Seminar
Stanley Azen
Interdisciplinary Research in Support of New Biomedical Discoveries:
The Role of the Biostatistician
As a biostatistician who obtained his PhD at UCLA, Dr Azen will summarize a number of NIH funded studies
that he and faculty members of the USC Department of Preventive Medicine are involved with including:
1) cardiovascular clinical trials (drugs, vitamins, estrogen, etc.-- partnering with the Atherosclerosis
Research Unit and the School of Pharmacy at USC); 2) observational studies in coronary disease outcomes
(impact of coronary calcium as a screening tool - partnering with Harbor UCLA, UCI and China CDC);
3) population based studies of ocular disease in adult Latinos and in a multi-ethnic cohort of children
(prevalence, environmental and genetic risk indicators, impact on quality of life, utilization and barriers
to vision care -partnering with Doheny Eye Institute and CHLA); 4) health promotion in the elderly (impact of
the lifestyle redesign program on quality of life and its impact on mediating factors-partnering with the
Division of Occupational Therapy); 5) bioinformatics challenges in conducting clinical research, leading
to the development of the PTClinResNet clinical research network at USC, and resulting in an NIH-funded
multi-centered stroke rehabilitation randomized clinical trial (LEAPS)-partnering with the Division of
Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy at USC, UCLA, Duke University, and the University of Florida.
Dr. Azen will also present new directions in on-going research including: 1) the TTAURC study (which is
evaluating heritable factors and social environmental factors in the prediction of adolescent tobacco
and alcohol use); and 2) the TREC study (which is evaluating environmental and genetic factors in predicting
the likelihood of obesity in adolescents). 