Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Faculty and Staff
Madhu Mazumdar, Ph.D., M.A., M.S., holds an M.S. in Statistics from the University of Delhi, India, an M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics from Penn State University. Dr. Mazumdar is the founding Chief of the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health and continues to build the division by crystallizing its mission, creating a viable financial plan, promoting its collaborative and methodological research agenda, and supporting divisional faculty in developing their own research agendas.
Dr. Mazumdar has developed and co-directs courses in introductory and advanced statistical methods for observational studies and research synthesis. She organizes special seminars and journal clubs with didactic teaching pieces in related statistical concepts for fellows/residents/junior faculties from Departments of Radiology and Pathology and for students in training grants for Genetic Medicine and Nutrition and Cancer Prevention. She also organizes a seminar series for the division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology that provides a platform for the faculty and methodologists from the division, neighboring institutions, and beyond to showcase their methodology and collaborative research. She also provides mentorship to the public health, hematology-oncology, pediatrics, nutrition and cancer prevention, and cardiology fellows in support of their training grants.
Dr. Mazumdar’s research efforts have resulted in over 150 papers, book chapters, edited book, and presentations. She has also successfully obtained numerous collaborative grants. Her collaborations span the subject matters of germ cell tumors, bladder cancer, radiology, surgery; chronic kidney disease, therapeutic medical devices, thoracic surgery, anesthesiology, orthopedic surgery, and hematological oncology. Her current grant awards include being the director of the Research Design and Biostatistics Core in support of the Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and co-leading the same core for the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). She is a consultant statistical editor of Journal of Experimental Medicine and RU Press, and she serves on various data safety monitoring boards.
She also represents the faculty from the Department of Public Health at the ‘General Faculty Council’ by adding their concerns and opinions to the institutional agenda, and she participates in the ‘Curriculum and Faculty Evaluation Committee’ for ensuring that the WCMC medical education curriculum incorporates the features recently recommended by the Carnegie report.
Topics of her research interests include:
- Improved reporting of statistical design and analysis: guidelines, education, and editorial policies. ( Series Title: Methods in Molecular Biology, Humana Press, Editors: Bang H, Zhou KZ, Van Epps HL, Mazumdar M, Chapter 22, P 563-599, 2010)
- Perioperative mortality in patients with specific comorbidity undergoing major joint replacement surgery. (Anesth Analg 2010)
- Advances in Lung Cancer: Asessment from a Comparative Effectiveness Research Perspective. (Perspectives in Public Health: Challenges for the 21st Century. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Press. 2010; Finkel, M.L. (editor); Chapter 9; P 187-202)
- Public Policy Issues in Cancer Rehabilitation (Cancer Rehabilitation Medicine in Oncology: Editor: Stubblefield, MD; August, 2009)
- Statistical Considerations Underlying Therapeutic Response Criteria for Lung Cancer: A Review in the Context of Emergence of Multi-Slice CT Scanner and Computer Assisted Diagnostic Algorithm for Volumetric Assessment (Optical Society of America Monograph titled “Developing Imaging Tools for Drug Development: Critical Technology, Clinical Data, and Regulatory Issues”; 2008)
- Sequential and Group Sequential Designs In Clinical Trials: Guidelines for Practitioners (Series Title: Epidemiology and Medical Statistics; Publisher: Elsevier; Editors: CR Rao, JP Miller, and DC Rao, 2008)
- Design issues underlying strata-matched non-randomized comparative studies with survival outcome (Stat in Med, 2006)
- Theoretical approach to choosing the minimum number of multiple tumors required for assessing treatment response. (Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2005)
- Power and Sample Size Calculation of Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy Studies with Multiple Correlated Test Results (Biometrical Journal, 2005)
- Comparison of therapeutic response criteria (WHO, RECIST) using statistical simulation (J Clin Epidemiol, 2004)
- Development of group sequential design for comparative diagnostic accuracy studies (Stat in Med, 2003; Medical Decision Making, 2004)
- Methodology for finding ‘optimal’ cutpoint for categorizing prognostic variables (Stat in Med 2004; Neuroepidemiology, 2006)
- Development of rank test for testing publication bias in meta-analysis (Biometrics, 2004)
- Use of cluster analysis for discovering prognostic subgroups (J Clin Oncol, 2003)
- Modeling repeated measure of marker values and assessing their prognostic significance (J Clin Oncol, 2001)
- Standard therapy outcome adjustment for the effect of patient distributions in cancer clinical trials (Stat in Med, 2001)
- Critique/concern for dosing of Carboplatin in high-dose setting using Calvert’s formulae (J Natl Cancer Inst, 2000)
