Faculty and staff in the Departments of Public Health Sciences and Statistics offer collaboration and consultation in biostatistics and epidemiology to researchers and students which are in part supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute Biostatistics/Epidemiology/Research Design (BERD) Core. Collaboration and consultation may include, but are not limited to:

• Design and analysis strategies for research proposals;
• Sample size and power calculations for research proposals;
• Advice on the selection and implementation of appropriate statistical methods for research data;
• Statistical review of grant proposals, protocols, and manuscripts

Limited consultation is provided for research projects and medical students working on their Medical Student Research (MSR) projects. Generally, no more than four hours is provided free of charge, after which the faculty or staff member handling your project can discuss the billing rates for additional collaboration.

Medical students should read the Biostatistical Consultation and Support section of the MSR guidelines (http://med.psu.edu/web/msr/home/guidelines).

Hands-on assistance with data analysis is generally not provided without funding. Any data provided for hands-on analysis that involves human subjects must be from an IRB approved protocol and must be de-identified by not containing any of the 18 private health information (PHI) identifiers. A list of the 18 PHI identifiers may be found at the following IRB link: http://www.pennstatehershey.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=56ed5d80-a489-4ab8-8786-38ab5327667c&groupId=401341

Decisions regarding authorship for faculty or staff should be considered independently of funding. Please see Penn State Policy RA13 on co-authorship (http://guru.psu.edu/policies/RA13.html).

Please complete and submit the Biostatistics Collaboration Request Form. The information collected on this form will enable us to best meet your projects goals.

To receive proper attention, requests should be received well ahead of the proposed deadline. Within two business days of receiving your Request Form, the faculty or staff member handling your project will contact you to schedule an initial consultation. In cases of emergency, and subject to the availability of personnel, limited assistance may be provided on short notice. However, there is no guarantee that every requested deadline can be honored. In addition, projects may be triaged based on the priorities of the Clinical and Translation Science Institute.

All Clinical and Translational Science Institute projects must appropriately cite the grant for presentations and publications. Please contact Becky Jenkins (rjenkins@hmc.psu.edu) for proper citation requirements.