INTERVIEW SPOTLIGHT AVRILYNN DING Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program, Class of 2017 MAYLYNN DING Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program, Class of 2017
dr.stephen walter
How did you become interested in biostatistics, and in particular, latent class models?
I started off as an undergraduate in mathematics, which can be a very theoretical discipline. While studying in London, I became interested in applying mathematics. I ended up going to Edinburgh to work on my Ph.D. in an unusual arrangement at the time. I was jointly supervised by the professor of statistics and the professor of radiology. For my Ph.D. project, I did some work on the reliability and accuracy of reading X-rays. Fairly early on, I recognized that although sometimes physicians Dr. STEPHEN WALTER is a Professor Emeritus in would claim that a diagnosis the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics is completely accurate, that’s at McMaster University. He is also an Associate Member usually not the case. Errors, of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Dr. in fact, happen for all sorts of Walter has developed an international reputation for reasons and that’s what led creating and applying statistical methods in biomedical me to latent class modelling. research, particularly for the evaluation of diagnostic If you’re not familiar, the tests. His past positions include Chair of the International latent class model does not Clinical Epidemiology Network, Editor of the American assume any of the observations Journal of Epidemiology, and Section Editor for the Wiley you make on a patient are Encyclopedia of Biostatistics. Most recently, Dr. Walter was completely accurate. You can inducted as a Fellow into The Royal Society of Canada. use triangulation between all of
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