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Laurence Freedman, Ph.D

Phone: 03-7731421

Position: Senior Biostatistician, Emeritus Director of Biostatistics & Biomathematics Unit, The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research

Research Interests:

Through publication, consultation, teaching and organizational activities, I have made prominent contributions to both theoretical and applied biostatistics for over 40 years. Much of my applied work has been in the epidemiology and treatment of chronic disease. In my early working life, I was the principal statistician in the British Medical Research Council's Cancer Trials Office where my team designed, co-ordinated and analyzed data of national and international collaborative trials of the treatment of a range of cancers. After moving to the US National Cancer Institute in 1988, I helped to design the Women's Health Initiative, one of the largest disease prevention trials ever conducted, and I served as the principal statistician to the NCI's Polyp Prevention Trial and the NIH-AARP nutritional cohort study.

Over the past 20 years plus, I have played a major role in the development of realistic models of measurement error in dietary reporting and relating dietary intakes to chronic diseases and have published many theoretical and applied papers on this topic. I initiated the theoretical developments that led to the ground-breaking Observing Protein and Energy (OPEN) study and spearheaded several papers on dietary self-reporting errors, using data from that study. More recently I headed the Validation Studies Pooling Project, which has provided meta-analyses of five large validation studies of dietary self-report instruments, so as to provide a state-of-the art summary of our knowledge of dietary self-reporting errors.

Most recently I have been involved in projects developing biomarkers for dietary sugars intake and animal protein intake. During the height of the COVID epidemic, I worked with the team that analyzed national data, revealed the waning effect of the Pfizer vaccine, and evaluated the effect of booster doses. I continue to support projects focusing on the development of risk models including the exploration of the relation between glucose control and glucose-lowering medications among diabetics and cancer development via time-dependent risk models.

Education:

1999, Ph.D, Cambridge University, UK

1976-1977, M.A. (Mathematics), Cambridge University, UK

1970-1971, Diploma (Statistics), Distinction, University College, London, UK

1966-1969, B.A. (Mathematics), Second class honors, Cambridge University, UK

Employment:

2018-pres, Emeritus Director, Biostatistics and Biomathematics Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Tel Hashomer, Israel

2013-Pres, Statistician, Information Management Services, Inc., Rockville MD, USA

2011-2021,Visiting Professor, School of Public Health, Tel Aviv University

2000-2018, Director, Biostatistics Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Tel Hashomer, Israel

1998-2005, Professor of Statistics, Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

1996 -1998, Senior Scientist, Biometry Branch, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

1996-1997, Visiting Professor, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

1993-1996, Acting Chief, Biometry Branch, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

1991-1992, Visiting Scientist, Biometry Branch, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

1988-1991, Expert, Biometry Branch, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

1977-1988, Chief Statistician. Medical Research Council Cancer Trials Office, Clinical Oncology and Radiotherapeutics Unit, MRC Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK

1975-1977, Research Fellow Statistician. Clinical Research Unit, Mersey Regional Centre for Radiotherapy and Oncology, Clatterbridge Hospital, Bebington, Merseyside, UK

1971-1975, Statistician. Medical Research Council Statistical Research and Services Unit, 115 Gower Street, London, UK