Mangaluru: Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya University and Center for Health and Development (CHD Group) jointly organised a special lecture and brief workshop on biostatistics and clinical research on February 9 under the theme, “ Biostatistics : A Glimpse into the future.”

The special address was delivered by Dr. Sowmya Rao, senior Statistician with the Department of Surgery at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. She is the core statistician on nationally and internationally funded projects and is involved in developing statistical methods that utilize survey data to address questions of epidemiologic and public health importance.

Dr. Rao spoke on applying statistical techniques to the fields of epidemiology and health service research including surveillance of disease outcomes, disparities in health care, adoption of Electronic Health Records, impact of clinical tools, and survey research, and global health. She also highlighted how biostatistics as a discipline has evolved over the years in US and how India is lagging behind in statistics and needs radical reforms.

Dr Sowmya Rao then interacted with Yenepoya research scientists, faculty members, and research scholars on various possibilities of health service research and biostatistics applications.  Dr. Arun Bhagwat, Deputy Director, Yenepoya Research Centre co-ordinated the programme and Dr. Neevan D’souza, Assistant Professor, Yenepoya Research Centre introduced the guest for the day.