TSHS 2023 Outgoing Chair Message
2023 Outgoing Chair Message by Maria Ciarleglio, PhD, Yale University.
It has been my honor to serve as your 2023 TSHS Section Chair. As I end my tenure as Chair, I would like to welcome our 2024 Section Chair, Melinda Higgins, and highlight some of our Section activities over this past year.
Executive Committee
This year, we welcomed Jaya Satagopan and Angelo Elmi to the Executive Committee. Jaya, who previously served as 2021 Program Chair, is our 2024 Chair-Elect, and Angelo will serve as Section Secretary beginning in 2024. Mingzhao Hu, the current Resource Review co-Editor, will also take on the role of 2024 Program Chair-Elect.
I would like to thank Jesse Troy for his service as Section Secretary and for his future work on the TSHS Resources Portal Committee. Finally, I would like to thank our Past Chair, Jacqui Hicks, for her outstanding leadership and service to our Section.
JSM 2023
Our Section sponsored several events at the 2023 Joint Statistical Meetings in Toronto. These events included two invited sessions, “Teaching Communication Skills to Biostatistics Students Across Different Contexts” (Chair: Samantha Robinson, University of Arkansas) and “Curricular Innovations for Formal Training in the Soft-Skills of Biostatistical Collaboration” (Chair: Abigail Shoben, The Ohio State University), two topic contributed sessions, “Mentored Scholarship: Building Strong Statistical Training Plans for Career Development Awards” (Chair: Mary Sammel, University of Colorado) and “Teaching Data Science and Statistics to Scientists in Other Fields” (Chair: Jean Feng), a roundtable luncheon on “Identifying Real Life Datasets to Demonstrate Data Equity in Biostatistics Curriculum” (Discussion Leader: Rongwei Fu), and three contributed posters, “A Pilot Study to Assess Faculty and Students' Perception and Attitudes Towards Statistics in Health Sciences Graduate Programs” (Presenting Author: Yan Zhang),” “Improving Evidence-Based Biostatistics Education and Practice in Medical Research” (Presenting Author: Alok Dwivedi, Texas Tech University), and “Setting up Peer Feedback Environment in Introductory Biostatistics Classes” (Presenting Author: Darsy Darssan).
Thank you to all of the organizers, chairs, speakers, panelists, and presenters, and thank you to all those who volunteered at the TSHS information booth. A special thank you to the Program Chair, Amanda Ellis, and Program Chair-Elect, Usha Govindarajulu, for their hard work developing and organizing the JSM program.
We recognized the 2023 TSHS Section award recipients during our JSM annual meeting and mixer. Lucy D’Agostino McGowan (Wake Forest University) received the Young Investigator Award, Hadiza Galadima (Old Dominion University) received the Outstanding Teaching Award, and Jose-Miguel Yamal (University of Texas School of Public Health) received the Distinguished Achievement Award. In addition, Darsy Darssan (University of Queensland, Australia) was chosen as the winner of the TSHS Best Contributed (Poster) Presentation for his poster, “Setting up a Peer Feedback Environment in Introductory Biostatistics Classes.” Congratulations to all of our award winners!
Webinars
Our Section organized several free webinars in 2023. The Winter webinar was a panel session discussing the viability of teaching career pathways in the health sciences moderated by Amy Nowacki (Cleveland Clinic) with panelists Amanda Ellis (University of Kentucky), Steve Foti (University of Florida), Steve Grambow (Duke University), James Odei (The Ohio State University), and Matt Zawistowski (University of Michigan) (replay available here). The Spring webinar was a panel session that discussed successful approaches to teaching statistical consulting moderated by Julia Sharp (NIST) with panelists Emily Griffith (North Carolina State University), Alexandra Hanlon (Virginia Tech University), Ryan Peterson (University of Colorado), and Emily Slade (University of Kentucky) (replay available here). The Fall webinar was a presentation of design principles for data analysis by Lucy D’Agostino McGowan (Wake Forest University) (replay available here).
The recordings for past webinars are available on our Section webpage or on our Section's YouTube channel. If you have ideas for a future webinar, please contact the Webinar Coordinator, Darsy Darssan.
Additional Teaching Resources
Resources Portal: The TSHS Resources Portal provides high-quality open-access, peer-reviewed real-world datasets to our members. Each dataset is available in several formats, and includes an introduction, a data dictionary, and the citation for the original study publication. Several resources have been added this year, including a study of intraoperative core temperature and surgical site infection, a study of race differences and the occurrence of hot flashes, and a study of ultra-running and emotional intelligence. These free teaching resources are available thanks to the contributions of our members and the hard work of the Portal Committee. If you would like to contribute to our Portal, please contact Portal co-Director, Carol Bigelow.
Blog: The TSHS Blog is where we post current announcements, section news, webinar recaps, and member spotlights. In addition, the resource reviews provide critical evaluations of both new and updated books and other resources. If you have ideas about teaching that you would like to share, consider writing a blog post and contact the Blog Editor, Charlotte Bolch, or Resource Review co-Editors, Jim Dignam and Mingzhao Hu.
Community Forum: The TSHS Community Forum is available to members on the ASA’s website and is a great way to share ideas, ask questions, and find collaborators.
Career Development Committee: We have expanded the scope of our mentoring and promotions committee to support teaching-focused faculty in the promotion process. We have begun to assemble a registry of potential letter writers and a repository of sample personal statements. If you have material that you would like to contribute or if you are interested in possibly serving as a letter writer, please contact the Career Development Chair, Ada Youk.
Getting Involved
There are many opportunities to be a part of our vital and growing Section. If you would like to get more involved, please let us know.
Finally, I would like to thank the members of our Executive Committee for all of their hard work and dedication to the Section. And thank you to our Section members for your membership and involvement. I look forward to continuing my service and support to this Section in the coming years.
Best wishes,
Maria Ciarleglio
2023 TSHS Chair