# Training Program in Biostatistics for Cancer Research

> **NIH NIH T32** · RICE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $226,531

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This application is for continuation of a training program in biostatistics with a specific focus on cancer research
that supports three graduate students and two postdoctoral researchers each year. The explosion of big data
in biomedical research, especially cancer, has led to new challenges and opportunities to extract information
from these data to inform novel approaches for early detection, prevention, and precision therapy strategies to
treat cancer. The increasingly competitive world of drug development also necessitates more efficient clinical
trial designs to gather information on new treatments’ efficacy and safety profiles. These challenges bring
quantitative scientists, especially biostatisticians, to the forefront of cancer research to develop efficient, robust,
and reproducible methods for analyzing complex biomedical data and adaptive clinical trial designs.
Multidisciplinary research teams are at the heart of modern cancer research, requiring communication and
mutual understanding for success. Effective biostatistical collaboration requires broad training in statistics,
probability, computing, as well as cancer biology, medical ethics, and effective communication to collaborators.
The Department of Statistics, Rice University, and the Department of Biostatistics and Department of
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
(UTMDACC) have joined forces with their collaborators in the clinical, basic, and population sciences to
develop a unique training program that combines their respective strengths to train biostatisticians in cancer
research. The goal of this Training Program is to prepare a new generation of biostatisticians who will work
side-by-side with biomedical investigators in modern cancer research. Our program aims to provide trainees
with: (1) Rigorous training in statistics and probability (2) Practical experience in basic and clinical cancer
research (2) Training in biological aspects of cancer, medical research ethics, and effective communication.
Predoctoral trainees in the program follow standard PhD coursework for students in Statistics at Rice, with
additional coursework in biostatistics, biologic, ethics, and communication as well as special seminars and
workshops at both institutions, plus hands-on experience in summer internship and laboratory rotations.
Postdoctoral trainees have access to the same coursework and hands-on experiences, plus will gain grant-
writing experience during their training. With faculty expertise in Bayesian methods, decision theory, cancer
clinical trials, cancer screening, survival analysis, statistical genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, and statistical
computing, trainees will receive a broad background in biostatistics for modern cancer research, with improved
rigorous admissions, evaluation and development procedures to ensure success in producing researchers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10260489
- **Project number:** 5T32CA096520-16
- **Recipient organization:** RICE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MAREK KIMMEL
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $226,531
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2003-08-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10260489

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10260489, Training Program in Biostatistics for Cancer Research (5T32CA096520-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10260489. Licensed CC0.

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