Copyright notice
All text and original images in this blog © 1990-2010 by William P. Coleman. Some rights reserved. You may reuse only as specified in the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License or by written permission.About me
If you'd like to know more about me, please see the About page. My qualifications for the scientific entries are in my CV.
I see no reason to segregate scientific and technical posts from humanistic ones. In my life, scientific concerns mix with ethical ones, and they shade into a philosophical interest in the nature of cognition and the nature of people. Doing science is as creative as writing fiction, and I get inspiration for both from the same gods.
You will find little here on current politics. I'm an activist, but not in symptoms. Experience in martial arts shows me that the sure way to lose is reactivity; but if you stay cool and remember your training and what you're there for then you achieve goals and, when conflict is unavoidable, you fight and win. The idea of the liberal arts I was brought up in is that broad understanding of cultures and ideas gives you deeper, better goals -- making success more likely and more satisfying. Negatively, the hysteria since 9/11 shows how a country frightened and reactive can destroy itself more than an enemy can. I'm trying to contribute by changing the terms of discourse. . . . As Allen Ginsberg wrote, "America, I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel."
One fact shouldn't require special mention, but it sometimes does: namely that I'm gay. This blog is not primarily about being gay, but the topic sometimes comes up. I'm proud of being gay and do not hide. Muse
Category Archives: Medicine
Statistical Design: Clinical Development of Drugs and Biologics
A few years ago, my colleague Steven E. Linberg was teaching a course, “Clinical Development of Drugs and Biologics,” at Johns Hopkins University. He asked me to give a guest lecture on statistical design. The class was once per week, … Continue reading
Healthcare Systems Process Reengineering, I: Vision
In two previous posts, I’ve discussed a vision of longitudinal healthcare responsible for people, rather than illness — and for the role that computers and medical informatics could play in making such systems possible. Those two posts discussed the ideas … Continue reading
Using ASIA Motor Score as outcome in spinal injury
In October ’06, the people at ICORD (International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries) in Vancouver asked me to give a talk. I spoke on Statistical Considerations in Designing a Trial in Spinal Cord Injury with ASIA Motor Score as the Outcome, … Continue reading
Reduced Bladder and Bowel Control after Severe Spinal Cord Injury — Even in Patients Able to Walk
Regaining unlimited mobility, including the ability to walk, is a main goal for spinal-cord-injured (SCI) patients. Still, more limited accomplishments — such as bladder and bowel control — would significantly improve quality of life for those lacking them. Conferences and … Continue reading
Healthcare Systems Process Reengineering for Developing Countries
Two colleagues — Sandra Mejía Mendoza, from Nicaragua, and Alvaro Gaynicotche, from Uruguay — worked with me on this paper, Healthcare Systems Process Reengineering for Developing Countries: A Report to IMIA Working Group 9, that I presented at MEDINFO 98 … Continue reading
More on clinical trial design for beginners
My earlier post Clinical trial design — for beginners has been one of my more popular ones. People who’ve read that and would like to know more, can download
Health and Healthcare for Latin America and the Caribbean
During November 12-15, 1996, I was a delegate to an Expert Consultation Meeting, “Telecommunications in Health and Healthcare for Latin America and the Caribbean ,” held in Washington, DC by PAHO (the Pan American Health Organization), a part of WHO … Continue reading
Medicine: Using probabilty to treat people versus using it to treat groups
I saw an interesting post complaining about the “magic” of clinical trials and the refusal by many people to consider other types of evidence rationally. One commenter there replies, “Let me give you an example I like to use. George … Continue reading
Clinical trial design — for beginners
This post is based on an e–mail series I sent to a friend in industry. He was responsible for overseeing the design of a clinical trial, and he asked me as a professional to tell him in simple words how … Continue reading
