ANNOUNCEMENTS

Right to Health Care and The Ethics of Health Care Reform

For those who were unable to attend the November 19 University-wide Ethics Committee-sponsored presentation by Dr. Norman Daniels entitled, "Right to Health Care and The Ethics of Health Care Reform," the presentation can be found on TUSK at: Medical > First-year > Ethics and Professionalism I > Ethics Events. You can access the presentation directly through the url below, and logging in to TUSK when prompted. http://tusk.tufts.edu/view/url/M1508C/915098/915099

If you do not have a TUSK login, more information about TUSK and logging in is available on eWorkplace.

Academic Pricing on Stata Statistical Package Extended to Baystate Clinical and Research Faculty

Savings of 45% - 50% Compared to Corporate Pricing

StataCorp, the developers of the Stata statistical package, has agreed to extend to Baystate clinical and research faculty academic pricing on all versions of the program.  Academic pricing reduces the cost of the package by 45 to 50%, compared to corporate pricing, depending on the version selected.  For example, corporate pricing of their dual-core version (Stata MP, version 11) is $2745 with printed documentation and PDF.  With educational pricing, this cost is reduced to $1595.  Furthermore, if only a PDF of the documentation is needed, the cost further reduced by $250 to $1345.

Stata is one of several commercially-available statistical packages for use in biomedical research.  For Baystate researchers, Stata offers several advantages over other popular packages, such as SAS and SPSS:

• Significant cost reduction compared with SAS and SPSS

• Perpetual license (no annual licensing fees)

• No annual maintenance fees

• Frequent updates (within versions) at no additional charge

• Drop-down menus or command line programming

• Free technical support through StataCorp and Stata listserv

Since Stata is one of the principal statistical packages used by the Epidemiology and Biostatistical Core at Baystate, support for data management and statistical programming is available on-site.

For more information about Stata, visit www.stata.com.  For questions about using Stata for data analysis at Baystate, call Paul Visintainer, PhD, Director of the Epidemiology and Biostatistical Core at 794-7686.

Clinical and Translational Science Graduate Program Spring 2010 Courses

Electives include the following state-of-the-science topics:

• Bridging the Bench to Bedside Gap: brings clinical graduate students into the world of basic science research.

• Principles of Pharmacoeconomics: focuses on methods and uses of pharmacoeconomic analyses (and other economic evaluations of medical technologies) in health care.

• Special Topics in Clinical Trials: includes Internet based clinical trials, N-of-1 trials, trials in special populations and overseas, industry sponsored trials, and multicenter trials.

• Epidemiologic Investigation of Disease: provides skills for collecting and analyzing data from epidemics and disease-outbreak investigations.

• Genetic Epidemiology: introduces students to the concepts and methodology of genetic epidemiology, including novel methods of molecular biology, quantitative genetics, study design for genetic traits, segregation analysis, and linkage analysis.

• Introduction to Decision Analysis: provides a working overview of the principles of decision analysis as applied to medicine.

Registration for these electives fills up fast, so register early. Visit the Clinical and Translational Science Graduate Program website for more information.

Proposals for the Kornfeld Program in Bioethics and Patient Care Due February 1

The Kornfeld Program in Bioethics and Patient Care, administered by the Greenwall Foundation, focuses on ethical issues affecting the lives of patients on an individual level. Priority will be given to projects practical (rather than theoretical) with anticipated outcomes applicable at the patients’ bedside.

Junior investigators are encouraged to apply as well as researchers seeking support for pilot projects. It is anticipated 4 - 6 grants will be awarded each year and multi-year initiatives will be considered. A five-year commitment of $1,000,000 will underwrite $200,000 per year of grantmaking. (Link to application procedures.)

For further information, call, write or email William C. Stubing, President.

Mary Y. Lee, MD Medical Education Research Day Abstract Submission Deadline is January 8, 2010

The Full-Day Conference is March 31, 2010

The Mary Y. Lee, MD Medical Education Research Day, held in recognition of the importance of medical education at TUSM, will be held Wednesday, March 31, 2010, in Sackler 114.

This day-long medical education conference will include morning oral and poster sessions highlighting the many TUSM educational projects in progress and completed, and afternoon faculty development workshops. All faculty engaged in educational research are encouraged to submit abstracts.

For Program, Registration and Submission information, visit the Research Day website.

Applications for the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in American Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women Due February 1, 2010

ELAM is the nation's only in-depth program focused on preparing senior women faculty at schools of medicine, dentistry and public health to move into positions of institutional leadership where they can effect positive change. More than 550 senior women leaders have graduated from the program since 1995, and now make up 25 percent of the executive positions in academic medicine and dentistry that are held by women.

To apply, visit ELAM's application site.