The Department of Biostatistics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) currently has a T32 training grant supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences entitled “Integration of Chemical Mixtures Toxicology and Statistics”. Additional support by VCU makes it possible for trainees to be fully supported (i.e., tuition and fees paid) and receive an annual stipend, which is currently $22,900. Trainees must be United States citizens and be accepted into the department as Ph.D. students.
The objective of this training grant is to train biostatisticians to work in inter-disciplinary collaborative teams addressing the problems associated with explaining the effects of chemical mixtures. A key to the success of this venture is the joining of the efforts of key scientists (mixtures toxicologists and biostatisticians) in the field of chemical mixtures with trainees from a department of biostatistics. The goal is for trainees to gain an understanding of and experience working on statistical issues of mixtures of chemicals. The trainees are Ph.D. students in the Department of Biostatistics, where they are pursuing doctoral training in the discipline of biostatistics. Additional expertise is achieved through work on dissertation topics that are pertinent to the field of mixtures and through externships with toxicologists and/or risk assessors actively working in the area of chemical mixtures. Researchers from government, academia and industry have agreed to serve as preceptors, including scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Michigan State University, The Dow Chemical Company, Colorado State University and others. Trainees assist in the design of mixture studies, conduct appropriate power analyses, analyze resulting data and write reports for the preceptor with proper interpretation of the results. In addition, the trainees collaborate with biostatisticians who are developing statistical methodology for issues involved in the design and analysis of data resulting from studies of mixtures of chemicals and conducting analyses of data from mixture studies.