Analysis of Epidemiologic Data Using R

Robert Hirsch retired as Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Adjunct Professor of Statistics at The George Washington University in 2010. He started at GWU in 1987, with the principal task of helping to develop a public health program. That program is now the School of Public Health and Health Services with more than 300 graduate students enrolled. One of Dr. Hirsch's contributions to this program was the development of courses in public health methodology. These courses continue to be an important part of the curriculum. They include courses in statistics, study design, evaluation of health research literature, questionnaire development, sampling, meta-analysis, and theoretical epidemiology.

Dr. Hirsch is probably best known for his textbooks and other publications that are intended to help people without a mathematics aptitude to understand quantitative issues that are integral to health research and practice. His ability to communicate technical information hasbeen an important asset in his teaching and consulting work. His interest in relating statistics to real life problems prompted him to spend a sabbatical at the Center for Devices and Radiologic Health in the Food and Drug Administration. The purpose of this sabbatical was to understand how health methodology can best contribute to governmental regulatory issues. The result of this experience has also given Dr. Hirsch the ability to serve as an interface between industry and the government as well as train graduate students in real-world applications.

羅伯特·赫希（Robert Hirsch）於2010年退休，擔任喬治華盛頓大學（The George Washington University）流行病學與生物統計學教授及統計學兼任教授。他於1987年加入GWU，主要任務是協助發展公共衛生計畫。該計畫如今已成為公共衛生與健康服務學院，擁有超過300名研究生註冊。赫希博士對該計畫的貢獻之一是開發公共衛生方法論的課程。這些課程至今仍是課程的重要組成部分，涵蓋統計學、研究設計、健康研究文獻評估、問卷開發、抽樣、統合分析及理論流行病學等內容。

赫希博士可能最為人所知的是他的教科書和其他出版物，旨在幫助數學能力較弱的人理解與健康研究和實踐密切相關的定量問題。他傳達技術資訊的能力在他的教學和諮詢工作中是一項重要資產。他對將統計學與現實生活問題聯繫起來的興趣促使他在食品藥物管理局（Food and Drug Administration）的設備與放射健康中心度過了一段學術休假。這段學術休假的目的是了解健康方法論如何最佳地貢獻於政府的監管問題。這段經歷也使赫希博士能夠在產業與政府之間擔任橋樑，並培訓研究生在現實世界中的應用。