Researcher at the Transversal Research Unit (UTR), Tomás López Jiménez, is the new coordinator of the IDIAPJGol Statisticians Network (XEST). López is a statistician and has supported the coordination of the network over the past two years, which was previously led by Lucía Carrasco. The structure was officially established in 2021, although communication channels among members of the statistics community existed before then.

The network brings together around thirty people from across the region. “There are mainly statisticians, but also professionals from other backgrounds, such as mathematicians, engineers, or doctors, who also conduct statistical analyses,” the new coordinator explains.

XEST serves as a space to share cases, resolve questions, and organize training activities. They meet every two months either in person or online, and they have a Teams group where they share documents and exchange opinions. “XEST is a tool that allows in-house statisticians to feel supported, stay up to date on developments related to our work, and exchange knowledge,” says López.

Well regarded

The UTR researcher believes that statisticians are now well regarded. “We help design research protocols and are part of the research group,” he explains. Even so, he admits that “there are researchers who still think of us as just a tool, so they don’t see the need to include us as co-authors of their work.” However, López notes that this attitude is becoming decreasingly common.

The XEST coordinator also urges researchers to involve statisticians from the beginning of their projects. “Sometimes we receive projects with flawed initial designs, and by then it’s too late to fix them,” he states.

Doctoral thesis

On June 25, 2025, López defended his doctoral thesis, co-directed by Diana Puente and Oleguer Plana. The research focuses on the relationship between metabolic syndrome and 13 common types of cancer. The study found a statistically significant correlation between eleven of these neoplasms and metabolic syndrome. In his thesis, López also assessed the impact of different combinations of the five clinical conditions that define metabolic syndrome on cancer occurrence, as well as their relationship with life expectancy in cancer patients.

To develop his thesis, López used data from SIDIAP, which he refers to as “the diamond of IDIAP.”