At the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM), research is an integral part of medical student training. Through a longitudinal curriculum, students complete hypothesis-driven research projects that span much of their medical education, helping them learn how to ask strong scientific questions, design meaningful studies, analyze data, and communicate findings.

For many students, that process is strengthened through a close partnership with Virginia Tech’s Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science (CBHDS).

Dr. Erin “Nikki” Worthington, Director of Clinical Research Education at VTCSOM, said CBHDS plays an important role in supporting students throughout the research process, from early study design to analysis, evaluation, and presentation.

“CBHDS helps everything from the very beginning of their project, should they want it, when it comes to study design, to future analysis development, to actually helping our students do the analysis,” Worthington said.

The partnership has grown over the past several years from support provided by a single statistician into a broader team-based collaboration. Today, CBHDS faculty and staff help match students with collaborators who have the right expertise for their projects, whether that includes study design, programming, survey development, data analysis, or interpretation.

Alicia Lozano, Assistant Director of CBHDS, said the Center’s role has continued to expand as the partnership has become more embedded in VTCSOM’s research curriculum.

“Now we serve more as mentors and evaluators,” Lozano said. “When they have presentations on their work, which they have pretty much every year of their program, they are required to have some sort of deliverable, whether it's a presentation or a manuscript or both.”

That consistent involvement allows CBHDS collaborators to help students strengthen their projects early, before problems become harder to address later in the research process. Students begin by identifying a mentor and research topic, then move through feasibility review, data collection, analysis, abstract submission, presentations, and manuscript preparation. 

For Dr. Benjamin Brewer, Research Scientist with CBHDS and a key liaison to VTCSOM, early statistical guidance is essential to building strong research habits.

“Early statistical guidance is crucial to any investigative effort, as it not only allows problems to be caught and addressed early but also ensures that the study is designed in such a way to best address its research questions,” Brewer said. “For students, this is doubly important, as you are helping develop future habits that will make them stronger researchers.”

The collaboration is not focused on simply completing the statistical work for students. Instead, CBHDS helps students learn how to approach data analysis, understand methods, and communicate findings more confidently.

“In their role as biostatisticians, they aren’t doing the analysis for our students,” Worthington said. “They are helping train our students how to do the analysis and biostatistics themselves, which is really a benefit for our students to be able to become more independent and learn those skills necessary if they were to go on and do more research.”

That educational approach made a meaningful difference for recent graduate Marie Rhoads, who worked with CBHDS Research Scientist Dr. Emmanuel Nartey on her research project. Rhoads said her project had reached a point of stagnation because her team was uncertain how best to proceed with the data analysis.

“I was immediately able to get paired with a CBHDS statistician who quickly brought himself up to speed on the details of our project,” Rhoads said. “I was thoroughly impressed by how easy the intake and pairing process were, with the team understanding the gaps in my project where I needed assistance.”

Through that collaboration, Rhoads said she was able to complete the data analysis, better understand how to interpret the results, and add a valuable component to the project that her team had not previously considered.

“There were multiple revelatory moments when working with CBHDS,” Rhoads said. “Emmanuel was able to convey statistical topics in a way that matched my level of understanding and expanded upon that knowledge, bridging the gap between my clinical knowledge and research acumen.” 

Rhoads also pointed to specific moments where CBHDS helped improve the rigor of her project. In one case, Nartey identified that a variable had been incorrectly classified as categorical rather than continuous, which had important implications for the analysis.

“His attention to detail ensured our data analyses were conducted to the highest standards,” Rhoads said. “This was one of many instances in which he improved the rigor of the project’s data analyses, doing so with patience and clarity that made me incredibly confident that our analyses were done at the highest level.”

For CBHDS, that combination of technical rigor, education, and approachability is central to the partnership. Lozano said the goal is to help students feel more comfortable engaging with statisticians and to understand that research is a collaborative process.

“I hope that they take away that they’re not afraid of doing research after this,” Lozano said. “I hope that it’s even more inviting to them, but I also hope that it’s a sneak peek to their life later on when they’re clinicians and physicians and they’re treating people, that they know how to work with a statistician.”

Worthington said VTCSOM views CBHDS as a true collaborator in helping students complete successful research projects.

“Their expertise and their collaborations are so integral to the success of our students’ research projects and guiding them through the entire life cycle,” Worthington said. “We really wouldn’t be able to have the success that we’re having with our students without their support.”

For Brewer, one of the most rewarding parts of the partnership is seeing students gain confidence in areas that may have initially felt unfamiliar.

“Statistics and programming are required components of a study, but students often have not received as much training in them as their subject matter areas and are not quite sure how to get started,” Brewer said. “By providing our expertise, we can help students get over these roadblocks and feel more confident in their overall study designs.” 

As the partnership continues to grow, CBHDS and VTCSOM are working together to make statistical support more visible, accessible, and integrated into the student research experience. For medical students preparing to become physicians, that experience provides more than a stronger final project. It helps build the foundation for future clinical research, collaboration, and evidence-based practice.

“Science is a collaborative effort,” Lozano said. “If they leave with anything, it’s that: get help and come early.”