books on biostatistics

[sisyphus1]

can anyone recommend a good book (textbook or otherwise) on introducing oneself to biostatistics? what's the standard textbook for 1st year biostats students?

I understand that it's quite a large field (from epidemic analysis to pharmaceutical testing), but i want to read up on some topics to make sure I am understanding what I'm getting myself into.

[cyberwulf]

Most introductory books on biostatistics are really just basic statistics texts designed with medical/public health students in mind. The core topics are typically very similar to any usual stat textbook, but the examples are more medical/biological in nature. Most first-year biostats students will already have had an introductory stats course, and so will not be using these types of books. They will usually take a mathematical statistics course along with several more specialized applied courses (linear regression, categorical data, survival analysis, etc.), each with their own domain-specific reference.

It sounds like you want a book that will give you a survey of the types of projects biostatisticians work on. I don't know of a good book of this type out there.

A student in one of my classes recently brought the following book to my attention: http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/0199730067 . I haven't looked at it carefully, but it might fit your bill.

Edited May 25, 2012 by cyberwulf

[sisyphus1]

It sounds like you want a book that will give you a survey of the types of projects biostatisticians work on. I don't know of a good book of this type out there.

A student in one of my classes recently brought the following book to my attention: http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/0199730067 . I haven't looked at it carefully, but it might fit your bill.

Yep, I wanted to see what kind of (real world) problems biostaticians work on.

I'll definitely check taht book out.

Thanks (as always)!

Edited May 25, 2012 by sisyphus1