Co-Investigator
Lehana Thabane
BSc, MSc, PhD

Tel: 905-522-1155 Ext. 33720
E-mail: thabanl@mcmaster.ca

Lehana Thabane is Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Biostatistician in the Biostatistics Unit at the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton. Dr. Thabane did his PhD studies in Statistics (1994 -1998) in the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, Canada and MSc in Statistics (1992-1993) in the Department of Probability and Statistics at Sheffield University, England. He obtained his BSc (1986-1990) from the National University of Lesotho.

In broad terms, Dr Thabane is a research methodologist with research interests in the development and application of statistical methods health research. His specific areas of statistics research interests include regression models, multivariate analysis, clinical trials, Bayesian and non-Bayesian inference, decision analysis, meta-analysis, data-mining techniques and statistical consulting. He collaborates with researchers in cardiology, internal medicine, nephrology, HIV-AIDS, evidence-based medicine and health technology assessment. He provides statistical leadership in studies in various areas of population health research, clinical research and health services and outcomes research. His Bayesian research involves development of Bayesian methods to better estimate the Number Needed to Treat (NNT). He also has research interests in design and analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) designs based on multiple outcomes, inspired by the need for efficient use of available re sources. As research methodologist, his research interests cover a wide spectrum of research areas including research ethics, conjoint analysis of patient preferences for colorectal cancer screening, the applications of Bayesian hierarchical methods to model medical data, systematic reviews and meta-analysis of RCTs using both Bayesian and classical approaches, and applications of data-mining techniques in pharmacosurveillance using the electronic medical records/ databases to explore patterns, associations, or dissimilarities within the patient records, diagnoses and treatments.

Dr Thabane is an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) and also a member of the Statistical Society of Canada, the International Biometric Society, the American Statistical Association, the International Society for Bayesian Analysis and the Society for Clinical Trials. He is also a member of Clinical Trials Panel for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Dr Thabane is a member of the PhD Comprehensive Examinations Chairs Committee in the Health Research Methodology (HRM) programme and coordinator of the HRM-733 Statistical and Methodological Issues in Randomized Clinical Trials.

Research Interests

Dr. Thabane's areas of statistics research interests include regression models, multivariate analysis, clinical trials, Bayesian and non-Bayesian statistics, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, clinical trials, data-mining techniques, biostatistical consulting, patient preferences, health services and outcomes research.

Selected Publications

1. Thabane L. A Closer Look at the Distribution of the Number Needed to Treat (NNT): A Bayesian Approach. Biostatistics 2003; 4: 365-370.

2. Wilson A, Thabane L, Holbrook A. Data-mining applications in pharmaco-surveillance. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2004;57(2):127-134.

3. Sawka AM, Gafni A, Thabane L, Young Jr. WF. The Economic Implications of Three Biochemical Testing Strategies for Pheochromocytoma. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2004;89:2859-2866.

4. Pereira JA, Holbrook AM, Dolovich L, Goldsmith CH, Thabane L, Douketis JD, Crowther M, Bates SM, Ginsberg JR. Are Brand-name and Generic Warfarin Interchangeable? The Results of Multiple N-of-1 Randomized Crossover Trials. Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2005;39(7): 1188-93.

5. Lai R, Crevier L, Thabane L. Genetic Polymorphisms in Glutathione S-Transferase and Risk of Brain Tumor: a Meta-analysis. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention 2005;14(7):1784-1790.

6. Thabane L, Childs A, Lafontaine A8. Determining the Level of Statisticians’ Participation in Canadian-based Research Ethics Committees. IRB: Ethics & Human Research 2005;27(2): 11-14.

7. Sawka AM1, Thabane L, Papaioannou A, Gafni A, Adachi JD. Does Alendronate Reduce the Risk of Fracture in Men? A Bayesian Meta-analysis Incorporating Prior Information from Trials in Women. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2005;6:39.