Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design

Sunrise view of downtown Portland, OR covered in fog with Mt. Hood in the background.

About us

OCTRI Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) exists to provide the expertise and mentorship support that clinical and translational investigators need to carry out sound research. To set investigators up for success, our program provides one-on-one consultation in the design phase of research, as well as training opportunities on high-need topics in biostatistics and epidemiology.

We have close ties with the Biostatistics and Design Program (BDP), a university shared resource (USR) core. The BDP engages with researchers via fee-for-service agreements to provide analytic support and offers weekly advice sessions to investigators across OHSU on a reservation basis.

Though these two programs have overlapping goals and common team members, the primary distinction is that BERD, as a provider of training opportunities and mentoring, facilitates clinical and translational research, while BDP, as a service core, assists in carrying out this research.

What we do

The OCTRI BERD team facilitates clinical and translational research at OHSU and beyond in several ways:

Educational and professional development opportunities on topics of high need for those involved with research in the OHSU community
High-quality individual mentorship support to investigators initiating research
Methodologic support to investigators pursuing analytically novel work

In each of these efforts, we strive to support the fourth mission of OHSU, to become an anti-racist and multicultural institution.

BERD support opportunities for your research

Education

Education and professional development

BERD sponsors regular training opportunities on high-need topics for clinical and translational investigators through the OCTRI Research Forum.

Many of the seminars and workshops we offer fall under our ongoing series:

Data Equity
Power and Sample Size Considerations
R and RStudio

We additionally offer free-standing seminars on other topics of interest to researchers.

Our seminars are offered on a recurring basis. Materials from each of our past seminars and workshops, including slides, recordings, and additional resources, can be found on the OCTRI Research Forum webpage, as well as any upcoming offerings.

Please reach out to Amy Laird with inquiries.

Mentorship

Mentorship support

The OCTRI BERD team has expertise on a wide array of topics in biostatistics, data science, and epidemiology, and has worked with investigators from a diverse set of medical specialties, including pediatrics, neurology, and surgery. We have provided mentorship to junior investigators on pilot studies, survey studies, clinical trials, retrospective chart reviews, microbiome analyses, and other types of studies.

While BERD support includes advice and guidance only, BDP fee-for-service support can include deliverables such as data management and wrangling, data visualization and analysis, manuscript preparation, and more. For investigators who are in need of support beyond the mentorship that BERD can offer, the BERD team can facilitate an arrangement with BDP.

The OCTRI BERD team are experts in study design and encourage researchers to consult with us in the planning phases of research. As the design of a study is directly linked with the analysis of the data, researchers can benefit greatly from involving BERD experts early, starting in the design phase of the work.