surviving survival analysis

Through the statistics department Directed Reading Program, I had the chance to participate in biostatistics research in my sophomore year. Working with a biostatistics PhD student, I learned about the various models and statistical tests used in survival analysis research - a field of biostatistics that focuses on measuring the time until some medical event. At the end of the quarter, I applied what I had learned to a simulated study focused on using Denosumab to reduce fracture incidence in women with osteoporosis. Through this experience, I realized how excited I was to use statistics in medical contexts, and I would love to continue to explore possible careers in clinical trials. Going into this project, I assumed biostatistics was going to be just like the pure statistics that I had been learning in my classes, but the models were completely new and foreign to me. Biostatistics is very complicated, but also beautiful and diverse. There’s so much in the field left to explore.