Career Development

October 19th, 2023
Building 2, Room 426
1:00 – 2:00 pm

Rui Wang will be giving a talk on the following below at the Lagakos Award Lecture:

A Journey of Joyful Learning and Exploration: Navigating the Seas of Heterogeneity 

Heterogeneous data arise from many sources, such as variations in study populations, measurement methods, and data collection processes. To draw meaningful conclusions from complex biomedical data with inherent heterogeneity manifesting in multiple ways, we need statistical approaches that not only account for the variability but also leverage it to uncover valuable insights. In this presentation, I will share some of our work on the design and analysis of individually- and cluster-randomized trials, where intriguing statistical challenges have spurred the development of new methodologies to address various forms of heterogeneity. I will also reflect on invaluable lessons from Dr. Lagakos and my colleagues during this enlightening journey of learning and exploration.

September 21st 2023: Career Lunchtime Chat w. Dr. Stephanie Hicks

September 21st,2023
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Building 2, Room 426
Career Lunchtime Chat w. Myrto Award Recipient, Dr. Stephanie Hicks

Problem-Forward Statistics and Data Science to Improve Human Health

With unprecedented and growing interest in data science, much debate and discussion has occurred around what role the field of (bio)statistics should play and how to get involved. One area where applied statisticians have led with great success is in genomics where they have made key contributions to genomics broadly applicable to human health and disease. A major reason for this success is summarized in the following phrase: “problem first, rather than solution backwards”. In this talk, I will briefly introduce this problem-forward research philosophy with examples from my own research contributions to statistical genomics and biomedical data science. Specifically, I will introduce single-cell and spatial genomic technologies and discuss unique challenges of these data that have required the development of specialized methods and software infrastructure to successfully derive biological insights. Finally, I will discuss open challenges in data science education including contributions I have made on how to incorporate more real-world problems and data into the curriculum.

April 13th
1:00 – 2:00 pm
Building 2, room 426

Stijn Vansteelandt, Ghent University (Belgium)
Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics

Assumption-lean (causal) Modeling

In 2001, Leo Breiman criticized the statistical community for its reliance on “data models” (Breiman, 2001). In this talk, I will revisit Breiman’s critiques in light of recent developments in algorithmic modeling, debiased machine learning, and targeted learning that have taken place over the past 2 decades, largely within the causal inference literature (Vansteelandt, 2021). These advancements resolve Breiman’s critiques and have brought significant progress in providing more useful answers to scientific questions while also targeting well-understood causal estimands. However, these techniques require in-depth training in causal inference and primarily focus on evaluating the effects of dichotomous exposures, sometimes leading to poor practice (such as dichotomization of a continuous exposure, purely to `fit the framework’) or reversion to the traditional modeling culture when faced with more complex settings. Additionally, translating causal questions into the effects of interventions may not always be feasible or of immediate interest in the more descriptive phases of research where no specific interventions are (yet) envisaged; and even when it is, one may find the data to lack information about the wanted effects (e.g., because the considered intervention is unlikely for some in current practice).

To address these concerns, I will present a conceptual framework on assumption-lean regression (Vansteelandt and Dukes, 2022) that resolves Breiman’s critiques and other typical regression concerns, while building on debiased/targeted machine learning literature. This framework aims to be as broadly useful as standard regression methods, while continuing to resolve Breiman’s concerns and other typical concerns about regression.

A large part of this talk will be conceptual and is aimed to be widely accessible; parts of the talk will demonstrate in more detail how assumption-lean regression works in the context of generalised linear models (Vansteelandt and Dukes, 2022) and Cox proportional hazard models (Vansteelandt et al., 2022). I will also discuss ongoing extensions on flexible (non-parametric) assumption-lean modeling of the effects of a continuous exposure on an outcome.

References:
Breiman, L. (2001). Statistical modeling: The two cultures (with comments and a rejoinder by the author). Statistical science, 16(3), 199-231.
Vansteelandt, S. (2021). Statistical Modelling in the Age of Data Science. Observational Studies, 7(1), 217-228.
Vansteelandt, S and Dukes, O. (2022) Assumption-lean inference for generalised linear model parameters (with discussion). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology), 84(3), 657– 685.
Vansteelandt, S., Dukes, O., Van Lancker, K., & Martinussen, T. (2022). Assumption-lean Cox regression. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1-10.

