Page 31 - Recommendations-for-biostatisticians-in-managing-and-conducting-medical-research-consultations

6.2 The need for a biostatistician to specialise in

niche areas

Although it is commonly expected of a biostatistician to master all the topics in statistics,
however, it is recommended for a biostatistician to specialize in a few niche areas by
specifically focusing on these niche areas in which he/she is particularly interested. In
general, it is difficult for a biostatistician to master everything in statistics since the scope
of the statistical knowledge is too broad. What is more feasible for a biostatistician to do is
to enhance his/her list of core skills as stated in Table 1. At the same time, he/she will also
need to embark on developing skills in certain specialized areas of biostatistics in order for
him/her to consistently focus on improving the mastery of such skills, which shall then
become his/her areas of special interest so that he/she can carve out a niche for
him/herself. Examples of these areas include:
-Time series modelling and forecasting
-Regression model and disease modelling
-Clinical trial design and analysis
-Big data and data mining
-Survey sampling and complex sampling
-Diagnostic research
-Programming (R language, STATA syntax, etc)
-Meta-data-analysis
-Structural equation modelling and path analysis
-Techniques for Bayesian analysis
-Questionnaire development and validation
-Health economics
-RASCH analysis for instrument development and so on.

A major benefit for a biostatistician to pay a specific focus on certain niche areas of
special interest is to enable him/her to develop expertise in these areas in order for
him/her to be appointed as a mentor in these subject areas, to whom any future queries
can be directed. This is especially true for addressing research problems that require an in-
depth knowledge of the subject matter. This has coincided well with what the author
has found from his humble experience of more than 10 years solving a wide variety
of research problems, and which has also led him to notice that it is almost
impossible to master all the topics in statistics. On the contrary, apart from
mastering all the core taught modules of biostatistics, it will be highly advantageous
for a biostatistician to master also two or three niche subject areas in biostatistics
within the same period of 10 years, as such a feat can enable him/her to specialize in
a specific area, and to greatly enhance his/her career profile by boosting his/her
curriculum vitae at the same time.