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A few words from the Head of Department
Dear LIME colleagues,
Even though we are in February, I wish to welcome all to this new year! February is a promising time of the year. Daylight comes earlier and stays longer and some days early spring seems budding.
The situation in the world is challenging in several ways. Right now, my thoughts go especially to the people of Ukraine, Turkey and Syria as well as those in Sweden and at KI directly or indirectly affected by the war and the earthquake.
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I believe that 2023 will be an important year for LIME. After several years with challenges financially, we are now in a very stable position. To maintain this, and to improve the quality and impact of our education and research, we must and will work to further strengthen e.g. career development for PhD students and Junior faculty and research funding from the competitive funding bodies. To support this endeavor, I have made the decision to appoint an Advisory group to support research grant applications at LIME. The ambition is to enhance the grant funding success rate, not least for younger scientists.
Last year, for the first time, we organized a LIME retreat for the whole department. I believe that the event was very productive and enjoyable. This will take place again this year May 15-16 at Hotel J in Nacka Strand. I hope to see as many as possible of you at the LIME Days retreat. You will all receive an email from our Prefektassistent with information on how to register.
March 1, KI will have a new president, Annika Östman-Wernerson. I look forward to collaborating with her and to continue to strengthening LIME:s overall contributions to KI. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the outgoing president, Ole Petter Ottersen, who has taken a keen and very productive interest in LIME:s competencies over the last 5,5 years in addition to his strong focus to the role of research, education and collaboration with the global society.
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WELCOME NEW EMPLOYEES
We welcome new employees and say welcome back to returning employees!
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Dana Kaled, HR partner (2023-01-03)
Karen O’Quin, project coordinator, NASP (2023-01-09)
Emma Eliasson, post doc, NASP (2023-01-09)
Patrik Martinsson, project coordinator, NASP (2023-01-24)
WELCOME NEW TENANTS AT LIME
CLINTEC (Mikael Benson and the Medical Digital Twin Research Group ), StoCHE (Stockholm Centre for Health Economics) and HTA Region Stockholm (Health Technology Assessment). Feel free to take a walk around floor 4 and say hello.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO
Grattis, Onnittelut, Herzliche Glückwünsche, Gratulacje, Συγχαρητήρια
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Carolina Wannheden who has been appointed as an associate professor in Health Informatics.
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NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENT
A mix of LIME internal news and important news from KI.
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MHFA-course
Mental Health First Aid is coming to LIME this Spring. The programme originating from Australia has been adapted to Sweden by NASP. More information will follow per e-mail.
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WANTED
Work environment representative & Health Promoter
Are you interested to become a LIME work environment representative or health promoter? Contact HR (work environment) or Charlotte Rossland (health promoter) if you´re interested.
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The International Association of Universities (IAU) conducted its third survey on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development (HESD) in early 2022. The findings show, that higher education and partnerships are essential to address the global challenges identified in the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to build a more sustainable future together.
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In our LIME Newsletters we interview co-workers to learn more about their work and what´s important to them.
In this edition we meet Henrike Häbel, statistician at the MedStat group at LIME as we ask her all about statistics!
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What is the most asked question you get regarding statistics?
"Can I get a p-value for that?" and "What method do I need to use for that?". In a way, these two questions are identical. However, the former appears to reduce statistics to simply pushing the right button, whereas the latter implies that there is more to statistics than p-values. (P.S. for some a p-value of 0.049 may mean the world and a p-value 0.051 a total disaster. To a statistician, they are equally very weakly significant.)
Do you have a favorite part of the process when doing an evaluation / statistical analysis?
When after meticulously cleaning the data and carefully thinking about what model to use, the data comply, and the model converges. The cherry on top is when the results are in line with the medical motivation of the study.
If you were to recommend a program, which would it be and why?
My answer is a typical statistician’s answer: it depends! If you are uncomfortable with writing code, the budged for a program license and no need for heavy data management, SPSS is a good choice. I also heard that Statistica is a good software (I never used it myself). In our courses, we give computer exercise in both SPSS and R. R is an open-source software with many implemented methods and wonderful visualization possibilities. It requires writing code, but there is good documentation and help online. We at MedStat work a lot with R, STATA and SAS. Personally, I prefer STATA for data management and survival analysis. STATA also requires writing code, but again there is good documentation and help online.
Please, please, please share your most helpful trick when dealing with statistics!
Plot your data! Use histograms or boxplots for numerical continuous variables. When the numerical variable shows a heavily skewed (non-symmetric) distribution, consider non-parametric methods, or generalized linear regression. Categorizing or transforming the data might also help when using methods like the t-test, ANOVA or linear regression are preferred. However, these might come with loss of information or interpretability.
Where can we find you? Is it ok to pop by with a question?
All of MedStat sit close to the big lunchroom (rooms 4122-4125). You are welcome to come by for a quick question or for finding a time for a consultation (the costs are 1100 kr / hour). However, since we often have meetings, teaching or are in deep-focus-work-mode, the best way to reach us is by sending an e-mail to medstat@ki.se. In your e-mail to us, please write about
| • | the study aim, | | • | research question / hypothesis, | | • | type of data, and | | • | what type of input is needed (e.g. read through text, help with review, conduct analyses). |
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What common misstakes in statistics have you observed and what can be done to avoid them?
