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Biostatistics Consultation and Collaboration

Overview
Biostatisticians from the Department of Public Health Sciences (PHS) at Penn State provide consultation and collaborative support to investigators conducting research at the Penn State College of Medicine. Effective July 1, 2026, previously available federal subsidies supporting biostatistical services are no longer available. As a result, all services beyond the initial consultation are provided through a fee-for-service model.
Eligible faculty, staff, and students may request an initial consultation of up to 1 hour, free of charge, to serve as a project intake meeting to discuss a proposed research project. For requests that are not directly associated with a grant submission, free consultations are limited to a maximum of two projects per investigator per year. Of note, there is no limit on the number of grant applications for which investigators may request assistance from PHS; however, this free assistance is contingent on the inclusion of some level of funding for the consulting PHS biostatistician in each grant application.
The consultation is intended to:
  • Clarify research questions, objectives, and hypotheses.
  • Review study design and data sources.
  • Recommend appropriate statistical methods and analytic approaches.
  • Assess feasibility, including sample size and power considerations when applicable
  • Provide advice on data management and quality considerations.
  • Identify statistical support needs and estimate effort required for further collaboration.
This initial free of charge consultation is designed to assess the project and determine the level of statistical support required. It does not include data analysis or preparation of the statistical methods section.
Eligibility
Biostatistics consultations and support are available exclusively to:
  • Penn State College of Medicine faculty
  • Penn State College of Medicine staff
  • Penn State College of Medicine students
    • Requires the student’s mentor/advisor is either present for the consultation meeting or has otherwise communicated their commitment regarding the project to the consulting biostatistician.
Process Flow
  • After you have read and acknowledged the introductory information by selecting “By submitting this request, you acknowledge that” at the bottom of the page, an online consultation request form will automatically open.
  • Complete and submit this online consultation request form.
  • Within approximately two business days of submitting your consultation request, a biostatistician will contact you by email to schedule a consultation. Meetings may be held in person, via Zoom, or through Microsoft Teams to discuss your request.
What to Expect During a Consultation
Initial or fee-for-service consultation may include:
  • Discussion of research questions, objectives, and scientific aims.
  • Review of study design and methodology.
  • Evaluation of available data sources and data quality.
  • Identification of outcomes, exposures, predictors, and covariates.
  • Recommendations regarding statistical methods and analytic strategies.
  • Assessment of sample size, statistical power, and feasibility, when applicable.
  • Guidance on data management and study limitations.
  • Recommendations to improve scientific rigor, validity, reproducibility, and reporting.
  • Guidance on data visualization, tables, figures, and presentation of results.
  • Statistical review of grant applications, study protocols, abstracts, manuscripts, and presentations.
  • Clarification of project scope, deliverables, timelines, and resource requirements.
  • Discussion of next steps and the estimated effort required for continued collaboration.
Funding and Fee-for-Service Model
  • Up to 1 hour consultation is free of charge for the initial consultation and limited follow-up such as no more than two email messages.
  • If the biostatistician determines that your statistical needs exceed those provided by the initial consultation hour, you may be referred for longer-term assistance with appropriate financial support arranged through the Department of Public Health Sciences.
Data Requirements
Requests involving hands-on data analysis require funded support and are typically beyond the scope of the free consultation.
For any project involving human subjects data:
  • The project must be covered by an active IRB-approved protocol, when required.
  • Data provided for analysis must be de-identified and must not contain Protected Health Information (PHI) unless appropriate approvals, agreements, and security requirements are in place.
  • Investigators are responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable institutional, regulatory, and privacy requirements.
Information regarding PHI and de-identification requirements is available through the Penn State IRB.
Authorship and Acknowledgment
Authorship decisions should be based on the nature and extent of an individual's intellectual contribution and should be considered independently of funding arrangements.
Individuals who make substantial scholarly contributions to a project should be offered appropriate authorship or acknowledgment consistent with institutional policy and accepted academic standards.
Please refer to Penn State Policy IP02 regarding authorship and intellectual contributions: http://guru.psu.edu/policies/ip02.html.
Timelines and Deadlines
To ensure adequate planning and support, consultation requests should be submitted as early as possible.
  • Consultation scheduling and project timelines are subject to staff availability and existing commitments.
  • Expedited requests may be accommodated when feasible but cannot be guaranteed.
  • Projects may be prioritized based on available resources, funding, institutional priorities, and project complexity.
  • Meeting a requested deadline cannot be guaranteed.
Early engagement is particularly important for grant submissions, protocol development, and projects with fixed reporting deadlines.
Requestor Certification
This consultation service is available only to Penn State College of Medicine faculty, staff, and students. Your Penn State Access Account information is used solely to verify eligibility.
By submitting this request, you acknowledge that:
  • You have read and understand the consultation and collaboration policies described above.
  • You agree to the terms governing consultation, collaboration, funding, authorship, and project support.
  • Information provided in this request is accurate and complete.
I have read and approve of the terms of collaboration and consultation.
PSU Access Account: @psu.edu
PSU Access Account Password: