The Education of Clinical Trial Statisticians

Much of the academic training for clinical trial statisticians focuses on data analysis methods and associated statistical theory. However, informal surveys of clinical trial statisticians reveal that only a small proportion of their time is spent conducting analysis. It is clear that clinical trial design, monitoring, and interpretation are areas where statisticians can make important scientific contributions in clinical trials. How should the training of clinical trial statisticians be modified to increase emphasis on design, monitoring, consulting and interpretation? How should the education of clinical trial statisticians include development of communication skills (oral and written)? The power of computing and re-sampling based methods has in some cases replaced use of large sample statistical theory. How can we identify an appropriate balance of applied and methodological statistical skills? It is also very important that clinical trial statisticians develop the appropriate knowledge of the relevant medicines and diseases in order to understand the clinical trial objectives and optimize their contribution to medical and product development research. Yet, the current academic education rarely includes such training, leaving this education to be learned “on the job” or to be self-taught. How should the education of clinical trial statistician include more medical and biological training?

Scientific developments create new and evolving challenges for clinical trial statisticians. As a profession, it is important to evaluate how to optimally train clinical trial statisticians to respond to such challenges. This panel evaluates the current education gaps and offer insights into the future training of clinical trial statisticians.