Thinking “This (e.g. t-test, ANOVA, linear regression) is easy, I can do this myself.” without being aware of the underlying modelling assumptions and how / when to check them. Here, it is usually the more senior researchers that have this attitude. For this and other reasons, we believe that there should be more courses available for supervisors and principal investigators.
What does a statistician do outside work?
I have been a runner all my life. For me it is the best way to clear my head and stay in balance. Over the years, I added cross-country skiing, swimming, and biking. One of my biggest achievements is over-coming my seaweed-phobia (dead seaweed is fine) to train open-water swimming in preparation for the Swedish classic. I sometimes go running in Hagaparken. Let me know if you like to join!
Thank you Henrike!
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You will find these events (not save the dates) in the LIME calendar.
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2023-02-23 HI Conversations seminar
2023-03-13 Dissertation Sara Ingvarsson, MMC
2023-03-17 Dissertation Therese Scott Duncan, HIC
2023-03-31 Dissertation Charilaos Koufidis, HIC / MINT
SAVE THE DATES
2023-03-08 Supervisor forum @ LIME (read more below under EDUCATION)
2023-04-13 Cultural Medicine, LIME 20 years celebration series
2023-03-14 Medicinens historia och kulturarv, LIME 20 years celebration series
2023-05-15 to 16 LIME days
We are all heartily welcome to our LIME Days in May! The agenda is not yet set, but will of course aim to be relevant and rewarding for all! We will stay at Hotel J, nicely situated at Nacka Strand. You will all receive an email from our Prefektassistent with information on how to register.
2023-06-07 to 08 Karolinska Institutet Medical Ethics Conference 2023, KIMEC2023
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Are you on Facebook? Join the LIME Unofficial group to share informal information
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News from the overall administration, financial unit, HR, communications and web.
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HUMAN RESOURCES
The negotiations with OFR are now finalized. New salaries will be paid out in February retrospectively from October 1st 2022. All managers with employees organized in OFR have been notified and asked to inform their employees regarding the new salaries.
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Performance management dialogue 1
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It’s time for all Managers to schedule performance management dialogue 1 with your employees. Performance management dialogue 1 must be completed by the latest in March 2023.
We have sent a list of employees to each manager by e-mail. Keep in mind that new employees who are added after the list was sent must also be offered performance management dialogue .
You can find more information about performance management dialog on staff portal.
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Education on performance managemend dialogoue
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Digital webbutbildning A quick review of the performance management dialogue process interview process as well as links to all governing and supporting documents that belong to the process.
SharePoint page with in-depth information as well as other forms of preparation material.
The reference group at LIME will reassemble shortly to continue their work. It consists of Clas Rhenberg, Lisa Smeds Alenius, Maria Herdland and Halil Jusufoglu.
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Photos for digital screen in the small kitchen
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Please let Marie Lind know if you have something (.png) that you would like to share on the digital screen in the small kitchen.
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Good luck Ulrika Nelsson
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Lycka till at your new HR job in Uppsala!
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LIME Education web pages (link).
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Doctoral education board
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The board for doctoral education at LIME has a partially new composition, as we have two new doctoral student representatives and former doctoral student representative Therese Scott Duncan finishes her assignment. Veronica-Aurelia Costea and Emma Hedberg Rundgren are the new doctoral student representatives.
SAVE THE DATE: Welcome to the fifth Supervisor forum @ LIME!
8 March 2023 on Zoom, 10.00-11.00 This forum is intended for everyone who supervises, has supervised, or wants to supervise doctoral students at the department.
Topic: "Recruitment, admission and career planning for doctoral students"
If you have any topics you would like us to address at this forum, or at later forums, or if you have any questions – please contact Ingrid Smedberg.
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Specific news submitted from all of LIME's centres/divisions & units/research groups.
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Karolinska Institutet Medical Ethics Conference 2023
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Welcome to KIMEC2023, aimed at bringing together researchers in medical ethics in Sweden and abroad. The conference will take place at Karolinska Institutet on the 7th to 8th of June, 2023.
We welcome contributions presenting ongoing work in medical ethics, broadly conceived. In particular, we welcome normative approaches or empirical work with clear normative relevance to topics in clinical ethics, public health ethics, research ethics, and medical law.
Keynote speakers
Kristine Bærøe, University of Bergen: Translational ethics: On bridging the theory–practice gap in medical ethics
Angus Dawson, National University of Singapore: What role should trust play in medical ethics?
Niels Lynøe, Karolinska Institutet: How to study hidden values in health care?
There is no participation fee for this event, but places are limited. Registration will be necessary for those wishing to attend. For more information visit KIMEC2023.
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Tanja Tomson at Medicinvetarna
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In the latest episode of the KI podcast MedicinvetarnaTanja Tomson is being interviewed about research when it comes to smoking cessation methods.
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Solvig Ekblad is expert in ”Ukrainare i Härnösand”, ESF funding, Invandrarindex is in charge of the project. Every fifth’s week Solvig Ekblad, Oksana Gramatik and Yuliia Suprun start up the short intervention “Hälsoskola” (2 hours/week with guest speakers) with a new group of Ukrainian refugees (EU:s mass refugee directive) (For more information www.ukrainakomeptens.se)
This Spring Solvig Ekblad coordinates this a group of 13 medical students, Master in medicine (KI/MEB).
The book release of "Hälsa och mångfald – ett kliniskt perspektiv" at Liber, January 25 was a success with many people attending. A short video shows the first part of the presentation.
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Illustrations from Pixabay and Marie Lind. 2023-02-15
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