Thomas Travison, PhD, Director, Biostatistics and Clinical Trials, Institute for Aging Research, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Title: Dynamic Data Analysis for Reproducible Research: Tools for Study Monitoring Presentation
Summary: The striking lack of replicability of major research findings in translational research has underscored the need for better design, documentation, and review of quantitative analyses. With modern software tools, the production of reproducible research -defined as the integrated combination of analytic methods, tools and replicable results -has become plausible in everyday practice.In this presentation we will describe our experience developing a customizable system of reusable and shareable modules for study monitoring, exploratory data analysis, reporting, and dissemination in aging. We focus specifically on platform-independent, web-based monitoring and analytic tools that permit collaboration and version-control among members of a translational research team, including quantitative scientists, clinical and nonclinical investigators, and skilled project staff. Use of these tools will be illustrated in an efficacy study of anutritional intervention, a cluster randomized trial of a mind-body intervention in supportive housing, and a patient-level diagnostic instrument using bioimages from MRI.