First Flight High School

First Flight High School teacher Susan Blackwell's AP Statistics class hosted guest speaker Joy Ostroff on October 24. Ostroff is on a team of nurses in charge of oncology clinical trials at UNC Chapel Hill - overseeing up to 200 trials at a time with 1000+ participants. Using a PowerPoint presentation, Ostroff shared the four phases of clinical trials, and the protocol for FDA approval of new treatments and drugs. In addition to giving Blackwell's students a good look into a statistics-related career, Ostroff's presentation contained elements of lung and breast cancer awareness throughout. In their written reflections following Ostroff's visit, Blackwell's students expressed surprise that it takes an average of 14.3 years to get a drug approved; and an average of 1-3 billion dollars are spent on each trial.

Photo: Gloria Meads