its affiliated institutes.

The new BDMC is located on the fourth floor of the JABSOM Medical Education Building on the University of Hawaii Kaka'ako campus. We welcome you to visit us in person, to submit your request online, or to utilize our online self-service statistical tools. Our biostatisticians are always ready to discuss with you about your research ideas, your service and education needs, and to explore mutually beneficial collaboration opportunities.

Mahalo!


John J. Chen, Ph.D.
Director, BDMC