Jeff Slezak and Chris Scott are the first two statisticians from Mayo Clinic to receive a Master of Science in Statistics from Iowa State via distance learning. Both students answered questions posed by Continuing Education and Communication Services.

What is your job title and division at Mayo Clinic?
Jeff and Chris: Data Analyst, Biostatistics.

How long have you been employed at Mayo?
Jeff: 6 years.
Chris: 5 years.

In lay terms, what do you do at Mayo?
Jeff: I do statistics for medical research. This involves describing outcomes, comparing treatments, and helping to design and implement research studies.
Chris: I work primarily with the cardiology department on research projects relating to a number of cardiac related areas.

How large a team do you work with at Mayo and what kind of occupations do team members have?
Jeff: That's hard to answer. My department consists of over 100 people with degrees in statistics, but I only work with a couple of them on any given study. The research studies are led by one or a small group of physicians, and may involve residents, medical students, lab personnel, and nurses. For example, the study which provided the data for my creative component, a study of prophylactic mastectomy, its effectiveness and its impact on the women who have it, is led by a medical oncologist, Dr. Lynn Hartmann. The rest of the group consists of a nurse from the women's cancer program, a physician from lab medicine and members of his lab, nurses who specialize in abstracting data from the medical record, an epidemiologist, and three statisticians.

How did you survive working and going to grad school?
Jeff: It took organization, commitment, and encouragement from friends and family. There were times when life got in the way, and it helped that the professors were understanding and gave us some leeway when we needed it.

Chris: Getting started is the tough part. You really have to be prepared to spend the extra time. It's hard working a full day and then realizing that you have to do homework or study. But once you get used to the idea, things just seem to become common. But I'm certainly glad that it's over.

Has the course work helped you in your job? Did you start using new techniques as you took courses?
Jeff: There have been some techniques that I've learned in the courses that I was able to apply immediately to my work. There were also some techniques that I learned in my job that I was able to apply to my course work. A statistician here once made a comment that my work experience was both the best and the worst thing about going to grad school. I had the experience to know what things were likely to be useful in my particular work. Those things were very easy to learn. Other things are rarely used in medical statistics, and studying those things was much more of a challenge.

Chris: As with Jeff, there have certainly been things that I've applied to my job. The classes have also given me a new perspective on ways to do things. My work experience also helped in certain ways.

What are the details of your undergraduate degree?
Jeff: Math with a statistics emphasis from Michigan Technological University received May 1995.
Chris: Statistics with a computer science minor from Western Michigan University received April 1996.

How many Mayo staff started the program when you two did and when did you start taking courses?
Jeff and Chris: 9, fall of 1997.

The Mayo Clinic has various locations. Are staff at other sites in the Iowa State stat program?
Jeff and Chris: Only staff from Rochester, Minnesota.

Did you complete a creative component or thesis?
Jeff: Creative component, 'Analysis of Re-operations after Prophylactic Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction.'
Chris: Creative component, 'Ordinal Logistic Regression Methods.'

Do you plan to continue graduate study?
Jeff: No plans whatsoever.
Chris: No, a M.S. is enough for me.

What are your long-term career goals?
Jeff: To keep working in statistics, applying what I know to help improve medical care. That's the plan at least for the next few years. After that, who knows?
Chris: Continue to apply what I have learned to medical research at Mayo. Long-long term plans are still unclear.

How many times have you come to Ames in connection with this graduate program?
Jeff: I visited once, two years ago, but my defense is the first time I've been required to come to Ames.
Chris: I've been to ISU twice. Once as a speaker at a extended education conference (1998) and once last year just to visit. Like Jeff said, this is the only time we were required to come.

Is Mayo paying for your tuition and books?
Jeff: Mayo reimburses tuition after we finish a class. Books aren't reimbursed.
Chris: Mayo reimburses for tuition, but it is treated as taxable income so you really only get 60% or so back.

How many courses did you take per semester?
Jeff: In general, one. This spring I doubled up with a class I took locally. I'd never do that again!
Chris: Just one per year until this year. Fall and spring semesters, I took an extra class from the Winona State University campus in Rochester.

Why are you two finishing before others who started at the same time from Mayo?
Jeff: We're the only two who stuck with the program.

Do you plan to come to Ames to participate in the graduation ceremonies?
Chris: I will not be attending the graduation ceremonies. I'm actually getting married that day.
Jeff: No, I will not come to Ames. I'll be at Chris' wedding.

Anything to add about completing a master's via distance education?
Jeff: It takes commitment, and I wouldn't recommend trying to do it alone. Having others in the classes was a huge help, as were the numerous statisticians here at Mayo who were very willing to help with questions. It was a great experience, but I'm very glad I'm done!

Chris: It's a great program to have here at Mayo. Since there isn't any other way to further your studies in statistics in Rochester, this has filled a need within our department. The dropout rate is quite high, but at least it gives people the option. And if someone really wants to finish the program, I think we have shown that it can be done.