Section on Statistical Consulting P.M. Roundtable Discussion (Added Fee)

Cynthia Wilson Garvan, PhD, Research Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Pediatrics in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida, will lead the roundtable. She is an embedded biostatistician in three clinical departments and the Director of Biostatistics for the Pediatrics & OBGYN Research Hub.

In this roundtable, participants will be able to understand the history of the evolution of the nature of work (from factory work to knowledge work), contrast pseudo-productivity to genuine productivity, and distill key takeaways espoused by Harvard Business Review writers and other self-management leaders (e.g., Cal Newport, Laura Vanderkam, David Allen). Participants will also receive a mini tutorial on time block planning and building their own statistical practice workflow system. Finally, resources will be shared for further exploration into the possibility of getting things done while simultaneously preserving and prioritizing your wellbeing. 

While some undergraduate and graduate programs in statistics, biostatistics, and related areas provide students ample opportunity to develop the skills necessary for collaborative work post-graduation via campus consulting centers or something similar, many programs still rely on coursework to expose students to the ins and outs of statistical consulting as well as the soft skills required to make such consulting successful. Furthermore, some programs even lack coursework related to such topics. During this roundtable conversation, we discuss how faculty can engage students in their own work to facilitate the observational learning of the collaborative consulting process regardless of the type of formal structures in place for such learning at the institutional level. In particular, we discuss the inclusion of students into active consulting work and how this incorporation helps students develop soft skills beyond the scope of their coursework, gain hands on experience working with data, and learn how to communicate effectively with clients from the beginning to end of a project. Some time will also be dedicated to a discussion of the role AI Tools might play in such education.