About the event

Department of Mathematics & Statistics Colloquium

Dr. Sterling McPherson

Interim Vice Dean for Research and Professor, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine

Diversifying the Statistical Toolkit to Advance Biomedical Research

Abstract: The availability and accessibility of statistical tools has gone up dramatically in the last several decades. This has led to a plethora of novel tools to be used, which ideally, can be taken advantage of to answer new questions not previously explorable for biomedical researchers. During this presentation, we will discuss at least two examples of new tools that have led to previously unknowable questions. For example, one area where this is true is the handling of missing values in clinical trials research. While many advances in the statistical approach have increased in applicability, it has also prompted new clinical questions about the nature of patient behavior when enrolled in clinical trials. Another example is the use of finite mixtures to identify clinical sub-groups in a sample of heterogenous change in key outcomes over time. While such accessibility has several upsides, it is also important to note some of the drawbacks of this evolution, including the ease with which people can access data and perform eloquent analyses, sometimes without appropriate expertise or oversight which can lead to poor literature contributions.Speaker Bio: Dr. McPherson is a Professor and Assistant Dean for Research. He is also the Director of the Program of Excellence in Addictions Research (PEAR) at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. Within PEAR, he is the Head and Principal Investigator of the Analytics and Psychopharmacology Laboratory (APPL). He is involved in multiple research projects ranging from basic human toxicology to spatial epidemiology to the health economics of new therapeutics. Currently, his primary area of foci is on the leveraging contingency management in combination with putative pharmacotherapies for alcohol, alcohol and tobacco combined, and methamphetamine and opioid use combined.

Speaker Bio: Dr. McPherson is a Professor and Assistant Dean for Research. He is also the Director of the Program of Excellence in Addictions Research (PEAR) at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. Within PEAR, he is the Head and Principal Investigator of the Analytics and Psychopharmacology Laboratory (APPL). He is involved in multiple research projects ranging from basic human toxicology to spatial epidemiology to the health economics of new therapeutics. Currently, his primary area of foci is on the leveraging contingency management in combination with putative pharmacotherapies for alcohol, alcohol and tobacco combined, and methamphetamine and opioid use combined.