Can you imagine a researcher and teacher in biostatistics being involved in 1) Creating a NIGHT WATCHMAN, 2) Revising CLUSTER, software used for investigations of disease clusters, 3) Modeling the stochastic nature of a progressive and irreversible disease, and 4) Applying the methods and mindset of biostatistics and biometry to the repair and maintenance of army helicopters? These are four areas of research that occupy my time and attention at present.

THE NIGHT WATCHMAN software is used to analyze data on reportable diseases. One can envision its structure by creating a matrix of disease frequencies and their severities. At each intersection a statistical program is called to analyze the appropriate data for its spatial and temporal characteristics. Too many cases close in either space or time would signal an alarm. At this writing NIGHT WATCHMAN can best be described as developmental, but with realistic expectations of implementation in the near future. It is being developed in collaboration with the Tyneside health district, covering the area north of the River Tyne to the border of Scotland.

CLUSTER has been in the public domain since 1993. A collaborator in Verona and two of us here are adding enhancements to capture a wider range of situations, some of which might also be included in THE NIGHT WATCHMAN. Much modeling remains to be done to link environmental hazards with chronic diseases and syndromes.