Doug Altman
Encyclopedia
Professor Douglas G. Altman (born 1948) is a British
statistician
. He is the Founder and Director of Centre for Statistics in Medicine
and Cancer Research UK
Medical Statistics Group.
His varied research interests include the use and abuse of statistics in medical research, studies of prognosis
, regression modelling
, systematic review
s and meta-analysis
, randomised trials
, reporting guidelines and studies of medical measurement
.
. His first job was in the Department of Community Medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He then spent 11 years working for the Medical Research Council
's Clinical Research Centre where he worked almost entirely as a statistical consultant in a wide variety of medical areas.
), and in 1995 also became founding director of the Centre for Statistics in Medicine (CSM) in Oxford. In 1998 he was made Professor of Statistics in Medicine by the University of Oxford
.
He is the statistical advisor to the British Medical Journal (BMJ)
, where he is a member of the editorial "hanging committee". He is a co-convenor of the statistical Methods Group of the Cochrane Collaboration
.
He is an active member of the CONSORT Group
since 1999, a group dedicated to offering a standardised way for researchers to report trials. The intent is to make the experimental process more clear, flawed or not, so that users of the data can more appropriately evaluate its validity for their purposes.
Doug Altman is also a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society
, and editor in chief
of Trials
.
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
. He is the Founder and Director of Centre for Statistics in Medicine
Centre for Statistics in Medicine
The Centre for Statistics in Medicine in Oxford, United Kingdom was founded and directed by Professor Douglas G. Altman in 1988. In 1995 it was based at the Institute of Health Sciences in Headington, Oxford, and relocated to the annexe of Wolfson College, Oxford in 2005.The CSM incorporates the...
and Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Its aim is to reduce the number of deaths from cancer. As the world's largest independent cancer...
Medical Statistics Group.
His varied research interests include the use and abuse of statistics in medical research, studies of prognosis
Prognosis
Prognosis is a medical term to describe the likely outcome of an illness.When applied to large statistical populations, prognostic estimates can be very accurate: for example the statement "45% of patients with severe septic shock will die within 28 days" can be made with some confidence, because...
, regression modelling
Regression analysis
In statistics, regression analysis includes many techniques for modeling and analyzing several variables, when the focus is on the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables...
, systematic review
Systematic review
A systematic review is a literature review focused on a research question that tries to identify, appraise, select and synthesize all high quality research evidence relevant to that question. Systematic reviews of high-quality randomized controlled trials are crucial to evidence-based medicine...
s and meta-analysis
Meta-analysis
In statistics, a meta-analysis combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses. In its simplest form, this is normally by identification of a common measure of effect size, for which a weighted average might be the output of a meta-analyses. Here the...
, randomised trials
Randomized controlled trial
A randomized controlled trial is a type of scientific experiment - a form of clinical trial - most commonly used in testing the safety and efficacy or effectiveness of healthcare services or health technologies A randomized controlled trial (RCT) is a type of scientific experiment - a form of...
, reporting guidelines and studies of medical measurement
Measurement
Measurement is the process or the result of determining the ratio of a physical quantity, such as a length, time, temperature etc., to a unit of measurement, such as the metre, second or degree Celsius...
.
Early professional years
Doug Altman graduated in statistics from the University of BathUniversity of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
. His first job was in the Department of Community Medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He then spent 11 years working for the Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
's Clinical Research Centre where he worked almost entirely as a statistical consultant in a wide variety of medical areas.
Current professional activities
In 1988 Doug Altman became head of the newly formed Medical Statistics Laboratory (now Medical Statistics Group) at Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UKCancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Its aim is to reduce the number of deaths from cancer. As the world's largest independent cancer...
), and in 1995 also became founding director of the Centre for Statistics in Medicine (CSM) in Oxford. In 1998 he was made Professor of Statistics in Medicine by the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
He is the statistical advisor to the British Medical Journal (BMJ)
BMJ
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
, where he is a member of the editorial "hanging committee". He is a co-convenor of the statistical Methods Group of the Cochrane Collaboration
Cochrane Collaboration
The Cochrane Collaboration is a group of over 28,000 volunteers in more than 100 countries who review the effects of health care interventions tested in biomedical randomized controlled trials. A few more recent reviews have also studied the results of non-randomized, observational studies...
.
He is an active member of the CONSORT Group
Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials
CONSORT encompasses various initiatives developed by the CONSORT Group to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of randomized controlled trials.-The CONSORT Statement:...
since 1999, a group dedicated to offering a standardised way for researchers to report trials. The intent is to make the experimental process more clear, flawed or not, so that users of the data can more appropriately evaluate its validity for their purposes.
Doug Altman is also a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
, and editor in chief
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
of Trials
Trials (journal)
Trials is an open access, peer reviewed online journal regarding performance and outcomes of randomized controlled trials. The journal is published by BioMed Central whose editors in chief are Doug Altman Curt Furberg, Jeremy Grimshaw, and Peter Rothwell...
.
Notable achievements
- The Bradford Hill Medal by the Royal Statistical SocietyRoyal Statistical SocietyThe Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
for his contributions to medical statistics in 1997.
- DSc from the University of LondonUniversity of London-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
in 1997.
Books authored
- Practical Statistics for Medical Research (1990). Douglas G. Altman ISBN 0412276305
Books edited
- Systematic Reviews in Healthcare: Meta-Analysis in Context (2001). Editors: Douglas G. Altman, Iain Chalmers, Gerd Antes, Michael Bradburn, Mike Clarke, Matthias Egger, George Davey-Smith. ISBN 072791488X
- Statistics With Confidence: Confidence Intervals and Statistical Guidelines (2000). Editors: Douglas G. Altman, David Machin, T. N. Bryant, Martin J. Gardner. ISBN 0727902229
- Systematic Reviews (1999). Editors: Douglas G. Altman, Iain Chalmers. ISBN 0727909045
- Statistics in Practice: Articles Published in the British Medical Journal. (1982). Editors: Sheila M. Gore, Douglas G. Altman. ISBN 0727900854
Peer-reviewed articles
List of the over 396 articles by Doug Altman available through PubMedPubMed
PubMed is a free database accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database as part of the Entrez information retrieval system...
.
- David M, Kenneth FS and Altman DG for the CONSORT Group. (2001) Revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel group randomized trials. Lancet 14, 1191-4.
- Bland JM, Altman DG. (1986) Statistical methods for assessing agreement between 2 methods of clinical measurement. Lancet i, 307-310. A reprint is available HERE
- BMJ Statistical Notes - A series of short articles on the use of statistics by Doug Altman and his long time collaborator Martin BlandMartin BlandJohn Martin Bland , known as Martin Bland, is a British statistician. He has been professor of health statistics at the University of York since 2003...
.
- Altman DG, Bland JM. (1983) Measurement in medicine - the analysis of method comparison studies. The Statistician 32, 307-317.
- Bland JM, Altman DG. (1999) Measuring agreement in method comparison studies. Statistical Methods in Medical Research 8, 135-160.
- Bland JM, Altman DG. (1995) Comparing methods of measurement - why plotting difference against standard method is misleading. Lancet 346, 1085-1087.