How to Pronounce Marvin Zelen
#20
Most Popular
Boost
Jun 21, 1927 New York City, New York, United States Died on 15 Nov 2014 (aged 87)
biostatistics researcher
CancerMarvin Zelen - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
Marvin Zelen, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Marvin Zelen
- Marvin Zelen (June 21, 1927 – November 15, 2014) was Professor Emeritus of Biostatistics in the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H.
- Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), and Lemuel Shattuck Research Professor of Statistical Science (the first recipient).
- During the 1980s, Zelen chaired HSPH's Department of Biostatistics.
- Among colleagues in the field of statistics, he was widely known as a leader who shaped the discipline of biostatistics.
- He "transformed clinical trial research into a statistically sophisticated branch of medical research."Zelen was noted for his developing some of the statistical methods and study designs still used in clinical cancer trials, in which experimental drugs are tested for toxicity, effectiveness, and proper dosage.
- He introduced measures to ensure that data gathered from human trials would be as free as possible of errors and biases—measures that are now standard practice.
- Zelen helped transform clinical trial research into a well-managed and statistically sophisticated branch of medical science.
- His work in this area led to significant medical advances, such as improved treatments for several different forms of cancer.
- His research also focused on improved early detection of cancer; on modeling the progression of cancer and its response to treatment; and on using statistical models to help determine optimal screening strategies for various common cancers, especially breast cancer.
- Ironically, he died after a prolonged battle with cancer. One of those experimental design models for randomized clinical trials is known as Zelen's design or Zelen's randomized consent design, in which patients are randomized to either the treatment or to the control group before they give their informed consent.
- Because the group to which any given patient is assigned is known at the time of consenting, the study patient's consent can be sought conditionally. In 1962 Zelen was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.
