Dear Class of 1T8 and 1T9:

 

There is an increasing understanding that concussions and head injuries cause significant disability amongst both amateur and professional athletes.  Head injuries from sports is a common presentation both in the family medicine and emergency room settings.

 

We are hoping to finish off and publish the work of a colleague who began this project as a hobby about two years ago.   He identified risk factors for concussion in hockey by using NHL players as a representative target population.  His work contains a large database of NHL game data, including head injuries and player statistics from the 2010-2013 NHL seasons from publicly available websites. The data is on a game by game level.

 

You can find his unpublished work here: http://peter-tanner.com/Predicting_NHL_Concussions.pdf  and the New York Times Article about his work here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/sports/hockey/who-is-susceptible-to-concussions.html?_r=1

 

The original work was analysed using a logistics regression analysis.  Survival model/cox analysis/proportional hazard model would be more appropriate.

 

We are looking for a learner with a significant background in statistics or epidemiology to help bring this project to completion.  A statistician from the Department of Family and Community Medicine has graciously agreed to provide occasional mentorship to help ensure the project remains on track.  Much of the literature review was completed by prior students last year. We would like to submit the completed project for peer-review and publication by the end of the academic year.

 

Attributes we are looking for in our new team member:

1. Formal training in statistics / epidemiology (please explicitly state training / courses / degrees)
2. Experience in statistical analysis (please outline previous projects and your role)
3. Ability to work as a team player, work independently and ability to communicate

We will be accepting applications for this project until February 3rd at noon. Please state what academy you are from and whether you would prefer to interview downtown or in Mississauga.

 

Many learners know me well from their medical studies.  Any applicants attempting to use this dual relationship to their advantage will be excluded from the selection process.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions. Applications can be sent to laurence.biro@utoronto.ca

 

All the best,

Dr. Laurence Biro

Candidate for Masters of Community Health: Health Practitioner Teacher Education

Lecturer, Mississauga Academy of Medicine, DFCM, UofT

Staff Physician, Department of Family Medicine, Trillium Health Partners

Laurencebiro.com

 

Dr. Laura Bolt

Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo