How to become a Biostatistician 2024

Biostatistician Develop and apply biostatistical theory and methods to the study of life sciences.

Biostatistician is Also Know as

In different settings, Biostatistician is titled as

Biometrician
Biostatistical Consultant
Biostatistician
Research Scientist
Statistical Scientist

Education and Training of Biostatistician

Biostatistician is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Biostatistician

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Education Required for Biostatistician

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Degrees Related to Biostatistician

Training Required for Biostatistician

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Biostatistician in different industries are

What Do Biostatistician do?

Write research proposals or grant applications for submission to external bodies.
Teach graduate or continuing education courses or seminars in biostatistics.
Read current literature, attend meetings or conferences, and talk with colleagues to keep abreast of methodological or conceptual developments in fields such as biostatistics, pharmacology, life sciences, and social sciences.
Prepare statistical data for inclusion in reports to data monitoring committees, federal regulatory agencies, managers, or clients.
Prepare articles for publication or presentation at professional conferences.
Calculate sample size requirements for clinical studies.
Determine project plans, timelines, or technical objectives for statistical aspects of biological research studies.
Assign work to biostatistical assistants or programmers.
Write program code to analyze data with statistical analysis software.
Write detailed analysis plans and descriptions of analyses and findings for research protocols or reports.
Plan or direct research studies related to life sciences.
Prepare tables and graphs to present clinical data or results.
Monitor clinical trials or experiments to ensure adherence to established procedures or to verify the quality of data collected.
Draw conclusions or make predictions, based on data summaries or statistical analyses.
Develop or use mathematical models to track changes in biological phenomena, such as the spread of infectious diseases.
Design surveys to assess health issues.
Develop or implement data analysis algorithms.
Design research studies in collaboration with physicians, life scientists, or other professionals.
Design or maintain databases of biological data.
Collect data through surveys or experimentation.
Analyze archival data, such as birth, death, and disease records.
Review clinical or other medical research protocols and recommend appropriate statistical analyses.
Provide biostatistical consultation to clients or colleagues.
Apply research or simulation results to extend biological theory or recommend new research projects.
Analyze clinical or survey data, using statistical approaches such as longitudinal analysis, mixed-effect modeling, logistic regression analyses, and model-building techniques.

Qualities of Good Biostatistician

Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.

Tools Used by Biostatistician

Computer data input scanners
Computer laser printers
Desktop computers
Laptop computers
Mainframe computers
Personal computers
Plotters

Technology Skills required for Biostatistician

Bash
C#
C++
Clinical trials database software
Data mining software
Data visualization software
Database software
Extensible markup language XML
Git
Graphics software
IBM SPSS Statistics
Insightful S-PLUS
JavaScript
Linux
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft operating system
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Word
Minitab
MySQL
Oracle Database
Oracle Java
Patient monitoring systems
Perl
PHP
Python
R
SAP software
SAS
SAS/STAT
Shell script
Software development tools
Spreadsheet software
STAT! Systems QD Clinical
StataCorp Stata
STATISTICA
Statistical software
Structured query language SQL
The MathWorks MATLAB
Tibco S-PLUS
UNIX
Wolfram Research Mathematica
Word processing software

US Universities

How to become Biostatistician in 2024