Andrew Vickers

(Redirected from Andrew J. Vickers)

Andrew Julian Vickers (born 11 February 1967)[1][2] is a biostatistician and attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Since 2013, he has also been professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College.[3] He is the statistical editor for the peer-reviewed journal European Urology.[4]

Andrew Julian Vickers
Born (1967-02-11) 11 February 1967 (age 57)
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge, University of Oxford
Scientific career
FieldsOncology, alternative medicine, biostatistics
InstitutionsMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
ThesisHomeopathy and clinical trials (1999)

Education and career

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Vickers received his B.A. from the University of Cambridge in 1989 and his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 1999.[5] He joined Memorial Sloan Kettering in 1999 as an assistant attending research methodologist, before being appointed an associate attending research methodologist there in 2006 and an attending research methodologist in 2012.[5]

Research

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Vickers is known for his research into prostate cancer screening.[6] In 2011, he published a study which found that PSA velocity—the change in the blood level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)--was not a more accurate predictor of prostate cancer than comparing PSA levels to a specific threshold.[7] He was responsible for designing the algorithm[8] that is used in the commercial "4Kscore" test[9] for men with elevated PSA. With colleague Hans Lilja, Vickers published a series of studies demonstrating that a single PSA at age 45 - 60 is an extremely strong predictor of the long-term risk of prostate cancer mortality.[10][11][12] Vickers is separately known for his methodological research on prediction modeling - he developed the statistical method known as "decision curve analysis"[13][14] - and empirical research into several forms of alternative medicine, particularly acupuncture.[15] Vickers was the lead author of a 2012 meta-analysis of 29 acupuncture trials published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.[16] Vickers told Reuters that this meta-analysis "provides evidence that [patients with pain] would be justified in considering acupuncture."[17] Vickers leads the "Amplio" surgical quality assurance initiative at Memorial Sloan Kettering[18] and is Director of the "Web Survey" health informatics core facility.[19]

Personal life

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Vickers is a competitive runner[20] and plays ultimate frisbee.[21] He has a daughter and two sons.[22][23]

References

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  1. ^ "Reference Entry". Who's Who. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Andrew Vickers". Library of Congress Name Authority File. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  3. ^ "News and Highlights". Weill Cornell Medical College. July 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  4. ^ "Andrew Vickers". European Urology website. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Andrew J. Vickers CV" (PDF). Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Rise in PSA protein 'not prostate cancer sign'". BBC News. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  7. ^ Vickers, A. J.; Till, C.; Tangen, C. M.; Lilja, H.; Thompson, I. M. (24 February 2011). "An Empirical Evaluation of Guidelines on Prostate-specific Antigen Velocity in Prostate Cancer Detection". JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 103 (6): 462–469. doi:10.1093/jnci/djr028. PMC 3057983. PMID 21350221.
  8. ^ Bryant, Richard J.; Sjoberg, Daniel D.; Vickers, Andrew J.; Robinson, Mary C.; Kumar, Rajeev; Marsden, Luke; Davis, Michael; Scardino, Peter T.; Donovan, Jenny; Neal, David E.; Lilja, Hans (2015). "Predicting high-grade cancer at ten-core prostate biopsy using four kallikrein markers measured in blood in the ProtecT study". Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 107 (7). doi:10.1093/jnci/djv095. ISSN 1460-2105. PMC 4554254. PMID 25863334.
  9. ^ "Elevated PSA? 4Kscore Test helps in prostate cancer biopsy decision making". 4Kscore Test. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  10. ^ Vickers, Andrew J.; Cronin, Angel M.; Björk, Thomas; Manjer, Jonas; Nilsson, Peter M.; Dahlin, Anders; Bjartell, Anders; Scardino, Peter T.; Ulmert, David; Lilja, Hans (14 September 2010). "Prostate specific antigen concentration at age 60 and death or metastasis from prostate cancer: case-control study". BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 341: c4521. doi:10.1136/bmj.c4521. ISSN 1756-1833. PMC 2939950. PMID 20843935.
  11. ^ Vickers, Andrew J.; Ulmert, David; Sjoberg, Daniel D.; Bennette, Caroline J.; Björk, Thomas; Gerdtsson, Axel; Manjer, Jonas; Nilsson, Peter M.; Dahlin, Anders; Bjartell, Anders; Scardino, Peter T. (15 April 2013). "Strategy for detection of prostate cancer based on relation between prostate specific antigen at age 40-55 and long term risk of metastasis: case-control study". BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 346: f2023. doi:10.1136/bmj.f2023. ISSN 1756-1833. PMC 3933251. PMID 23596126.
  12. ^ Carlsson, Sigrid; Assel, Melissa; Sjoberg, Daniel; Ulmert, David; Hugosson, Jonas; Lilja, Hans; Vickers, Andrew (28 March 2014). "Influence of blood prostate specific antigen levels at age 60 on benefits and harms of prostate cancer screening: population based cohort study". BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 348: g2296. doi:10.1136/bmj.g2296. ISSN 1756-1833. PMC 3968958. PMID 24682399.
  13. ^ Vickers, Andrew J.; Elkin, Elena B. (2006). "Decision curve analysis: a novel method for evaluating prediction models". Medical Decision Making. 26 (6): 565–574. doi:10.1177/0272989X06295361. ISSN 0272-989X. PMC 2577036. PMID 17099194.
  14. ^ "Decision Curve Analysis". Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  15. ^ Press Association (15 March 2004). "Needle in a headache". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  16. ^ Vickers, AJ; Cronin, AM; Maschino, AC; Lewith, G; MacPherson, H; Foster, NE; Sherman, KJ; Witt, CM; Linde, K; Acupuncture Trialists', Collaboration (22 October 2012). "Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis". Archives of Internal Medicine. 172 (19): 1444–53. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3654. PMC 3658605. PMID 22965186.
  17. ^ "Acupuncture has limited benefit for chronic pain". Chicago Tribune. Reuters. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  18. ^ "Should Surgeons Keep Score? – Backchannel". Medium. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  19. ^ "Andrew Vickers". Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  20. ^ Aschwanden, Christie (30 October 2014). "Introducing Slate's Marathon Time Predictor". Slate. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  21. ^ "What is a p-value anyway? 34 Stories to Help You Actually Understand Statistics". www.pearson.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  22. ^ Henning, Justine (21 April 2017). "Science is why my cancer diagnosis isn't a death sentence. Today I march for science". Vox. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  23. ^ Somers, James (12 December 2014). "Should Surgeons Keep Score?". WIRED. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
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