Graduate Student Internship Program

2008 Catalog of Internship Opportunities

This internship has been filled.

Birth Defects Data Analyst

Program: Birth Defects Epidemiology & Surveillance/Texas Center for Birth Defects
Research & Prevention
Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin, TX
Skill Area: Data Analysis and Monitoring

Agency Information

The Texas Birth Defects Epidemiology & Surveillance Branch (BDES) encompasses two major components: the Texas Birth Defects Registry (Registry) and the Texas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (Texas Center). In order to respond to community concerns about the occurrence of birth defects, the Texas Birth Defects Registry was established to identify and describe the patterns of birth defects in Texas through operation of an active surveillance system. It is now the largest birth defects registry of its kind in the world; one benefit of that is the ability to study the risk factors associated with relatively rare birth defects.

The Registry employs an active surveillance approach, which entails staff routinely visiting all hospitals and birthing centers where affected children are delivered or treated. Staff review logs to find potential cases, review medical records of potential cases to identify true cases, and abstract relevant information including birth defect diagnoses; medical tests and procedures; gestational age; delivery information; maternal illnesses, delivery complications, maternal exposures; and demographic information.

BDES is one of 10 state programs participating in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS), one of the largest case-control studies ever done on the causes of birth defects. For this study, interviews are conducted and biological samples are collected from case mothers (women who have had babies or pregnancies affected by birth defects) and control mothers (women who have had babies with no birth defects). The NBDPS began in 1997 and currently has 13,586 cases and 5,008 controls available for study which researchers are using to examine the causes of birth defects associated with socio-demographics (e.g. ethnicity), genetics, nutrition, and the environment factors.

Purpose, goals, and objectives of internship

Purpose: State monitoring programs and registries provide researchers with basic information about rates of birth defects and can help identify trends and are particularly useful for generating hypotheses for further investigation or research. When combined with studies of genetics, molecular biology, etiologic investigations and environmental exposures, the information provided by birth defects registries has the potential to help uncover the causes of these conditions and prevent future cases (Trust for America's Health, 2002). With 18,594 completed interviews for cases and controls in the NBDPS data set, we are increasingly able to design and carry out rigorous studies of risk factors for specific birth defects. The primary purpose of this internship is to provide analytic support in the development of an existing study and to work with team members to develop at least one study.

Goals: The primary goal of the internship is to provide analytic support for a major studies initiated by the Texas Center which has been approved by the NBDPS data sharing committee, Maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and adverse outcomes in the NBDPS. The intern will work closely with our NBDPS epidemiologist to analyze data, interpret the findings and present it in such a way as to elucidate answers to the study questions. The intern will also assist with literature review and writing of a manuscript.

Objectives At the completion of the internship, the candidate will lead and/or collaborate on analysis for at least one pending project and may also have the opportunity to present findings and/or to assist in manuscript development.

Data or analytic tasks and activities

• Conduct literature review of all known risks and benefits associated with fish consumption, pregnancy, and fetal development, as well as fish consumption patterns among women of childbearing age. Write a summary.
• Plan of the analytic approach.
• In collaboration with the NBDPS data analyst, review existing analytic SAS programs that will be required for this project. Adapt old and write new SAS programs as needed, and use them for analysis.
• For each defect or defect category:
  • Using univariate logistic regression, generate crude odds ratios with their 95% confidence intervals to compare individual maternal risk factors and exposures to the birth defects in question.
  • Identify potential confounders among a list of maternal risk factors and exposures during the pregnancy reported during the interviews.
  • Run multivariable logistic regression to generate adjusted odds ratios with their 95% confidence intervals and interpret the association between maternal risk factors and exposures to the birth defects in question.
• Produce charts, handouts, and tables summarizing the analysis. Assist with writing manuscript including methods and results sections.

Data or analytic skills required

• Skill in using SAS for data management and analysis (essential).
• Knowledge of how to calculate and interpret odds ratios and 95% confidence
  intervals.
• Skill in conducting regression analysis and interpreting the results. Logistic
  regression is preferred, but not necessary.
• Skill in writing and presenting results of simple and complex analyses

Supervisors

Primary Supervisor: Tunu Ramadhani, PhD, Epidemiologist. Dr. Ramadhani is an Epidemiologist, with the Texas Department of State Health Services, performing statistical data analyses from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Dr. Ramadhani have conducted analyses, summarized data, and provided interpretations of the findings, wrote and collaborated in writing several reports, manuscripts and published in per reviewed Epidemiological journals. Examples of papers include "Residential mobility patterns and exposure misclassification in epidemiologic studies of birth defects", "Medical records vs. interview responses: a comparative analysis of selected variables for linked birth defect cases" and "Improved national prevalence estimates for 18 selected major birth defects- United States, 1999-2001". She was the primary supervisor for our 2007 MCH GSIP placement.

Secondary Supervisor: Mark Canfield, Ph.D., BDES Manager and Co-Principle Investigator of the Texas component of the NBDPS. Dr. Canfield has been involved in birth defects epidemiology and research for more than 12 years, and has authored numerous manuscripts from the NBDPS, including Folic acid awareness and use among women with a history of a neural tube defect pregnancy - Texas, 2000-2001, and Maternal obesity, gestational diabetes, and central nervous system birth defects.

Internship begins

Open

Housing

We can provide advice about housing opportunities in the area, but no direct assistance. The Texas Department of State Health Services is located very near the University of Texas and therefore there are many rental properties within easy walking or biking distance.

Transportation

We are located on or very near several bus lines.

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