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Medical College of Wisconsin Biostatistics Consulting Service

The Biostatistics Consulting Service is part of the Division of Biostatistics within the Institute for Health & Equity at the Medical College of Wisconsin and provides comprehensive statistical consulting to clients inside and outside MCW.

These consulting services include assistance with design and analysis of clinical trials, design and analysis of observational studies, design and analysis of surveys, assistance with public databases, sample size and power calculations and data analysis and interpretation. Additionally, our faculty and staff have extensive experience in grant preparation of NIH, NSF, CTSI, Department of Education, HERSA, Healthier Wisconsin, and VA grants. We have also helped prepare proposals for a number of private research foundations.

Consulting is provided by Biostatistics faculty and staff. Staff consultants are supervised by a member of the faculty. Consulting services are offered for a standard fee and are provided on an appointment basis. After the initial consultation, a time estimate is provided.

Biostatistics Consulting Service

Biostatistics Drop-In Service

Biostatistics Drop-In Service

Free statistical consultations are provided by staff biostatisticians at MCW. The Drop-In Service is a great way to get short statistical questions answered in just under an hour.

The drop-in consultation service is staffed by Masters-level biostatisticians. Consultations provide statistical advice and answer general questions, but it does not cover analysis support. If you would like assistance with analysis, you need to submit a request through iLab. Students are unable to submit requests unless they are a member of a lab; if you do not already have access to a lab, you'll need your mentor or PI of the project to submit a request. After you submit the request, someone will be in touch to set up a virtual call with you and your PI.

If you have already used the Drop-In Service, please help us out by taking this quick survey. The results will help us discover investigator preferences concerning the Drop-In Service.

Hours & Locations 
Drop-Ins will be conducted via WebEx, please contact consult@mcw.edu to receive the meeting number.

Drop-In is free, try it today.

Need an Appointment

Need an Appointment

The Biostatistics Consulting Service at the Medical College of Wisconsin is excited to start using an online system, known as iLab, to streamline the process of requesting and billing for core services. All users are invited to use the system, which requires a one-time registration as discussed below. Once you are registered, the system will enable you to place service requests, provide required approvals, and monitor progress.

Internal Customers:
To get started, you must register for an account:

  1. Navigate to iLab.
  2. In the upper-right-hand corner click ‘LOGIN’ A pop-up window should appear displaying, ‘MCW user, Click here to login or register using your institute login and password.’ Click the here link.
  3. Login using your MCW credentials.
  4. Upon successful authentication, you will be prompted to select your PI/lab from the pull-down list and provide your phone number. Submit the completed registration form.
  5. Submission will notify your PI of your lab membership request.
  6. You will be sent an email with basic instructions on using the system at this time. However, you will not be able to place orders with your new account until your PI has approved your lab membership request.

To create a service request:
Once you have been accepted into your PI’s lab and assigned a Project or General Ledger Account, you can submit requests.

  1. Navigate to iLab
  2. In the upper-right-hand corner click ‘LOGIN’ A pop-up window should appear displaying, ‘MCW user, Click here to login or register using your institute login and password.’ Click the here link.
  3. Enter your user id and password, and sign in.
  4. Select the Request Services tab and click on the ‘Request Service’ button next to the service of interest.
  5. You will be asked to complete a form and provide payment information for your request before submitting the request to the core.
  6. Your request will be pending review by the core. The core will add charges and submit it back to you for approval. Make sure to watch for an email from iLab regarding your updated project.

External Customers:
To register for an account:

  1. Complete the registration form on the sign-up page.
  2. Receive a Welcome Email from iLab (typically within one business day) with login credentials.

To Create a Service Request:
Once you have been accepted into your PI’s lab and assigned a Fund Number, you can submit requests.

  1. Navigate to iLab.
  2. In the upper-right-hand corner click ‘LOGIN’ A pop-up window should appear displaying, ‘Not a MCW user? Login using iLab credentials.’ Click the here link.
  3. Enter your user id and password, and sign in.
  4. Select the Request Services tab and click on the ‘Request Service’ button next to the service of interest.
  5. You will be asked to complete a form and provide payment information for your request before submitting the request to the core.
  6. Your request will be pending review by the core. The core will add charges and submit it back to you for approval. Make sure to watch for an email from iLab regarding your updated project.

More Information

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Consulting Fees
For Employees of MCW (MCW Account):
Faculty Statistician: $165.00 per hour
Staff Statistician: $100.00 per hour

For Corporate / Non- MCW Account:
Faculty Statistician: $280.00 per hour
Staff Statistician: $165.00 per hour

For more information, please contact consult@mcw.edu.
Integration Contracts
For more information related to integration contacts, please contact your department administrator.
Investigator Information
Data requirements
The Biostatistics Consulting Service will no longer clean data for any investigator for free. The BCS has outlined a specific set of criteria in which data should be brought to us.

IRB requirement
In section 30.3 of your IRB SMARTFORM, mention that your analysis will be performed by the BCS.

Authorship information
Where meaningful intellectual contribution to the formulation of a research question or the analytic scheme for a research paper has been provided by the statistical consultant, it is hoped that Biostatistics personnel will be offered co-authorship on consequent publications and presentations (though this is not a requirement).

End of project requirements
Please notify us of any abstracts, posters, papers, or grant submissions resulting from this work. We also ask that for any publication you comply with the NIH Public Access Policy and apply for a PMCID number. Papers with such numbers, which are essentially automatically given for most publications, allow us to obtain full credit with NIH for our collaborative work. We can help you with this number should you need assistance.
Services

The Biostatistics Consulting Service can handle projects requiring expertise in any area of statistics. We can help with your study from the planning stages to the final write-up.

Planning

  • Design: we can help you to choose an experimental design that will allow you to answer the research question most efficiently. Clinical trials, surveys all need special considerations.
  • Sample size determination: having too much or too little data is a waste of resources. We can help you plan how much data you need to collect so that your study can evaluate your hypothesis.
  • Grant proposal preparation: we can write the sections on the statistical analysis plan and sample size considerations.

Data collection

  • Randomization: we can develop and implement an appropriate randomization scheme.
  • Data management: we can advise you on database design, and even help you set it up.
  • Data entry

Analysis
Statistical modeling, data analysis and interpretation: we will help you choose the appropriate analysis methods, and carry them out if you wish. We can also help you interpret the results in the context of your research.

Reporting

  • Reports: we can write ready-to-publish description of the statistical methods used, prepare summary tables.
  • Plots: we can design and produce publication quality plots that communicate your message effectively.

Contact Us

Biostatistics Consulting Service
8701 Watertown Plank Rd.
Medical Education Building
MEB M1400
Milwaukee, WI 53226

(414) 955-8280
consult@mcw.edu

 
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