Willi Sauerbrei - Biography#

In 1983, Willi Sauerbrei received a Diploma in Statistics from Dortmund University, marking the beginning of his academic career at Erlangen University. In 1986, he assumed the role of heading a Clinical Trials Unit at the Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Germany. With different positions, he stayed at this Institute. Until 2002, he steered the Trial Unit, which served as a data and statistical center for national and international trials in oncology, with a particular emphasize on breast cancer. His substantial involvement in several national and international oncology groups and projects continued until 2011.

His methodological contributions revolve around various issues of model building and its reporting. Notably, from 1991 to 2008, he held leading positions in working groups and committees of the German Region of the International Biometric Society (GR-IBS) and the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS).

Jointly with Patrick Royston, he developed the multivariable fractional polynomial (MFP) approach and its extensions, including methodology for investigating interactions with continuous variables. This work is also featured in a book on multivariable model-building. Sauerbrei and Royston have also proposed a strategy for the meta-analysis of continuous variables.

Jointly with Doug Altman, Lisa McShane, and others, he proposed the REporting recommendations for tumor MARKer prognostic studies (REMARK). With the emphasis on providing an overview of all analyses conducted and giving relevant details (e.g., whether important assumptions were checked), they proposed a structured approach for reporting. For prognostic studies, it has two parts and is named the REMARK profile. Meanwhile, the principle is adapted to several other types of studies, including methodological investigations.

A more important and challenging issue is the development of guidance for analysis of observational studies. In a working group of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics (ISCB), Willi initiated ideas to address these issues in 2011, leading to the establishment of the STRATOS (STRengthening Analytical Thinking for Observational Studies) initiative in 2013. He is the chair of this international initiative comprising over 100 members from 21 countries across five continents.

Homepage