CENTRE FOR MEDICAL STATISTICS at KEELE
The Centre is searching for an able candidate to
nominate for a potential CASE studentship in
Statistical Modelling Applied to Trauma Systems
Evaluation.
North Staffordshire is a major centre for research into
Trauma Systems and their Evaluation. The Centre
for Medical Statistics is closely involved with the
local Trauma Research Group.
The Centre is seeking to nominate an able student,
with, or about to receive, a good 1st class honours
degree in Statistics, or preferably, an MSc in Statistics,
Biostatistics or Medical Statistics, from a recognised
University.
The project will involve, inter alia, the development of
appropriate frailty models, parametric and non-parametric,
for the evaluation outcomes (mortality and survival) in the
North Staffordshire Hospital's Trauma (NSHT) database.
One aim of the study is to model outcome accurately
when, as is usual in trauma studies, the measured
covariate vector does not contain all of the important
covariates.
In the case of non-parametric frailty, the resulting mixture
may be of unknown dimension and we aim to compare
the RJMCMC approach of Richardson and Green (1997)
with more conventional E-M approaches. The effect of the
use of non-parametric MLE procedures to impute missing
values in the X space - a common problem in trauma data -
will also be investigated.
The project will also involve the student in more practical
work such as comparing outcomes in the NSHT database
with other national databases (TARN, ICNARC etc) and
facilitating good statistical practice among the doctors
and nurses working in the Trauma Research Group.
A CASE studentship application has been prepared and
if supported the successful student can expect normal
CASE terms in which the usual EPSRC grant will be
supplemented (c£3000pa) by the North Staffordshire
Trauma ResearchGroup in the North Staffordshire Acute
(NHS) Trust. The proposed starting date is October 1st
2001.
It is intended that the studentship will be based in the
Centre for Medical Statistics on Keele's pleasant 617 acre
rural campus which is 2/3 miles away from the
Trauma Centre. However, it is expected that the
student will enjoy spending periods of time working
closely with the trauma research team in the hospital.
throughout the project.
If the application is successful, the Studentship will be
jointly supervised by Prof. Gilbert MacKenzie,
Director of the Centre for Medical Statistics, Keele
University, Keele, and Dr. Peter Oakley, Senior
Trauma Consultant, NS Hospital.
Students interested in this exciting project and
willing to compete at this level should address
informal enquiries in the first instance to Professor
Gilbert MacKenzie (details below).
Please Note: The post is conditional on a
successful EPSRC application.
Gilbert
_____________________________
Prof. Gilbert MacKenzie
Director,
Centre for Medical Statistics
Keele University
Staffordshire ST5 5BG
England
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: (01782) 583651
Fax: (01782) 584268
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