Affiliation
Chief Development Officer, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics

Education
Master’s and PhD, Statistics, Baylor University
BA, Psychology, Baylor University

Stacy R. Lindborg was born in Texas and learned the value of adaptability early in life as she moved frequently across the country. Her interest in statistics came from a strength in mathematics, a byproduct of having an engineer as a father who thought studying math in the summer was cool and a desire to contribute to medical problems. As she was finishing her PhD in statistics, she contemplated medical school, but believed her analytical training positioned her to contribute meaningfully to medical research and took her first job in the pharmaceutical industry, where she worked for Eli Lilly & Company for 16 years.

As Lindborg began working on data collected in the pursuit of finding solutions for devastating diseases, she learned one of the greatest strengths of a statistician lies in the depth of knowledge of the data. For example, understanding patterns that are not obvious while simultaneously posing important questions that can be answered by a set of data.

Armed with curiosity and a desire for ‘truth,’ Lindborg realized she was uniquely positioned as a statistician to answer challenging questions and to even change the questions being asked, pushing the conversation toward bigger goals and unique ways of achieving them.

Another critical insight learned early in her career was the importance of clear communication and being at the table when decisions were being made to bring value from novel insights. This created an interest in studying leadership.

Lindborg’s career has allowed her to work on hundreds of drugs, spanning modalities (small and large biomolecules and cell therapies) in diseases that are both rare and prevalent in the population. She has worked on drugs targeting serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases in addition to cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, immunology, and pain. She has been at the center of significant disruption, both in how medicines are developed and in which medicines have been produced. She has served in leadership roles and been accountable for the deliverables and talented people doing the work of statistics and related disciplines such as epidemiology, observational analytics, statistical programming, and data management.

In addition to roles in the statistical arena, Lindborg has held broader business roles, including head of R&D strategy, general product management leadership, and her current role as chief development officer. She has always contributed outside of her formal role, serving in numerous elected and nominated positions within professional societies and, more recently, as a nonprofit and corporate board director.

Lindborg’s view of her greatest achievement is built on studying what motivates others to work. She values traits such as humility, integrity, and ambition, which drive talented individuals to think bigger, prioritize learning over the fear of being wrong, and caring about the journey. She believes achievement of an objective needs to be viewed through the lens of what was accomplished and how it was accomplished. When research and development teams affect human lives through innovative science and advancing medicine within a culture where people can develop their potential, Lindborg has achieved her goal.