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Statistical Consulting Service

The Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology of the School of Medicine and Dentistry offers a statistical consulting service to the faculty of the Medical Center. Although the consulting service is primarily for faculty researchers within the Medical Center, non-faculty researchers and researchers outside the Medical Center may also receive help with projects and grant preparation, depending on the staffing level at a given time and the mutual interest between statisticians and investigators. Services range from purely advisory assistance to complete mathematical/statistical analysis, including microarray analysis, and data management support for projects.

The Consulting Service is headed by Xin Tu, Ph.D., and coordinated by Susan Messing, M.S. Faculty members of the department are available to serve as research collaborators and statistical consultants, with support from research associates and graduate research assistants. The Department's Programming Group, including programmers and information analysts, also works with the faculty statisticians to provide programming and data management support.

• Consulting Service Policies
• Contact Information
• Directions to the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology

Consulting Service Policies

An initial one-hour consultation is provided to investigators free of charge. Subsequent charges for statistical consulting, programming and data management support, and computer usage are billed to investigators using negotiated hourly rates. Issues related to ongoing collaboration, including co-authorship on manuscripts, should be resolved as soon as such collaboration is established. Considerations of co-authorship should be based on the intellectual and research contributions of the collaborators and should not be viewed as a substitute for payment. For graduate students or medical students seeking assistance with their research projects, the student's advisor should be present at the initial meeting.

Financial support for assistance with grant applications is expected if funding is available; otherwise such assistance will be provided through an arrangement agreeable to both parties. In general, some level (5% or more) of salary support will be requested to support a faculty statistician as a collaborator, although a reduced level of support may be appropriate for faculty serving as consultants. Appropriate programming and/or data management support may also be required depending on the needs of the project. The type and level of statistical and programming support should be agreed upon before the grant is submitted. Once the grant is funded, investigators wishing to change the type or level of such support are expected to first consult with the primary faculty statistician involved in the project before proceeding to do so.

Investigators requesting assistance with grant applications are strongly advised to seek assistance as early as possible, but no later than 30 days prior to the deadline for grant submission. This will provide the faculty statistician sufficient time to fully understand the substantive issues related to the research project and to prepare portions of the grant as needed.

Inquiries should be directed to:

Contact Information

Xin Tu, Ph.D., Consulting Service Director

Xin_Tu@urmc.rochester.edu

(585) 275-0413

Arthur Watts, Lead Programmer

Arthur_Watts@urmc.rochester.edu

(585) 275-6690

Brian Griebner, Administrator

Brian_Griebner@urmc.rochester.edu

(585) 275-2407

Jane Long, Billing Coordinator

Jane_Long@urmc.rochester.edu

(585) 275-6565

Sheryl Hennekey, Secretary

Sheryl_Hennekey@urmc.rochester.edu

(585) 275-6696

Directions to the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology

Enter the Kornberg Medical Research Building (MRB) from the School of Medicine and Dentistry and take the stairs (or elevators) to the first floor. Walk down the long hallway and across the Sokol Bridge to the MRBX. Take the stairs or elevators at the end of the bridge down to the ground floor. The department’s conference room (MRBX G-11213) is directly across the hall from the elevators.