Maria Ibrahim was this week named as the winner of the 2020 Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing. Ibrahim’s winning article is titled “Primum non nocere: First, do no harm” and it will be published in the December 2020 issue of Significance.
The article is about transplantation, and the role statistics and statistical models play in matching organs to patients, as well as helping patients to assess competing risks, such as accepting an organ now versus waiting for a potentially better-quality organ later.
At this week’s Royal Statistical Society (RSS) Conference, Ibrahim presented a paper based on her article, explaining how she wanted to share some of what she has learned while working with the Statistics and Clinical Studies team at NHS Blood and Transplant. This includes being involved in a project to model and communicate transplant risks and benefits to patients.
Ibrahim is currently studying for a PhD in kidney transplantation and is training to become a nephrologist – a specialist kidney doctor.
The Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing, organised by Significance and the RSS Young Statisticians Section, has been running now for nine years. It exists to celebrate those career-young statisticians, data scientists and researchers who can demonstrate the skills necessary for effective communication and who recognise the importance of explaining statistics to non-experts.
Congratulations to Maria Ibrahim on winning this year’s award, and thanks to all those who entered. A call for entries for next year’s award will be issued in February 2021.
