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Usama Ali, medical statistician at the Centre for Statistics in Medicine (CSM) wowed the crowd at the Royal Statistical Society’s (RSS) 2017 Young Statisticians Meeting, winning best presentation for his work preventing falls in hospitals.

Usama spoke about his work as a statistician on a project to reduce falls in hospitals, led by NDORMS researcher Associate Prof Andrew Judge and CSM Director Prof Sallie Lamb. This project is funded by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Oxford.

Falls predominantly affect older patients and can cause serious injury. The ‘Stay in the Bay’ intervention aims to help nurses spend more time within bays, rather than having to do all of their administrative tasks from the central nurses’ station. The team is investigating whether wards see a drop in falls after introducing mobile bay-based mini-stations.

Usama said: “I am honoured to have received recognition for our research. Being awarded the prize for best oral presentation came as a surprise as it was the first time I have presented at a conference! The invaluable input and support from the project team as well as my colleagues in CSM, who provided excellent feedback and advice, made this possible.”

The RSS Young Statisticians Meeting is an annual conference for early-career statisticians. The 2017 Meeting, held at Keele University, provided an opportunity for early-career statisticians to exhibit their work, discuss ideas, and network in a friendly and encouraging environment. Attendees included students, academic researchers, and professional statisticians from the Office for National Statistics.

As part of his prize, Usama will present his work at the RSS Annual Meeting in Glasgow later this year. The RSS is a professional body for statisticians and data analysts that advocates for the key role of statistics and data in society. It works to ensure that policy formulation and decision-making are informed by evidence for the public good.