TSHS 2024 Outgoing Chair Message
2024 Outgoing Chair Message by Melinda Higgins, PhD, Emory University.
It has been my honor to serve as your 2024 TSHS Section Chair. As I end my tenure as Chair, I would like to welcome our 2025 Section Chair, Jaya Satagopan, PhD, and highlight some of our TSHS Section activities over this past year.
Executive Committee
This year, we welcomed Jaya Satagopan in her role as 2024 Chair-Elect transitioning to the active Chair in 2025. We also welcomed Angelo Elmi as Section Secretary, Usha Govindarajulu as 2024 active Program Chair, and Mingzhao Hu as 2024 Program Chair-Elect transitioning to the active Program Chair in 2025. We are also welcoming back a previous Chair, Jacqueline Hicks, but now as our new Council of Sections Representative (2025-2027).
Finally, I would like to thank our Past Chair, Maria Ciarleglio, for her outstanding leadership and service to our Section (2022-2024) as well as Amy Nowacki for her incredible job representing the TSHS section as Council of Sections Representative (2022-2024) these past 3 years.
JSM 2024
The 2024 JSM was held on August 3rd – 8th in Portland, Oregon. The Teaching Statistics in the Health Sciences (TSHS) Section of the ASA sponsored a variety of exciting events. Events included:
An Invited Paper Session:
“The Positive Power of Generative AI: Using AI for “Good” in Statistics Classrooms”
Two Invited Panel Sessions:
“Online (Bio)statistical Courses in the Era of Generative AI: Opportunities and Challenges”
“Engaging with the Public to Combat Misinformation: our Job as Statisticians and Data Scientists?”
A Topic-Contributed Paper Session:
“Innovative Classroom Activities for Teaching Statistics” which included 5 contributed papers.
Two Topic-Contributed Panel Sessions:
“Collaborative Keys to Improve Active Learning in Asynchronous Online Statistics Courses”
“Infusing Data Equity Principles into Health Research: Training Initiatives and Implementation in Practice”
Three Roundtables – one breakfast and two lunch sessions:
Breakfast with Wenjing Yao on “Training the Next Generation of Statisticians in an Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI)”
Lunch with a presentation by David Farrar on “The Major Research Directions for Nonlinear Dose-Response Modeling”
Lunch with a presentation by Hoang Nguyen on “Unconventional and Engaging Methods for Teaching Statistics to Students in the Health Sciences”
One TSHS sponsored presentation during the “Case Studies in Statistical Consulting and Collaboration” by Kameryn Denaro on “Identifying Curricular Structures that Promote Student Success in STEM”
The TSHS Mixer and Business meeting was held on August 5th and began with approximately 60 attendees enjoying a variety of hors d’oeuvres and refreshments sponsored by STATA. After attendees had a chance to mingle, I (Melinda Higgins, Chair of TSHS) gave a warm welcome and invited all present to participate in the door prize drawings which included donations from:
ASA Store donated 30 ASA luggage tags, 7 ASA RFID protective card holder lanyards, 8 ASA heavy duty keyrings and 1 ASA tote bag;
CRC Press donated 2 $150 vouchers for books;
Cambridge Press donated a voucher for 1 free book;
Springer donated the book “Ten Projects in Applied Statistics”;
NCSS donated a 1 year FREE license for NCSS 2024 statistical analysis software; and
STATA donated $5000 for the mixer, an executive style folder and 2 FREE STATA Press books.
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, Usha Govindarajulu, and Program Chair-Elect, Mingzhao Hu, for their hard work developing and organizing the 2024 JSM program!!
Awards
During the 2024 JSM mixer, we showcased the recipients of the TSHS section awards to the following individuals:
Outstanding Teaching Award given to Hilary Watt, MSc, senior teaching fellow in statistics, Imperial College of London, School of Public Health.
Young Investigator Award given to Alice J. Paul, PhD., assistant professor of biostatistics, associate director of the Master’s graduate program in biostatistics, Brown University.
Distinguished Achievement Award given to Jeff M. Szychowski, PhD., professor and chair of biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Council of Sections Outstanding Service Award given to Ann Brearley, PhD., associate professor, division of biostatistics and health data science, school of public health, University of Minnesota.
2024 Best Contributed JSM Paper Award given to Alex Kaizer, PhD., assistant professor, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus who presented “Teaching Reproducibility, Scientific Writing, and Dissemination by Publishing a Classroom Journals for Student Projects”
Darsy Darssan, PhD., Biostatistics lecturer, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Australia was also recognized for the 2023 Best Contributed JSM Power Award which was announced after the 2023 JSM mixer.
During the 2024 TSHS Mixer, we also recognized the immense contributions to statistics education and the data portal by Dennis Pearl who is retiring this year. Additionally, we also heard from the new incoming editor for the Journal for Statistics and Data Science Education”, Juana Sanchez PhD, who is taking over from Nicholas Horton, PhD.
