Dr. Ware was a panelist for the Forum’s discussion on Drug Trials.
James Ware’s current research interests focus on methods for clinical trials and the application of biostatistics to clinical/translational research.
In 2008, Harvard received an award from the National Institutes of Health to support a Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), since named Harvard Catalyst (www.catalyst.harvard.edu) to focus on research that accelerates the application of new science to patient care and public health. Dr. Ware serves in the leadership of Harvard Catalyst as associate dean for clinical and translational science.
Dr. Ware has been a statistical consultant to the New England Journal of Medicine since 1990. He teaches courses on longitudinal analysis, clinical trials, and analysis of categorical data at the School, and writes occasional papers on statistical issues in clinical research. In 2013, he developed and served as lead instructor for an online course, Fundamentals of Clinical Trials, offered on the HarvardX platform. About 6,000 students began the course; 3,000 completed the course and received a certificate.
Since 2008, he has led a collaboration with King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to foster learning and research opportunities for Saudi public health and medical professionals. The current focus of that collaboration is development of a new MS program in epidemiology and biostatistics at KAU.
During the 1980s, Dr. Ware collaborated with Professor Nan Laird to develop statistical methods for the design and analysis of longitudinal studies, with application to studies of the health effects of air pollutants. That research led to new methodology for the analysis of longitudinal data (1), and to many publications on the health effects of air pollutants, including particulate air pollution, nitrogen dioxide, and sidestream cigarette smoke (e.g., 2). This work also stimulated research on errors of measurement and their effects on the design and analysis of studies. With colleagues Nan Laird and Garrett Fitzmaurice, Dr. Ware recently completed the second edition of a book on methods for analysis of longitudinal data (3).
Dr. Ware also directed the statistical center for the Brain Injury Trial, a randomized trial comparing two strategies for protecting the brain during surgery to repair transposition of the great arteries in infants (4) and the Data Coordinating Center for the Treatment of Lead Exposed Children Trial (5). This trial, sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, investigated the benefits of chelation to lower blood lead levels in children with high blood lead levels resulting from environmental exposures. He is currently a co-investigator in randomized clinical trials of positive airway pressure as treatment for sleep apnea and vitamin D supplementation to prevent progression to diabetes.