March 23rd
1:00 – 2:00 pm
Building 2, 426

Lexin Li
Professor of Biostatistics at the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
University of California, Berkeley

Statistical Neuroimaging Analysis: An Overview

Understanding the inner workings of human brains, as well as their connections with neurological disorders, is one of the most intriguing scientific questions. Studies in neuroscience are greatly facilitated by a variety of neuroimaging technologies, including anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), diffusion tensor imaging, positron emission tomography (PET), among many others. The size and complexity of medical imaging data, however, pose numerous challenges, and call for constant development of new statistical methods. In this talk, I give an overview of a range of neuroimaging topics our group has been investigating, including imaging tensor analysis, brain connectivity network analysis, multimodality analysis, and imaging causal analysis. I also illustrate with a number of specific case studies.

 

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March 9, 2023: Career Lunchtime Chat w. Dr. Susan Murphy

Career Lunchtime Chat w. Susan Murphy
March 9th
1:00 – 2:00 pm
Building 2, Room 426

Susan Murphy
Mallinckrodt Professor of Statistics and of Computer Science,
Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

Inference for Longitudinal Data After Adaptive Sampling

Adaptive sampling methods, such as reinforcement learning (RL) and bandit algorithms, are increasingly used for the real-time personalization of interventions in digital applications like mobile health and education. As a result, there is a need to be able to use the resulting adaptively collected user data to address a variety of inferential questions, including questions about time-varying causal effects. However, current methods for statistical inference on such data (a) make strong assumptions regarding the environment dynamics, e.g., assume the longitudinal data follows a Markovian process, or (b) require data to be collected with one adaptive sampling algorithm per user, which excludes algorithms that learn to select actions using data collected from multiple users. These are major obstacles preventing the use of adaptive sampling algorithms more widely in practice. In this work, we proved statistical inference for the common Z-estimator based on adaptively sampled data. The inference is valid even when observations are non-stationary and highly dependent over time, and (b) allow the online adaptive sampling algorithm to learn using the data of all users. Furthermore, our inference method is robust to miss-specification of the reward models used by the adaptive sampling algorithm. This work is motivated by our work in designing the Oralytics oral health clinical trial in which an RL adaptive sampling algorithm will be used to select treatments, yet valid statistical inference is essential for conducting primary data analyses after the trial is over.

 

Career Lunchtime Chat w. Dr. Fernanda Viegas & Dr. Martin Wattenberg
February 9, 2023
1:00 – 2:00 pm
FXB G03

Fernanda Viegas
Sally Starling Seaver Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute
Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Martin Wattenberg
Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science

Beyond graphs and charts: harnessing the power of data visualization 

While most of us are familiar with simple graphs such as bar charts and line charts, data visualization is a broad and expressive medium. In this presentation we’ll touch on some of the visual techniques for powerful exploratory data analysis that look at different kinds of rich data such as text and images. We’ll also discuss storytelling with data and the key differences between communication and exploration with data visualization.

 

Visit with department alumna Irina Degtiar, PhD ’21, Statistician at Mathematica Research
Thursday Feb 2, 2023 | 1:00 – 2:30pm | Room 426 in-person

(Joint date/time this week with the Biostat Student Seminar!)

Lunch provided: Please RSVP here 

After obtaining her PhD in biostatistics from Harvard in 2021 (Generalizability Methods for Estimating Causal Population Effects, advisers Sherri Rose and Francesca Dominici), Irina Degtiar has been working as a Statistician at Mathematica, where she had also interned during her PhD. Mathematica is an employee-owned social policy research company whose mission is to improve public well-being. As a member of the health division, Irina works on projects spanning primary care delivery, transgender health, and surgical device clinical trials, while using and developing methods for generalizability, causal inference, small area estimation, and more. Mathematica offers data science internships for SM and PhD students and fellowships for PhD students – Irina will discuss both. With prior experience also in several industry as well as academia settings, Irina has a wealth of insight and advice for our students!

https://www.mathematica.org/staff/irina-degtiar

Lunchtime Career Chat with Colloquium Speaker Dr. Tamara Broderick

Thursday Jan 26, 2023 | 1:00 – 2:00pm | Room 426

https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/aK81MBJb

A tradition began in 2017 linking our department colloquium series with career development, and it will continue this year!  Colloquium speaker Lunchtime Career Chats (organized with Dr. Hejazi, Dr. Duan and Dr. Lake) are separate from the colloquium talks and reserved specifically to be informal, career-based discussions with our invited colloquium speakers, over lunch.  See the Colloquium announcement and emails from Katie Pietrini for more info!  

