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Dear Colleagues,

MSc in Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine

We now have 11 studentships available for good applicants for this
course, including 6 from the MRC.

Course Organiser: Mr Chris Frost
Admissions Tutor: Dr Diana Elbourne
Chairman of Examiners: Prof Stuart Pocock

We would like to draw your attention to the MSc in Medical Statistics
at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The School is
a research-led postgraduate medical school of international standing,
with a staff which has unique inter-disciplinary experience.

Medical Statistics plays an important role in many areas of medical
research, and the need for medical statisticians to be involved in
both the design and analysis of medical studies has never been better
recognised.

The MSc course in Medical Statistics has been radically re-organised
in recent years to provide a modern teaching programme, both as
regards style and course content. The students are taught primarily
by members of the Medical Statistics Unit. Research interests of the
staff cover a broad range of topics within medical statistics. A
number of lecturers from outside the School also contribute to the
teaching programme.

The course is structured to provide an attractive combination of
formal teaching and practical experience.  A broad base of
methodology and statistical practice is covered as well as specific
topics and areas of application.  In addition to attending lectures
in both applied and theoretical topics, students gain much
interactive and individual experience of medical statistics in
project work, data analysis, discussion sessions, computing
practicals and field visits. A network of computers provide
up-to-date computing facilities and much of the practical work is
orientated to the use of computers in statistics.  In data analysis
sessions, skills in the choice of presentation and the interpretation
of results are developed alongside the use of relevant methodology.

The course is for 1 year, commencing in late September.  Part-time
students can take the course over two years, on the basis of two
teaching days per week. Most teaching units are taught in half day
blocks.  Typically such a half day will comprise a lecture followed
by associated practical work illustrated by material (e.g. data or
published articles, design problems) arising from real medical
research projects.


In Term 1 the following units are undertaken in the core teaching
programme:

Statistics in Medicine
Statistical Methods for Quantitative Data
Statistical Methods for Categorical Data
Probability
Inference
Regression Methods for a Quantitative Response
Distribution Free Methods
Epidemiology
Clinical Trials
Computing & Data Management

In Terms 2 and in Term 3 students have 6 optional study units each
consisting of 2+ weeks worth of course time.  The most popular study
units include courses on:

Generalised Linear Models
Survival Analysis
Statistics in Publications
Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
Bayesian Statistics
Computationally Intensive Methods

After the June examination, each student undertakes a 3 month
project, usually based on statistical analysis of data from a
specific medical research study.  Students are required to produce a
written report, which presents not only the data analysis but also an
informed interpretation of relevance to the study's practical
objective.

Students undertake an examination in June, which contributes 30% to
the total mark.  In addition, marked assignments are carried out
during the teaching programme, and  contribute 45% to the total. The
final part of the assessment is the project, which accounts for 25%
of the total mark.

There is a great shortage of well-trained medical statisticians in
Britain and world-wide, so that at the end of the course, successful
students have a varied choice of interesting jobs from which to
choose.  Indeed, the great majority of students have their first job
within a month of finishing the course.  Some areas of employment
are in the universities, research institutions, pharmaceutical
industry, central government, and the health services. Students can
also proceed to a research degree (PhD or MPhil) at the School or
elsewhere.

Applicants for the MSc should have a good University honours degree
(1st or Upper 2nd class), or be expecting to get one before starting
the course.  The course is primarily aimed at students having a
mathematically-orientated degree and some basic knowledge of
statistics is expected. Graduates from other fields with sufficient
prior quantitative skills and familiarity with mathematical concepts
are also welcomed. Mature students, including those who may take
study leave from their employment, are encouraged to apply.

Prospective applicants for the MSc are welcome to contact the
Admissions Tutor, Diana Elbourne, for informal discussions
(Tel:+44(0)171 927 2376.  E-mail:  [log in to unmask]).

The School Prospectus and full application forms are also available
from the Registry, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK.  Tel: +44 (0)171 927 2239.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]


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