Christophe Toukam Tchakoute grew up in Cameroon during the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is how he became interested in STEM. His interest was reinforced when he attended the University of Cape Town in South Africa and became curious about the chemistry and cell biology of HIV and how the virus can hijack the immune system for its own benefit. Consequently, he interned in the HIV/AIDS department at the World Health Organization and was introduced to epidemiology and biostatistics. He now works at Genentech and leverages statistics and real-world data to inform clinical trial design for different oncology programs.
AIDS epidemic
Bill William Carter Jenkins
Bill Jenkins began his career as a statistician in the National Center for Health Statistics. He was a biostatistician by day and an activist by night. During his early 20s, he learned of the infamous, unethical Tuskegee syphilis study and worked to expose it. He helped extract an official apology from the federal government and produced a documentary with the survivors. Sadly, he passed away in February 2019 at the age of 73.