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MRC Clinical Trials Unit, London PhD Studentship in Medical Statistics Efficacy Analysis for Trials with differential use of alternative "second-line" treatments Stipend £15,930 per annum Supervisors: Dr Deborah Ford & Dr Sarah Walker The award covers fees and a tax-free maintenance stipend over three years. In the first year the stipend is £15,930. An MRC-funded PhD studentship is available at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit commencing October 2010 for study on the Efficacy Analysis for Trials with differential use of alternative "second-line" treatments. Intention to treat analysis (ITT) is recognised as the standard approach for comparing treatments in a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Post- randomisation variables such as prescription of alternative treatments are usually ignored. An ITT effect therefore estimates the policy effect of starting treatment with treatment A versus treatment B and includes subsequent indirect effects which may differ between randomised arms; for example use of second-line treatment, on the assumption that these alternate treatments would be used similarly outside of a trial. The question remains as to how much any difference (or lack of difference) between two randomised first-line treatments might be due to differential use of second-line. Differential use of second-line treatment may not be adjusted appropriately for by censoring at initiation of second-line or by adding use of second-line as a time-dependent covariate in a standard Cox model because these simple adjustments fail to allow correctly for time-dependent confounding. Causal models are necessary to estimate the difference between randomised groups that would have been observed if use of second-line had been the same in randomised groups, i.e. to estimate the direct treatment arm effect. Additionally the benefit of (non-randomised) second-line therapy may be jointly estimated. This is an applied statistics project which would allow you to become familiar with causal modelling methodology and to apply different methods to address clinically relevant questions in HIV and cancer data sets. You will join the group of PhD students within the MRC London Hub for Trials Methodology research. You will register for full-time MPhil/PhD study at the Research Department of Infection and Population Health, University College London. You will have a minimum of a 2.1 BSc degree in statistics or mathematics. An MSc in statistics or medical statistics is desirable. Following MRC restrictions, full studentships are available only to UK applicants. Other EU applicants may be eligible for a "fees-only" award. For an informal discussion about this post please contact Dr Deborah Ford – e- mail [log in to unmask] Applications for this role should be made online at http://jobs.mrc.ac.uk. If you do not have internet access or experience technical difficulties, please call 01793 301154 quoting the reference number CTU10/072. When applying online please complete the cover letter section clearly stating, with examples, why you would like to be considered for this studentship and how you meet each of the criteria listed in the Person Specification. Please also supply a CV and the details of two academic referees. If you would like to receive this advert in large print, Braille, audio or electronic format/hard copy, please contact the Recruitment team at the MRC Shared Service Centre on the telephone number above or email [log in to unmask] Closing Date: 5th March 2010 The Medical Research Council is an Equal Opportunities Employer and operates a strict no smoking policy. You may leave the list at any time by sending the command SIGNOFF allstat to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank.