Department of Biostatistics

Affiliated Centers and Cores

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Affiliated Centers and Cores

Our biostatistics researchers foster collaborations across Brown University and beyond.

Center For AIDS Research (CFAR) 

The Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) is one of 19 NIH-funded centers that provide administrative and research support for initiating, enhancing and innovating in HIV/AIDS research. Faculty at the Center for Statistical Sciences lead and participate in the Biostatistics Core, which is jointly operated with faculty from Boston University School of Public Health. Expertise of the core faculty includes, among other areas, analysis of observational data, study of social and sexual networks, modeling of disease dynamics, combining and integrating data from multiple sources, analysis of genomic and molecular-level data (e.g. to understand treatment resistance), and design and analysis of intervention trials and screening studies.   The core organizes 1-2 research workshops per year on timely topics at the intersection of HIV and biostatistics. The core also provides advice on construction and management of new databases.

Core faculty are available to collaborate and consult on a wide range of projects and activities related to HIV, including new grant proposals, pilot studies, and use of specific statistical or data analytic methods.  All members of the Brown and Boston University research communities are welcome to access the core, with priority is given to junior investigators. The core is led by Professor Joseph Hogan (co-director at Brown University) and Professor Debbie Cheng (co-director at Boston University).

Clinical and Translational Research (Advance-CTR)

Advance Clinical and Translational Research (Advance-CTR) is an NIH funded partnership between Brown University, The University of Rhode Island, Care New England, Lifespan, the Providence VA Medical Center, and the Rhode Island Quality Institute that serves as a central hub to support and educate clinical and translational researchers in Rhode Island by providing funding, research resources and services, and professional development opportunities particularly to young researchers. Prof. Schmid heads the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Service Core that provides consultative services for study design, data analysis, data management, results interpretation and report and manuscript assistance of both quantitative and qualitative data. Core members also give seminars and workshops about statistical methods and computational tools and support pilot and mentored research projects funded by Advance-CTR.

Alcohol Research Center on HIV (ARCH)

The Alcohol Research Center on HIV (ARCH) is a multidisciplinary center grant focused on reducing the impact of alcohol on the breadth and depth of the HIV epidemic.  Funded by NIAAA since September of 2010, the ARCH comprises 3 major research components in addition to an Administrative Core and Research Methods Core. Researchers across the School of Public Health, the Alpert Medical School, multiple public health research centers, and Brown’s affiliated hospitals collaborate on this project. 

The Research Methods Core is co-directed by Drs Tao Liu (Biostatistics) and Tyler Wray (Behavioral and Social Sciences). The overarching goals of Research Methods Core are to provide faculty-level research collaboration for the center investigators, computing support for implementing data analyses, training modules and mentoring for early career researchers, and outreach to investigators with interest in expanding the scope of research on HIV and alcohol. The Core also will carry out original research on statistical methods and implementation sciences related to alcohol and HIV. Other faculty affiliated with the Core include Drs Stavroula Chrysanthopoulou (Co-I, Biostatistics) and Rani Elwy (Co-I, Psychiatry and Human Behavior). 

Center for Computational Biology of Human Disease (COBRE CBHD)

The COBRE center builds a collaborative community of clinical/preclinical researchers and computational methodologists to study the cause and potential treatment of human diseases. CSS faculty are involved in both the Computational Biology Core (Wu as co-director of the core) and as specific Project Leaders (Crawford, graduated former Project Leader; DeVito, current Project Leader). The Computational Biology Core supports both the Project Leaders directly funded by the COBRE and the Brown Biomed community (including affiliated hospitals) in computational issues related to omics data in human disease research.  The Computational Biology Core organizes training workshops for omics data management and analysis.