Charleston, South Carolina – Today the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina welcomed the new head of their Biostatistics unit, Dr. Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer, who was recently recruited from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Her primary expertise is in the design of early phase clinical trials,” commented Dr. Andrew S. Kraft.  “Her expertise will be instrumental as the Hollings Cancer Center continues to grow its statewide clinical trials program and its pursuit of National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation.”

 “My field of biostatistics creates and applies methods from across the spectrum of statistical science to support quantitative research in the health science,” commented Dr. Garrett-Mayer. “I feel my research is especially qualified to help lessen the number of cancer deaths and the emotional burden on your average American who has been or whose family member has been diagnosed with cancer. While recent headlines have focused on the decline in cancer deaths, a cancer diagnosis is still felt to be a death sentence for many patients.”

The vast majority of her activities focus on the design and analysis of cancer clinical trials. In designing clinical trials, Dr. Garrett-Mayer determines the most effective and efficient way to answer a clinical question, including how many patients should be studied and how the trial should be conducted.  Her analysis consists of applying statistical methods to determine, for example, whether a new treatment helped patients survive longer than they would have if they were on another treatment.

Her undergraduate degree is in Mathematics/Economics from Bowdoin College and her doctoral degree in Biostatistics is from Johns Hopkins University. She has gone on to co-author over 80 peer-reviewed articles in some of the nation’s leading oncology journals, has personally written six chapters for scientific text books and has been a co-investigator in over twenty research studies, many funded by the National Institutes of Health.

“Dr. Garrett-Mayer commented, “I am truly excited to be joining the topnotch team of medical professionals and scientists at the Hollings Cancer Center and know that I can make a significant contribution to their mission in South Carolina and beyond in the Southeast.”