Part 3:  What Color is Your ‘Biostatistics’ Parachute?
Wednesday, November 30 |  1:00-2:00pm EST |  Room 426 (in-person)

RSVP upcoming, for non-pizza lunch and drinks

Many students who attended the Oct 26 ‘What is Your Biostatistics Parachute?’ workshop requested a follow-up sequel!

Possible upcoming ‘roundtable’ topics include:  Further discussion around areas and roles our graduates access; alums and colleagues out in the field across all the areas we highlight; thinking about PhD programs and/or postdoc positions; internships; job search approach; negotiation/package standards; interview features, and more…

*Look out for a survey to collect your questions and topics of interest in advance – these workshops are driven by YOU!

Join Erin Lake and fellow students for Part 2/3 or for the first time!  All department members are welcome.

A Visit with CBAR
Wednesday October 19 | 1:00-1:50pm | Bldg 2, Rm 426

RSVP for lunch here

Join The Center for Biostatistics and AIDS Research (CBAR) statisticians and programmers for a lunch panel presentation and discussion on topics ranging from current CBAR research and ongoing clinical trials (some of the largest in the world), to individual experiences and real-time job search advice. Hear what it’s like to work in a collaborative research environment on current HIV / infectious disease trials and observational studies.  Be sure to come with questions about CBAR’s current and upcoming openings for both PhD and Master’s level positions.  Panelists will address the following as well as general topics relevant to the job search and interview process in our field: 

* What IS CBAR?
* What is it like to be a statistician or programmer at CBAR?
* What cutting edge research is ongoing across several of CBAR’s major networks (which include the AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) and the Infant Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT))
* What training, career progression, and mentoring practices exist at CBAR which make it unique?
* What job opportunities are currently open at CBAR?
* What is CBAR looking for in job candidates and during interviews?
* What coursework in our department is helpful to have completed? 
* What advice would alumni of our department now working at CBAR have to offer?
…and more?

What Color is Your ‘Biostatistics’ Parachute?
Wednesday, October 26 | 1:00-2:00pm EST | Room 426 (in-person)
RSVP here for pizza only if you plan to attend.

Come one come all! (The array of student interests and questions at this event will drive both the presentation and discussion.)

Whether you are a doctoral or master’s student, have you wondered what opportunities and next steps a degree from our department might afford you? Join Dr. Erin Lake (’01) for a broad outline and overview of the vast array of career opportunities made accessible by a degree in biostatistics, CBQG, or health data science, as well as comparisons between these sectors. We’ll delve into a diagram of career options across academia, industry, the private and government sectors, consulting, non-profits and beyond. What is it like to work on a team in Pharma…or for a CRO—and what is a CRO? What range of roles is there in academia, and what types of funding? Are there non-faculty research roles and what are those like? Where can one find a consulting role as a statistician? What is the role of a data scientist in pharma or biotech? What might be a role for a statistician in government? What is a health-tech role? We’ll discuss the larger picture, but also delve into details of what each sector might focus on from a statistical or data science perspective. Depending on student interest we may delve into details around the CV/resume, job application, interview, presentation or coding challenge.

This will be part presentation by Dr. Lake as well as opportunity for informal sharing by students, as our students have such varied and rich experiences from which to contribute insight and advice (however this is not required to join the conversation!)

April 21, 2022 with Dr. Ting Ye

April 26th, 2022
1:00 – 2:00 pm
Gopal Kotecha ( MD, and 4th year PhD student in Biostatistics
Alma Fredriksson (’21 SM Biostatistics, Product Manager of Clinical AI Applications at MGH & BWH)

Healthcare Data Science: Careers and the lay of the Land

Gopal Kotecha and Alma Fredriksson will be giving a career talk given to last year’s graduating HDS class about healthcare data science.  They will talk about the multitude of healthcare data science roles that sit beside data scientist.  They will touch on how to choose between the many subsectors of healthcare and assessing whether a startup is worth working for.  Finally, they will talk about working as a product manager in a hospital data science team.   Gopal is a G4 in Biostatistics at Harvard Chan.  He previously practiced as a physician, and has experience in a hospital data science team, startups and venture capital.  Alma Fredriksson is a recent Harvard Biostatistics SM Graduate.  She is currently Product Manager, Clinical AI Applications at the MGH & BWH Center for Clinical Data Science and has experience in finance, policy and healthcare.

