ESTABLISHING A BIOSTATISTICAL CORE UNIT IN A CLINICAL RESEARCH-CENTER

We have recently had the rare opportunity to open the door on a Biostatistical Core Unit within a Mental Health Clinical Research Center specializing in the multidisciplinary inquiry of schizophrenia. Based on the literature, our previous consulting experience, and the experience of colleagues, we implemented policies and procedures that avoided common problems facing consulting organizations and maximized effective collaboration between researchers and statisticians. This is an example of the application of policies, which involved assigning high priority to education, making ourselves available for consultation and collaboration, and developing an environment that fostered concordant research.