The department continues to extend its valuable support to the institution by offering Biostatistical and computing services at various levels. The services provided by the department range from a basic level to major collaboration in research projects. The services of the department are utilized by clinical, nursing and other departments to conduct clinical trials, retrospective and prospective follow-up studies as well as in the assessment of diagnostic efficacy of various procedures. The department has been assisting the institution in selection procedures for all undergraduate and postgraduate medical, nursing and allied health science courses. Required assistance have been provided during various stages of the selection process namely, registration of applications, conducting the written tests, and evaluation. The department also renders its services to individual staff in preparation of research papers for publication or presentation at conferences. In addition to serving Christian Medical College and Hospital, the department also assists other institutions as and when the need arises.

In 2007, the CMC Clinical Data Management Centre (CMC-CDMC) was established in collaboration with the World Health Organization CDM / TDR network to support the conduct of clinical data management for clinical trials in compliance with ICH-GCP, FDA and relevant international regulatory requirements. This centre has been audited by WHO and recognized for clinical data management.

In 2013, with support from PATH (Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health), this centre was promoted as the Advanced Centre for Clinical Data Management and Training (ACDMC) to build the nation’s capacity in clinical research by providing training and facilitating infrastructure for quality data management.

Christian Medical College Vellore was the first medical college in India, to offer Masters level course, M.Sc in Biostatistics in 1986. Demography and Research Methodology including Epidemiological thinking to students were included from the beginning. Currently, the Master’s programme is recognised by The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai. The most prominent and distinctive feature of the Master’s programme in Biostatistics is the involvement of students in the journal club wherein every faculty imparts innovative methods that have been recently developed in peer reviewed journals and, helps the students to update their knowledge.

The department was recognized for Ph.D in Biostatistics (interdisciplinary) by the University of Madras in 1977 and was later transferred to The Dr MGR Medical University, Chennai in 2006. The department was also recognized for PhD in Biostatistics under the Biostatistics Resource and Training Center (BRTC) by the Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore in 2011. 

In addition to the master’s programme in Biostatistics, the department also runs several introductory to intermediate-level courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students in other disciplines within CMC. These different courses were consolidated and offered as one modular course targeted at students with no or minimal quantitative background.

The programme consists of four modules and sequenced as follows:

Each module runs for a period of four weeks with two sessions per week (8 session per module), and ends with module specific internal assessment.  The programme started mid-February with over 100 allied health science students benefiting from these courses.

Biostatistics Resource and Training Centre (BRTC)

The untiring efforts of and every faculty members of Biostatistics led to the establishment of the “Biostatistics Resource and Training Center (BRTC)” in the year 1998. This was initially funded by the International Clinical Epidemiological Network (INCLEN). BRTC aimed to train the clinical, health and research workers in Medical Research both in National and International institutions. The focus was on Advanced Biostatistics, Research Methodology, Epidemiology / Clinical Epidemiology, Clinical Trials and Clinical Data Management.

The department also conducts workshops in statistical software such as SPSS / STATA / R. Notable contributions have also been made to all teaching programmes and workshops organized by the Department of Biostatistics at Christian Medical College Vellore. It includes training of the staff, students and faculty from this institution and other institutions in India.