The College of Public Health is pleased to announce the 2014 Distinguished Faculty Lecture will be presented by Kathryn Chaloner, professor and head of biostatistics. The lecture, “Bayesian Statistics: What It Is and Why It Matters to Public Health,” will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 28 in Callaghan Auditorium (N110 CPHB) with a reception to follow in the atrium.

Bayesian methods for statistical analyses require a different interpretation of probability than traditional “frequentist” methods. The use of Bayesian methods has increased dramatically over the last 30 years, and their flexibility has facilitated a wide range of scientific advances, especially in public health and medicine. This talk will discuss the philosophical basis for Bayesian inference and describe some historical context.

Examples will be used throughout: the first example is of an adaptive design examining the dose effect of inoculating healthy volunteers with Haemophilus influenza and estimating the probability that nasal colonization will occur. The second example will be of a subgroup analysis in clinical trials where quantification of the evidence is more useful than traditional significance testing. This work is in collaboration with many colleagues and former students.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Amanda Jorgensen at (319) 384-1505.