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Vanderbilt University's Department of Biostastics was undeniably well represented at the 2018 ENAR Spring Meeting in Atlanta, which took place from March 25th to March 28th at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

Not only did Vanderbilt have the most lively and engaging booth for a university's Biostastics Graduate Program, but Vanderbilt was indeed the only university there with a booth dedicated to a Biostastics Graduate Program.

For that reason alone, Vanderbilt University stood out at the 2018 ENAR Spring Meeting. Additionally, however, our booth had what it took to draw a crowd:

First, we had a giant monitor playing on a loop a collection of interviews from students and faculty. The 16 minute, 9 interview collection featured 3-D text and original music to accompany testimonials from Dr. Yu Shyr, Dr. Robert Greevy, Dr. Lucy Agostino McGowan, Nathan James, Sarah Lotspeich, Elizabeth Sigworth, Valerie Welty, and Jacquelyn Neal.

Once prospective candidates approached the table, they were further drawn in by the presence of an array of chocolate candy... because let's face it: Even as an adult, who doesn't want free chocolate?

We also had mini carabiners with our logo on them, as well... for the mountain-climbing vegans out there who didn't take the chocolate bait.

Most importantly, each visitor at our booth was welcomed by a warm and friendly faculty member or student of our Department who was happy to answer any questions about what Vanderbilt has to offer.

Without question, a lot of planning, creativity, and hard work went into having such a relevant booth at the 2018 ENAR Spring Meeting in Atlanta. Obviously, though, it was worth it.

Vanderbilt University's Biostatistics Graduate Program is still young and small. We want to make sure the word gets out there about our amazing option for any prospective students.

So now we can look forward to ENAR 2019 in Philadelphia... and if we're lucky, we'll still be the only university to have a booth dedicated solely to their Biostatistics Graduate Program.

We shall return will plenty more free chocolate.

Our highly successful Strategic Planning Retreat engaged over 100 faculty, staff and students from the Department of Biostatistics to develop ideas about how to best achieve ‘better health through data. The entire department went through several months of planning, including creating a comprehensive compendium of current skills and expertise and developing guiding vision and mission statements.

During the retreat, the group worked through a series of brainstorming activities in small and large groups. Consensus themes emerged related to leading internationally recognized research, offering a world-class biostatistical collaboration infrastructure, and training the next generation of biostatisticians and clinical researchers. Department members also highlighted the importance of leadership locally and nationally, and of investing in the professional success of our faculty and staff.

Teams passionately expressed the importance of creativity, and the imperative to embrace an environment that fosters the development and dissemination of new ideas. They balanced the need to develop new biostatistical methods with new ideas for enhancing health-related research through strong biostatistical collaborations.

The practical application of biostatistical excellence and leadership through data coordinating centers was robustly explored and emphasized. Plenty of discussion focused on our graduate programs, highlighting their importance for ensuring health research of the future is led and supported by well-trained biostatisticians. Beyond training for methods excellence, clinical researchers need to be sufficiently savvy in quantitative methods to choose wisely and collaborate efficiently, and teams highlighted the opportunity for the department to lead in this endeavor locally and nationally.

A major thrust of the dialogue at the retreat surrounded appropriate positioning for sustainable success. The participants wanted to move beyond being great creators, collaborators and educators. The notion of national leadership and of leading within the institution was raised as being optimal for integrating methodological research and education into every facet of research.

Importantly, attendees felt this was a major approach to maximizing the impact of research in general. To achieve the research, education, collaboration and leadership goals, department members emphasized the importance of intentional career development and nurturing. The focus on people first rounded out deliberations and concluded a successful exploration of the goals and strategies that will help the department of biostatistics achieve its overarching goal of improving health through the use of data.

After the retreat, a draft strategic plan has been widely circulated for iterative feedback from every stakeholder. The plan has been refined and is now being vetted by external stakeholders. The next phase will be strategic implementation with continued engagement of every faculty member, staff and student to drive forward on our mission.