18 Supporting the Team: Flexible Funding for Collaborative Biostatistics Units in Universities and Academic Medical Centers

Oregon Convention Center 

Supporting collaborative biostatistics units in universities and academic medical centers involves many challenges, both logistically and financially. A commonality among the various funding models is the difficulty of affording researchers time to pursue activities not tied to or funded by specific research projects, including professional development, mentorship, and administrative tasks. This presentation illustrates the results of one such "flexible funding" model employed by the Biostatistics Consulting and Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration Lab at the University of Kentucky that supports biostatisticians in completing these tasks. We conducted a qualitative study involving six staff collaborative biostatisticians in the Biostat CIRCL to determine the various activities, changes in workflow, impact on work-life balance, and effect on team operations and interpersonal dynamics allowed by this flexible funding model. This presentation showcases the benefits and challenges of such a funding model on the daily operations of collaborative biostatisticians, and provides recommendations to best leverage this model in a university or academic medical center context.