Overview

Research Programmes

Please Select Clinical Trials Office Biostatistics Unit

	Say Beng TAN Principal Biostatistician MA, MSc, PhD, CStat saybeng@cteru.com.sg Joint Appointments: Director, Clinical Trials & Epidemiological Research Unit Associate Professor, Community Occupational & Family Medicine, NUS
	Fei GAO Senior Biostatistician MSc, PhD, CStat ctegfe@nccs.com.sg STATISTICAL CONSULTANT David MACHIN (PhD) Research Staff Huihua LI (PhD), Tam Cam HA (PhD), Siew Wan HEE, Sze Huey TAN
Selected Publications	Toh CK, Gao F, Lim WT, Leong SS, Fong KW, Yap SP, Hsu AA, Eng P, Koong HN, Thirugnanam A, Tan EH Never-smokers with lung cancer: epidemiological evidence of a distinct disease entity. J. Clin. Oncol. (2006) 24(15):2245-2251. Low JS, Chua ET, Gao F, Wee JT Stereotactic radiosurgery plus intracavitary irradiation in the salvage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Head and Neck (2006) 28:321-329. Ha TC, Lyons-Wall PM, Moore DE, Tattam BN, Boyages J, Ung OA, Taylor RJ Phytoestrogens and Indicators of Breast Cancer Prognosis. Nutrition and Cancer (2006) 56:3-10. Li H, Tai BC RNASEL gene polymorphisms and the risk of prostate cancer: a meta-analysis. Clin Cancer Res. (2006) 12:5713-5719. Loke YC, Tan SB, Cai Y, Machin D A Bayesian dose finding design for dual endpoint Phase I trials. Stat. Med. (2006) 25:3-22. Gao F, Nordin P, Krantz I, Chia KS, Machin D Variation in the seasonal diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: Evidence from Singapore, USA and Sweden. Am. J. Epidemiol. (2005) 162:753-763.
The Biostatistics and Epidemiology Unit primarily provides statistical and epidemiological support for clinical trials and other studies conducted at the National Cancer Centre Singapore. This is in the form of consultations, collaborations as well as teaching. We also initiate and engage in relevant areas of applied biostatistics and epidemiology research. Clinical trials are the gold standard for the evaluation of new treatment strategies. New treatments which have been painstakingly developed in laboratories and shown to be very promising in animal studies will not be adopted in clinical practice unless they have first been proven effective in clinical trials, which can be time consuming and costly. Hence, much effort should be put into designing clinical trials that are efficient, effective and ethical, in terms of duration, cost and number of patients treated, to yield sound and practical information to recommend final therapies into clinical practice. The design, monitoring and analysis of clinical trials involve the application of biostatistical techniques. While many such techniques have already been developed, only a relatively small number of these are routinely used in practice. A key reason is that many of these methods have not made the transition from the ‘statistical lab’ to the clinic. However, these methods may potentially help to improve all aspects of the clinical trial process, ultimately resulting in more accurate conclusions to be drawn on the usefulness of new treatments. This has important ethical implications as patients participate in clinical trials with the expectation that the information that they provide will be used in the most optimal way to benefit future patients and potentially themselves as well. Research thus needs to be carried out to test and bring better biostatistical and clinical trial methodologies into clinical practice. Epidemiological research endeavours to establish risk factors and patterns of disease in human populations (see figure 1). In Singapore, lifestyle patterns which mimic their Western counterparts such as dietary and reproductive changes may be linked to the increase in cancer incidence observed. Furthermore, there is a move towards establishing patient specific factors, including molecular biomarkers, which may provide a better treatment outcome for the patients. The design and conduct of scientifically sound epidemiological studies is important in ensuring quality results for the future benefit of all patients. Cancer is commonly thought to be caused by a multitude of factors, including environmental, lifestyle and genetic factors. Our unit has begun investigating various aspects of genetic epidemiology, where we focus on studying gene-environment interactions. In particular, we will examine those cancers that are of unique importance in Asian populations, namely female breast cancer, liver cancer and stomach cancer. Almost all aspects of medical research require the use of statistical and epidemiological techniques at some point of the research process. Inefficient or erroneous methodology can have severe consequences on the interpretations of the research findings. This can eventually result in patients having less than optimal or even inappropriate treatment. Moreover, there are many problems in medical research for which better (albeit less well known) statistical methods can be employed, to allow for a better analysis and interpretation of the data. This can be achieved through the conduct of applied biostatistics research and teaching. The role of the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Unit is to engage in both areas of research, as well as to ensure that good quality biostatistics support is provided for all clinical trials and research studies conducted at the National Cancer Centre Singapore.