The Division of Biostatistics at the Ohio State University (OSU) is one of the most illustrious education bodies, providing advanced research facilities in a diverse range of areas and brilliant opportunity for collaborative and interdisciplinary study. This remarkable reputation has motivated me to pursue my PhD program under this Division. I have completed my undergraduate and graduate studies from the Department of Statistics, University of Dhaka (formerly known as the Department of Statistics, Biostatistics, and Informatics). The key reason that attracted me to the Division of Biostatistics at OSU is the ample opportunity to work with the prolific faculties in their excellent research programs. My experiences at the University of Dhaka …show more content…
Among these courses, Artificial Intelligence and Biostatistics piqued my curiosity in particular. These courses taught me machine learning and different kinds of statistical models used for analyzing medical data. Studying these courses, I was confident that I wanted to conduct my master’s thesis work in the field of Biostatistics. My thesis work was titled “General Framework for Ordinal Regression Model: Illustration with BDHS 2014 Data.” The aim of this research was to use the known cutoff points of an ordinal response and develop a model that would give an output similar to a model that actually analyzes the continuous latent response. After successfully developing the model, I conducted an extensive simulation study under a number of scenarios to compare the efficiency of this model with some other well-known models for analyzing the ordinal response. The results were impressive, as I found the estimated regression coefficients less biased and more consistent for the proposed model than that for conventional models. Finally, I used this model to analyze the BDHS 2014 data to uncover the determinants of child malnutrition in Bangladesh and suggest some interventions to overcome this issue. This large scale work showed me the big picture of the research and application field of Biostatistics. My ultimate goal is to build a career in which I can contribute to the development of Statistical procedures for more effective interventions on health-related issues. I am sure that studying under the Division of Biostatistics at OSU, I shall be best trained in these areas and receive valuable instructions that will further develop my research