We are saddened by the death this year of a distinguished colleague and good friend, Dr. James Hosking, research associate professor and associate director of the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center (CSCC) in the Department of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina. Jim passed away at home under Hospice care on January 25th, 2007. Jim is survived by his wife Jerry, his son Michael, a new UNC graduate, and his mother, Georgia. Michael is headed to Jim's alma mater, Georgia Tech, for graduate school this fall.
Jim received a PhD in quantitative psychology at UNC in 1980 and was hired immediately as an assistant professor in biostatistics. He became research associate professor in 1986 and associate director of the CSCC in 1991. Jim was responsible for designing many of the information systems and processes now in use at the Center, including the earliest remote data entry system used by any NIH coordinating center. "Over the 25 years he worked in the department," says Dr. Lisa LaVange, Director of the CSCC, "he was a remarkable colleague and a true visionary. He will be greatly missed."
Jim will be remembered for his insightful advice on the scientific and statistical aspects of study design and analysis, and his cutting edge ideas for advancing clinical trial data management systems. He was Principal Investigator for a number of pivotal studies that have influenced the current thinking about disease and health and have led to improvements in medical practice.
One of these studies, Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions for Alcoholism (COMBINE), was designed to determine which combinations of behavioral and pharmacologic therapies are most likely to help alcoholic patients stay in treatment, remain abstinent or reduce their drinking and improve their quality of life. Jim was Principal Investigator for the COMBINE coordinating center and played a key role in the design, conduct and analysis of this study, particularly for the primary outcome manuscript that was published in JAMA in May 2006. Alcoholism is a complex disease, and the COMBINE Study has provided the field of alcohol treatment research with a rich dataset to use in investigating how genetics, drinking history and other factors influence response to treatments.
Jim was also coordinating center Principal Investigator for the first clinical trial to test whether intervening on depression and low social support after a heart attack reduces future risk of heart attack and mortality ("Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease Patients," or ENRICHD). The results of this landmark study appeared in the Journal of American Medical Association in 2003, and the trial data continues to be mined for answers to new questions about this challenging and important health problem.
Also, he was Co-Principal Investigator and senior biostatistician on two active trials sponsored by NIDDK: Folic Acid for Vascular Outcome Reduction in Transplantation (FAVORIT) and the Randomized Intervention in Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux (RIVUR).
If you would like to contribute to causes that were important to Jim, two funds have been established in his memory: