Abstract

The MRC Biostatistics Unit is delighted to be hosting their 20th Armitage Workshop and Lecture on the theme of ‘Statistical Perspective in Precision Medicine’.

The Armitage Workshops were established in 2003 by the MRC Biostatistics Unit, to honour the immense contributions of Professor Peter Armitage CBE who was at the Unit from 1947 to 1961. Professor Armitage’s work is recognised throughout the world as achieving a successful balance between methodological rigour and applied common sense, to which all statisticians aspire.

This year, Professor Amy H. Herring will be the Keynote Lecturer. Professor Herring is Sara & Charles Ayres Distinguished Professor of Statistical Science, Global Health, and Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University.

Professor Herring’s Keynote Lecture will be on: “Are You My (Sub)type? Results from the Sepsis Characterization in Kilimanjaro (SICK) Study”

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the immune system’s response to an infection causes severe damage to the internal organs and tissues. In recent years, clustering sepsis patients has garnered significant interest in the medical community, as it has become hypothesized that sepsis consists of multiple distinct subtypes that each require a distinct method of treatment. We consider how to leverage prior information on clusters to identify meaningful and interpretable sepsis subtypes. To do this, we introduce the notion of cluster discovery, that is, observing a cluster that has not been recorded in previous large-scale studies, and we explore challenges in cluster estimation in clinical studies.

As well as the keynote lecture, there will be a fantastic line-up of talks including from Dr Jessica Barrett and Dr Leiv Ronneberg, both from MRC Biostatistics Unit, and there will also be a special session to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Armitage Workshops.