News

Department of Medical Statistics

Awarding of the Susanne Dahms Medal

Tim Friede was awarded the Susanne Dahms Medal for his outstanding accomplishments for the International Biometric Society and its German Region (IBS-DR) at the 70th Biometric Colloquium in Lübeck on 29 February 2024.

More information: Susanne Dahms Medal

Awarding of the medal to Tim Friede by Anne-Laure Boulesteix, President of the IBS-DR (pictures: Studio85.de – Christine Beneke)

Final result of the DFG review board election – Tim Friede is a new member

On 27 February 2024, the final result of the review board election 2023 was determined.

Tim Friede was appointed by the President of the German Research Foundation as a newly elected member for the subject 2.22-01 "Epidemiology and Medical Biometry/Statistics" in Review Board 2.22 "Medicine" for the coming term of office 2024-2028.

Source: DFG (https://www.dfg.de)

New at the UMG – Introduction of the Service Group "Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses"

The Service Group "Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses" is intended to provide methodological counseling for evidence synthesis products (e.g. clinical practice guidelines, systematic reviews, rapid reviews) for scientists and clinicians at the UMG.
This includes, support with systematic literature searches, data extraction, assessment of methodological quality and meta-analyses, according the national (e.g. AWMF) and international standards (e.g. Cochrane).

Prof Tim Mathes, head of the Service Group, will present the services in a virtual lunch meeting and answer your questions.

You can participate in the meetings under the following links:

Further information on the Service Group can be found here: Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Prof Tim Mathes

The Department of Medical Statistics mourns the death of Reinhard Hilgers

The Department of Medical Statistics mourns the loss of Prof Dr Reinhard Hilgers, who passed away on 30 January 2024. For over 45 years, he helped shape the fortunes of the Department and medical biometrics at the Göttingen site in research, teaching and statistical consulting. Sadly, we must now bid farewell to a valued colleague and recognised expert in the field of biometrics.
We would like to convey our sincere sympathy and condolences to his family in these difficult times.

On behalf of all current and former members of the Department:
Prof Dr Tim Friede (Director) and Prof Dr Edgar Brunner (Director Emeritus) of the Department of Medical Statistics

New methodological procedure enables more precise summary of study results

The Department of Medical Statistics and the independent Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) have developed a new methodological procedure that allows the benefits of medical treatment measures to be assessed more reliably than before, in particular, if only few studies are available.

Read the joint press release [DE].

"20 Years of Clinical Trials: Success, Impulses, Perspectives"

To mark the anniversary of the funding programme, the DFG and BMBF invited experts in clinical research on 9 November 2023 to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

An opportunity for Professor Dr Tim Friede to highlight the importance of good biometric study planning and provide insights into innovative biometrical approaches for sample size planning and randomisation.

More information about the event [DE].

Symposium "Statistical Planning of Translational Studies"

SAVE THE DATE: Tim Friede and Frank Konietschke are pleased to announce a symposium on current methods for statistical planning of translational studies. The symposium will be held on 20 MAR and 21 MAR 2024 in Göttingen.

Here you can find the detailed programme.

Symposium "Recent Advances in Meta-Analysis: Methods and Software"

In August 2023 a symposium on current methods and software tools for meta-analyses was held in Göttingen. It was initiated by Tim Friede, Christian Röver (Department of Medical Statistics, University Medical Center Göttingen) and Markus Pauly (Department of Statistics, TU Dortmund University) and took place as part of a German Research Foundation project.

The programme included presentations of many renowned researchers in the field of meta-analysis and a practical introduction to the current software.

See here the presentations of the speakers: "Recent Advances in Meta-Analysis: Methods and Software"

IGeL Podcast: Special episode "Evidence instead of eminence"

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the "Netzwerk evidenzbasierte Medizin" (ebM), Prof. Tim Mathes, elected assessor of the ebM board, can be heard in this special podcast.
Together with Prof. Günter Ollenschläger, founding member of ebM, he talks about how evidence-based medicine has fundamentally changed the health system and what demands will continue to be placed on the health system.

To the podcast Evidence instead of eminence.

UTI-IPD project group receives the "David Sackett Prize 2023"

UMG project participants: Tim Friede, Eva Hummers, Judith Heinz, Christian Röver

The team of the project group "UTI-IPD - Reducing antibiotic use in uncomplicated urinary tract infections in adult women: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis" is this year's winner of the David Sackett Prize. UMG staff from the Department of Medical Statistics and the Department of General Practice and Family Medicine were involved in the project. The project was led by Prof. Dr. Ildikó Gágyor from the University Hospital of Würzburg.

The prize is awarded for outstanding scientific achievements in the field of evidence-based medicine and health care in research, teaching or in the dissemination of the concerns of EBM. The award ceremony took place during the EbM Network Annual Meeting from 22-24 March 2023 in Potsdam.

Find all information about the award ceremony (in German) and the work that was awarded here.

Mini-Symposium "Estimands in clinical trials: Current practice and future directions"

The Department of Medical Statistics hosted the mini-symposium "Estimands in clinical trials: Current practice and future directions" on 31.03.2023 in Göttingen.

See here the programme.

We can make some of the presentations available to you here as PDFs:

Project ESCAPE: Work Package 5 - Statistical Analysis and Health Economics

The Department of Medical Statistics is leading work package 5 together with the Institute of Health Economics and Clinical Epidemiology at the University Hospital of Cologne.
See here the current status of the work package.

Participation in the EARLY-PROTECT-ALPORT study

The EARLY-PROTECT-ALPORT study proves that children with Alport syndrome can be treated safely and effectively at an early age.

In an interview, Professor Tim Friede explains the importance of choosing the right statistical methods. Read the interview.

In a video contribution, the project is presented by the project leader, Professor Oliver Gross from the University Medical Center Göttingen. See the video.

Participation in the international pancreatic cancer study METAPANC

The Department of Medical Statistics is participating in the international pancreatic cancer study METAPANC of the UMG, which is funded by the German Research Foundation. The aim of this multi-centre study is to investigate whether a multimodal therapy, which includes chemotherapy and tumour and metastasis resection, can improve the survival and quality of life of pancreatic cancer patients.

Article in the Göttinger Tageblatt.

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