Webinars
All of the TSHS Webinars can be viewed on our YouTube site at https://www.youtube.com/@tshs4234
For our Spring 2024 webinar, we had a great presentation from multiple panelists. Marta Shore, Lecturer in the Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science at the University of Minnesota moderated the discussion with Dr. Anne Eaton, Assistant Professor in the Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science at the University of Minnesota; Dr. Sarah Samorodnitsky, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center; Michelle Sonnenberger, PhD Graduate Student in the Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science at the University of Minnesota; and Dr. Jacqueline Hicks, Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the School of Public Health, Boston University. They discussed several approaches to diversify K-12 promotion and recruitment as well as collaboration opportunities.
ABSTRACT: K-12 outreach has traditionally focused on bringing students to campus to see what Biostatisticians do. This approach is a great entry point for students who already know about our field and can see themselves as biostatisticians. However, many students who would make effective biostatisticians do not either know of or take advantage of these opportunities. We have decided to instead meet K-12 students where they are by working with programs that already exist. In this webinar, we will explore two different approaches to diversify K-12 promotion and recruitment. Biostatistics Community Outreach and Engagement (BCOE) collaborates with middle- and high-school teachers to integrate biostatistics and data science into the science curriculum and give career talks. In both efforts, students learn both what we do and who we are, with a focus on what motivates us as biostatisticians. We will discuss three collaboration opportunities: serving as statistical consultants for a 12th-grade biology class, creating web applets for air quality data and determining dosing for clinical trials, and class career visits. Boston University Upward Bound is a part of the federally funded TRIO program that provides academic support to low-income and first-generation college-bound students. To qualify, students need to either meet TRIO low-income guidelines or be first-generation college. During the six-week summer residence program, Boston University's School of Public Health collaborates with the Upward Bound program students to learn about the field of public health and biostatistics. We teach them skills in data collection, analysis, presentation and advocacy.
For our Fall 2024 webinar, we had another engaging presentation by Hilary Watt of the Imperial College London. She discussed the practical relevance of p-values and confidence intervals during her presentation entitled: “Clarifying practical relevance of p-values and confidence interval - Clear choice of words and images, that foster conceptual understanding and steer away from misconceptions”.
ABSTRACT: Informal p-value and CI interpretations are often used in health science teaching yet may be too crude to help much in developing understanding. Not all students deduce CIs and p-values practical relevance from their definitions. This talk suggests transparent explanatory interpretations, that promote understanding of their practical relevance. They are compact enough for routine repetition whilst teaching. Referring to the sample (not blood sample!) as participants provides a clear starting point. Repeatedly clarifying the relationship of participants to the population, including the random sampling assumption, addresses the issue that 'population' is poorly understood. Implications of random sampling being impractical can be discussed. Images of the distribution of sample statistics are useful for understanding calculation methods yet can readily be misinterpreted. Strategies are suggested to offset the risk of common misinterpretations. This includes use of images designed to foster conceptual understanding, for both CIs and for p-values (for p-values, illustrating their continuous nature). The intention is to make statistics easier and more intuitive to understand. The inspiration is to steer towards higher standards of data interpretation within health sciences.
Be on the lookout for our upcoming Spring 2025 Webinar by Dr. Jaya Satagopan of Rutgers School of Public Health, who will moderate a panel discussion with Dr. Christine Arcari of the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University; Dr. Justin Post of the Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University; and Dr. Juan (Jay) Klopper of the Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University. They will discuss how artificial intelligence could revolutionize the way statistics is taught in health sciences.
DATE/TIME: Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 3:00pm Eastern Time (US & Canada)
REGISTRATION: To register for the webinar, please complete this form:
We will send the Zoom link for the webinar to your email address the day before the webinar.
ABSTRACT: In this dynamic panel webinar, explore how artificial intelligence (AI) could revolutionize the way statistics is taught in health sciences. From automating data simulations and creating adaptive learning environments to leveraging generative AI tools for personalized education, this session discusses methods to enhance both teaching efficiency and student engagement. Discussion topics will include: utilizing AI to design interactive statistical visualizations, automating repetitive tasks like data cleaning in student projects, implementing generative AI to support self-paced learning, and addressing ethical considerations and biases in AI-driven education tools. This webinar is ideal for educators, researchers, and professionals in health sciences who are curious about integrating AI to enrich their teaching practices.
Additional Teaching Resources
Resources Portal, https://causeweb.org/tshs/ 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
Stand Your Ground dataset which contains information on 237 criminal cases litigated in Florida, United States, between 2005 and 2013. Ackermann, Goodman, Gilbert et al (2015) investigated whether, in this setting of Stand Your Ground applicability (Fla Stat. 776.012, Fla Stat. 776.031, Fla Stat. 776.032), there exist statistically significant race differences in conviction. See https://causeweb.org/tshs/stand-your-ground/
Smoking Prevalence dataset which is a subset of the data from two Supplements to the Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Soulakova and Crockett (2023) investigated the joint role of race/ethnicity and health insurance coverage and their relationship to current smoking among adults in the United States. See https://causeweb.org/tshs/smoking-prevalence/
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. See Blog: https://tshsblog.wixsite.com/main
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.
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 and to stay in touch and up to date with TSHS be sure to visit our:
Website: https://community.amstat.org/tshs/
Resources Portal: https://www.causeweb.org/tshs/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tshs4234
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,
Melinda Higgins
2024 TSHS Chair
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