Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD)

Assistance with study design, data management, quality assurance, and statistical analysis of data 

Director: MinJae Lee, PhD - [email protected], 713-500-7916

BERD provides leadership, expertise, and advice in biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design to investigators in the CCTS. BERD’s mission is to promote-within our CCTS-affiliated institutions as well as across CTSAs nationwide-innovative, state-of-the-art clinical and translational research of maximum public health benefit and scientific impact. BERD provides the resources required to pursue the following objectives in support of the overall goals of the CCTS.

• Contribute to the enhancement and further development of the clinical and translational research infrastructure both within the CCTS and across CTSAs nationwide
• Develop short-term and long-term collaborations between clinical and translational investigators and members of our CCTS network of experts in biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design
• Contribute to the formal training of clinical and translational investigators in biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design
• Contribute methodological advances in biostatistics, epidemiology, and study design of benefit to clinical and translational research

To achieve these goals, BERD will seize every opportunity (e.g., through informal consultations and classroom instruction) to develop a collaborative relationship with clinical and translational investigators (primarily within our CCTS partner institutions) to promote the development of innovative research ideas and the rapid dissemination of valid research findings. Typically, this is a long-term process that begins with providing assistance with study design and epidemiological and statistical methods in the development of a research proposal, proceeding (most often iteratively) with the acquisition of funding and, over the course of conducting the study, producing findings and publications. The goals of BERD include collaboration with investigators to optimize the often complex trade-offs between research innovation, its potential medical and public health impacts, and the required investment of time and resources. BERD aims to reduce the number of iterations required to successfully obtain research funding and to publish research findings.

BERD faculty, staff, and trainees also conduct their own clinical and translational research and collaborate with leading statisticians in the Texas Regional CTSA Consortium and the national CTSA program. 

BERD Support Options

Research support through BERD is available in the following capacities: collaboration, consultation, and fee-for service contract. An initial BERD consultation to assess an investigator’s needs is offered free of charge. For established, funded projects seeking an hourly fee-for-service arrangement, a written contract will be provided. Such projects typically require data management and statistical analysis. Whenever possible, we recommend a collaborative arrangement in which a fixed percent effort of a BERD faculty member is budgeted into the funding application. This prospective arrangement has the advantage of assuring the investigator that the necessary resources have been pre-negotiated and will be available when the application is funded.

To begin, please complete the BERD project initiation form.

Project Initiation Form

Leadership and Faculty

For additional information about the BERD/DCTS faculty, please see the division website for faculty profiles. 

BERD Staff 

Manouchehr Hessabi, MD, MPH ([email protected] )

Program Manager-Research

Dr. Hessabi is a senior research scientist in BERD with more than 12 years of relevant experience in designing and developing REDCap databases, developing and implementing univariable and multivariable rules for identifying questionable data as part of data cleaning procedures, and performing data quality assurance of data as well as conducting data and clinical monitoring. He has utilized REDCap for other clinical trials funded by NIH. Dr. Hessabi also trains the BERD Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) and supervises their work. Dr. Hessabi understands the needs of our BERD investigators and delivers the best quality data management support for all projects assigned to him. In addition, Dr. Hessabi collaborates in the preparation of grants, manuscripts, abstracts, and posters and analysis of data for manuscripts. Since 2009, he has collaborated on 39 publications and 39 abstracts and posters. In 2019, Dr. Hessabi took the lead in writing a manuscript in collaboration with Dr. Rahbar and other members of his research team that was published in a peer-reviewed journal. 

Dr. Hessabi’s bibliography

Amirali Tahanan, MS ([email protected])

Biostatistician

Mr. Tahanan is a bioinformatician and works as a quality-control specialist and data analyst in BERD. Since 2010, he has been working with Dr. Rahbar and has gained extensive experience in handling complex informatics tasks in BERD, particularly on various NIH-funded projects. Mr. Tahanan has worked on several data coordinating center projects and contributed to their data management activities and data quality assurance procedures. He has worked as the data manager for several studies, developed several secure web-based databases using REDCap, and generated and developed several SAS programs for data cleaning and data quality assurance of data. He has extensive experience in harmonization and integration of multisite data that have been collected in different study sites. In 2020, Mr. Tahanan completed his master’s degree in Biomedical Informatics from School of Biomedical Informatics  at UTHealth with a minor in Biostatistics. He is working as a data-quality specialist on several projects and is responsible for many aspects of data management and data analysis, including multivariate and longitudinal data analysis. Since 2010, he has collaborated on several projects that led to 10 collaborative publications.

Mr. Tahanan’s bibliography

Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) 

BERD provides opportunities to GRAs to gain real-life experience by applying their theoretical knowledge in biostatistics and epidemiology to solve real-life problems.  For example, Master’s or PhD level students who are interested in learning about clinical studies, data management, data quality assurance, and data analysis can get involved in various projects in BERD. Some GRAs use data in BERD for their thesis or dissertation research and develop manuscripts in collaboration with BERD faculty.  Current GRAs in BERD include:

• Sheikh F. Zaman, Epidemiology PhD candidate
• Ningxin Song, Biostatistics PhD candidate
• Qian Wang, Biostatistics PhD candidate