I am an early-career statistician working as a senior scientist in the biostatistics and research decision sciences division at Merck & Co. My day-to-day activity involves designing clinical trials, writing protocols and clinical study reports, and contributing to the research and development of therapeutic compounds for unmet medical needs—working mainly in the early phase of clinical trials. My primary research areas are Bayesian shrinkage priors, subgroup analysis, real-world data, COVID-19–related applications, and clinical trials.
I came to know about the ASA from my seniors and professors at the University of Louisville—where I did my PhD in biostatistics—and became a member in February of 2017. My primary reason for joining was to learn from researchers in the field, collaborate, and engage in research activities.
The first time I attended the Joint Statistical Meetings was also in 2017. My PhD advisers encouraged me to give a poster presentation. I was quite overwhelmed at the massive nature of the conference, with so many parallel sessions, speakers, and attendees. It was a fantastic opportunity to interact, meet, learn, and network. I still remember the day I boarded the flight, right after giving my PhD qualifier, with a poster in hand that explained a Bayesian subgroup finding method.
STATtr@k helped me find a summer internship in 2018 at Janssen Pharmaceuticals. It also helped me gain exposure to the pharmaceutical industry and oncology therapeutics through a project on Bayesian logistic regression modeling.
The ASA Community’s Young Professionals discussion group, which I used before landing my current role, is one of many helpful resources for anyone seeking a job in the statistics field. Additionally, the ASA website is full of interesting activities and excellent opportunities. For instance, I learned about the Student and Early Career Travel Fund, which helped me attend the 2020 Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference and 2021 Symposium on Data Science and Statistics.
The best thing I like about the ASA is that education and creative minds go hand-in-hand and there is so much encouragement for showing talent, whether performing at a talent show, writing songs or poems for CAUSE, engaging in mentoring activities, or judging at DataFest.
During my PhD candidacy, I was also a member of the ASA Kentucky Student Chapter, which organized seminar series and student presentations that helped me gather more knowledge about various professors’ and colleagues’ research and develop ideas for my thesis research.
In 2019, I went to JSM in Denver to present my thesis on Bayesian shrinkage priors. I also had the opportunity to interact with professionals from the pharmaceutical industry who were interested in hearing from me and encouraged me to apply to open positions on their end. The virtual JSM conferences during COVID-19 allowed me to present, listen to talks, and attend workshops from the comfort of home.
I was delighted to attend JSM 2022, where I was able to interact with friends, colleagues, and professors. I presented “A Two-Part Tweedie Model for Differential Analysis of Omics Data” and participated in the Scientific and Public Affairs Advisory Committee poster competition with “Lack of Association Between COVID-19 Oral Dose Molnupiravir (MOV, MK-4482) Concentration and QTc in Healthy Participants,” part of a collaborative project with colleagues from Merck.
I was happy to join the mixers organized by the International Indian Statistical Society and Biopharmaceutical Section. I also volunteered as a course monitor and chaired a session titled “New Methods with Applications in Mental Health Statistics.” Additionally, the COPSS awards ceremony and invited talks were highly motivating and informative. They exposed me to various areas of statistics, which sparked research ideas. Finally, the exhibit hall was a nice place to meet representatives from a number of companies and associations and grab some gifts (i.e., swag).
Currently, I am involved with many ASA activities, including serving as part of the ASA GivesBack leadership, a program in which we foster giving back to the statistics community. I also mentor students for ThisIsStatistics contests and engage in judging and mentoring activities for the Philadelphia Chapter’s Delaware Valley science fairs and DataFest.
The Biopharmaceutical Section’s mentoring program has helped me navigate my field and channel my queries to learn more about the pharmaceutical field. My mentor has helped me deal with day-to-day challenges, maximizing my early-career years.
I look forward to remaining engaged with the ASA and attending JSM 2023 in Toronto. I also plan to advocate for data science and literacy by meeting US Senate staff in the future.
If you are interested in collaborating on research activities, connect with me on LinkedIn.
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