Heat Stressed: Biostats and Public Health

Adverse Reactions

Biostatistics or data science for public health—whatever you choose to call it—informs understanding of the health and environmental impacts of exposures. Emory University’s Howard Chang discusses with co-hosts Anne Chappelle and David Faulkner the intricacies of interpreting data, the controversial P value, and the team science involved in studying public health challenges.

About the Guest
Howard Chang, PhD, is a Professor in the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, jointly appointed to the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health. He also serves as the Director of the Master’s Program in Biostatistics for Emory University.

Dr. Chang received a Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia in 2004, followed by a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2009. Before joining Emory University, he was a Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) postdoctoral fellow and worked with the North Carolina State University Department of Statistics and Children’s Environmental Health Initiative based at the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Chang’s primary research interest is in the development and application of statistical methods for analyzing complex spatial-temporal exposure and health data. His current projects focus on two broad areas of population health: (1) exposure assessment for air quality and extreme weather events, especially under a changing climate; and (2) health effect estimation and impact assessment leveraging large databases, such as birth/death certificates, hospital billing records, electronic health records, and disease surveillance systems. Dr. Chang also collaborates with colleagues for studies related to ecology, infectious disease, social epidemiology, and community intervention trials.

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1. Introduction to the Episode (00:00:00)

2. What Is Data Science? (00:01:21)

3. Is Statistics an Applied Science? (00:02:51)

4. Ethical Statistical Interpretations (00:07:28)

5. Biological Significance vs. Statistical Significance (00:09:32)

6. Statistics and Toxicology (00:11:25)

7. How Do You Go into Biostatistics? (00:13:21)

8. Incorporating Statistics into Your Research Design (00:15:56)

9. The Humble P Value (00:17:50)

10. What Should People Know about Biostatistics? (00:19:50)

11. What Collaborative Projects Would You Love to Pursue with Toxicologists? (00:22:05)

12. Next Time on Adverse Reactions (00:23:50)