David L. DeMets Lectures

DeMets Lectures

The Lectures

The David L. DeMets Lectures in Health and Quantitative Investigation are a pair of lectures held on a Thursday and Friday each November.

These lectures acknowledge Dr. DeMets’ research accomplishments in forwarding the design, monitoring, analysis, and presentation of clinical trials.

The first lecture is a research/overview talk is accessible to a general biomedical/public health audience. Ideally, it will highlight in one or more ways critical and impactful contributions from quantitative methodological areas (e.g., biostatistics and/or biomedical informatics) to discoveries in biomedicine, and/or advancement of human/public health. The second lecture is a world-class research talk in biostatistics or biomedical informatics.

The lecturer chosen each year exemplifies the “David DeMets Model of Biomedical Research” with rigorous development and application of quantitative methodological principles, married with deep engagement in an area of biomedical investigation.

2024 DeMets Lectures

The 8th annual DeMets Lectures will consist of one general presentation on November 7 and one technical presentation on November 8. The general lecture on November 7 will be in HSLC room 1325 from 3:30-4:45 pm, followed by a reception in the HSLC Atrium from 4:45-6:00 pm. The technical lecture on November 8 will be in the Biotechnology Center Auditorium from noon to 1:00 pm.

2024 DeMets Lecture Speaker

Janet Wittes, PhD, Principal, Wittes, LLC

Janet Turk Wittes, PhD is Principal at Wittes LLC. Previously (1990-2021) she was President of Statistics Collaborative which she founded in 1990. From 1983 through 1989, she was Chief, Biostatistics Research Branch, National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute (NHLBI). At both NHBLI and Statistics Collaborative, she has been involved in randomized controlled trials dealing with interventions for treatment and prevention in cardiovascular and other diseases. Her 2006 monograph, “Statistical Monitoring of Clinical Trials – A Unified Approach” by Proschan, Lan, and Wittes, deals with sequential trials. Her research has focused on the design and analysis of randomized controlled trials. She has served on a variety of advisory committees and data monitoring committees for government (NIH and the VA) and industry. For the FDA, she was previously a member of the Cell Therapy Advisory Panel and is currently a member of the Circulatory Devices Advisory Panel. She was formerly Editor in Chief of Controlled Clinical Trials (1994-98). She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Society for Clinical Trials, the AAAS, and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. In 2006, she received the Janet L. Norwood Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Statistical Sciences and in 2015 she received the W.J. Dixon Award for Excellence in Statistical Consulting, American Statistical Association (2015). She received her PhD in statistics from Harvard University in 1972.

Lecture 1 – General audience – Abstract – Wisconsin Estimands

  • Thursday, November 7, 3:30-4:45, 1325 HSLC
    • Reception to follow in HSLC Atrium

Lecture 2 – Technical audience – Abstract – Non-proportional hazards

  • Friday, November 8, Noon to 1:00 PM, Biotechnology Center Auditorium

 

Past DeMets Lectures Events

2023 Lecture Information – Dr. Colin Begg

2022 Lecture Information – Dr. Michael Proschan

2020 and 2021 lectures were cancelled because of SARS-CoV-2.

2019 Lecture Information – Dr. Richard Landis

2018 Lecture Information – Speaker cancelled

2017 Lecture Information – Dr. Rob Tishirani

2016 Lecture Information – Dr. David Heckerman

2015 Lecture Information – Dr. Thomas R. Fleming