If you think that statistics has nothing to say about what you do or how you could do it better, then you are either wrong or in need of a more interesting job. Stephen Senn explains here how statistics determines many decisions about medical care, from allocating resources for health, to determining which drugs to license, to cause-and-effect in relation to disease. He tackles big themes: clinical trials and the development of medicines, life tables, vaccines and their risks or lack of them, smoking and lung cancer and even the power of prayer. He entertains with puzzles and paradoxes and covers the lives of famous statistical pioneers. By the end of the book the reader will see how reasoning with probability is essential to making rational decisions in medicine, and how and when it can guide us when faced with choices that impact on our health and even life.

Stephen Senn originates from Switzerland and grew up in the Alps.

He is married and has two children.

Professor, Department of Statistics, University of Glasgow

Senn studied economy and statistics at the University Exeter. In 1974 he was

awarded with the BA in economy and statistics in Exeter. In 1977 MSc in

Information Processing, University Exeter. In 1985 PhD in statistics at the

University Dundee. In 1993, chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical

Society.

Senn worked for three years as statistician of NHS in England, during 1975-

1978. Finally, he was Lecturer and a Senior Lecturer in Statistics in Scot-

land for nine years (1978-1987). He worked in Switzerland for 8 years as a

statistician and the head of the group in the pharmaceutical industry dur-

ing 1987-1995. During 1995-2003, Senn was the professor of pharmaceutical

and Health Statistics. As from 2003, Senn is professor in Glasgow, Scotland,

and also a consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. Co-editor of several

scientific journals.