Andrew Julian Vickers (born 11 February 1967) is a biostatistician and attending research methodologist at

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

. Since 2013, he has also been professor of public health at

Weill Cornell Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

. He is the statistical editor for the peer-reviewed journal ''

European Urology ''European Urology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering urology. It was established in 1975 and is published by Elsevier. It is the official journal of the European Association of Urology. The editor-in-chief is James Catto (Univer ...

''.

Education and career

Vickers received his B.A. from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1989 and his D.Phil. from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1999. He joined Memorial Sloan Kettering in 1999 as an assistant attending research methodologist, before being appointed an associate attending research methodologist there in 2006 and an attending research methodologist in 2012.

Research

Vickers is known for his research into prostate cancer screening. In 2011, he published a study which found that PSA velocity—the change in the blood level of

prostate-specific antigen Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), also known as gamma-seminoprotein or kallikrein-3 (KLK3), P-30 antigen, is a glycoprotein enzyme encoded in humans by the ''KLK3'' gene. PSA is a member of the kallikrein-related peptidase family and is secreted b ...

(PSA)--was not a more accurate predictor of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

than comparing PSA levels to a specific threshold. He was responsible for designing the algorithm that is used in the commercial "4Kscore" test for men with elevated PSA. With colleague Hans Lilja, Vickers published a series of studies demonstrating that a single PSA at age 45 - 60 is an extremely strong predictor of the long-term risk of prostate cancer mortality. Vickers is separately known for his methodological research on prediction modeling - he developed the statistical method known as "

decision curve analysis Decision curve analysis evaluates a predictor for an event as a probability threshold is varied, typically by showing a graphical plot of net benefit against threshold probability. By convention, the default strategies of assuming that all or ...

" - and empirical research into several forms of

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

, particularly acupuncture. Vickers was the lead author of a 2012

meta-analysis A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...

of 29 acupuncture trials published in the ''Archives of Internal Medicine''. Vickers told Reuters that this meta-analysis "provides evidence that atients with painwould be justified in considering acupuncture." Vickers leads the "Amplio" surgical quality assurance initiative at Memorial Sloan Kettering and is Director of the "Web Survey" health informatics core facility.

Personal life

Vickers is a competitive runner and plays

ultimate frisbee Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...

. He has a daughter and two sons.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers, Andrew Alumni of the University of Cambridge Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford British emigrants to the United States Cancer researchers Alternative medicine researchers Biostatisticians 1967 births