The Statistics Unit was formed in 1991 and has since expanded to include a total of 13 statisticians. The head of the Unit is André Charlett (also the interim Director of the Statistics, Modelling and Bioinformatics Department) who joined the Unit in 1993. The statisticians work on projects arising throughout the Health Protection Agency with most individuals assigned to specific divisions or departments with whom they work closely.

The work of the Unit is diverse, ranging from analysis of small ad hoc studies and investigations of outbreaks to full participation in the design, analysis and reporting of large national and international studies. Statistical input to all areas of work includes the development of protocols, calculation of appropriate sample sizes, construction of databases, analysis of data and presentation of results for reports and publications.

The aim of the Unit is to enable the divisions within the HPA to do their research, development, and service work as efficiently and effectively as possible. This involves in-depth collaboration with non-statistical scientists, the provision of a consulting service (see below for more details), and making available advice and training for common statistical techniques and packages. Input is also provided to a number of training programmes within the Centre for Infections.

There is a statistician from the Unit 'on duty' for consultation by anyone within the HPA with a statistical query from 10am - 4pm, Monday to Friday. Those on the Colindale site are welcome to bring their query up to the Statistics Unit in person if they wish. Alternatively and for those not on the Colindale site you can obtain support via the SMB online helpdesk.

We provide training in software packages such as EpiData and EpiData Analysis, and also contribute to other training courses provided by the Centre for Infections.

If you are interested to know if we have any current vacancies, please check the HPA recruitment page.

Please see the top of the page for our contact details. You can also e-mail us at this address: stats.unit@hpa.org.uk.

Please note that ANY media requests for particular figures or data should be directed to the Press Office in the first instance.
Telephone: 020 8327 6647 for the Press Office on the Colindale site.
Alternatively, contact them by e-mail at cfipressoffice@hpa.org.uk

• Developments of methods for estimation/projection of the HIV epidemic
  Added/updated: 19 December 2008