For Zoom Information Please Email: Kpietrini@hsph.harvard.edu 

February 17th, 2022- Chiara Sabatti, PhD
Professor of Biomedical Data Science
Professor of Statistics
Stanford University 

Genetic variants  across human populations and our understanding of the genetic basis of traits

Abstract: Identifying which genetic variants influence medically relevant phenotypes is an important task both for therapeutic development and for risk prediction. In the last decade, genome wide association studies have been the most widely-used instrument to tackle this question. One challenge that they encounter is in the interplay between genetic variability and the structure of human populations. In this talk, we will focus on some opportunities that arise when one collects data from diverse populations and present statistical methods that allow us to leverage them.

The presentation will be based on joint work with M. Sesia, S. Li, Z. Ren, Y. Romano and E. Candes.

Conquering the Interview:  Erin Lake and Special Guests from Pfizer, BCG Gamma and PayPal

Monday, September 13 & Wednesday September 15, 2021  |  11:30—1:00pm EST (Via Zoom)
(Monday: Overview, Pfizer and BCG Gamma; Wednesday: PayPal and Mock interview practice)

All students are invited to these two consecutive seminars jointly offered by the Career Development Series and the Health Data Science Capstone. On Monday we will welcome Ahsan Huda, Senior Director, Data Science at Pfizer, as well as Jeff Carbone and Kelly Koltun from BCG Gamma, with also presentation by Erin Lake. On Wednesday we will host Hui Wang, VP, Global Data Sciences at PayPal, and do mock interviews.

Mark Meyer, PhD ’14 and Joey Antonelli, PhD ‘16
Thursday, September 9, 2021
 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST (Zoom)

Mark is Assistant Professor of Statistics at Georgetown and affiliate faculty at the Center for Global Health Science and Security in Washington, DC and was previously on the faculty in the Department of Mathematics at Bucknell. Joey is Assistant Professor of Statistics at the University of Florida, and completed a postdoc fellowship prior to his current position.

Email Kpietrini@hsph.harvard.edu for zoom link

Lisa Wruck, PhD’ 04
Wednesday, September 8th 
3:30 – 4:30pm EST (Zoom)

Lisa is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, and Director, Center for Predictive Medicine, Duke Clinical Research Institute. She is also Director of the Duke AI Health Data Science Fellowship Program.

Email Kpietrini@hsph.harvard.edu for zoom link

Lunchtime Career Chat
with Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee
Thursday April 15th  1:00 – 2:00 pm
Zoom Info: Kpietrini@hsph.harvard.edu

Handling Outcome Misclassification and Selection Bias in Association Studies Using Electronic Health Records

In this talk we will discuss statistical challenges and opportunities with joint analysis of electronic health records and genomic data through “Genome and Phenome-Wide Association Studies(GWAS and PheWAS)”. We posit a modeling framework that helps us to understand the effect of both selection bias and outcome misclassification in assessing genetic associations across the medical phenome. We will propose various inferential strategies that handle both sources of bias to yield improved inference. We will use data from the UK Biobank and the Michigan Genomics Initiative, a longitudinal biorepository at Michigan Medicine, launched in 2012 to illustrate the analytic framework.

The examples illustrate that understanding sampling design and selection bias matters for big data, and are at the heart of doing good science with data. This is joint work with Lauren Beesley and Lars Fritsche at the University of Michigan.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Kathryn Roeder
Thursday, March 25th  12:00 – 1:00 pm
Zoom Info: Kpietrini@hsph.harvard.edu 

Statistical challenges in the analysis of single-cell RNA-seq from brain cells

Quantification of gene expression using single cell RNA-sequencing of brain tissues, can be a critical step in the understanding of cell development and differences between cells sampled from case and control subjects.   We describe statistical challenges encountered analyzing expression of brain cells in the context of two projects. First, over-correction has been one of the main concerns in employing various data integration methods that risk removing the biological distinctions, which is harmful for cell type identification. Here, we present a simple yet surprisingly effective transfer learning model named cFIT for removing batch effects across experiments, technologies, subjects, and even species. Second, gene co-expression networks yield critical insights into biological processes, and single-cell RNA sequencing provides an opportunity to target inquiries at the cellular level.  However, due to the sparsity and heterogeneity of transcript counts, it is challenging to construct accurate gene co-expression networks.  We develop an alternative approach that estimates cell-specific networks for each single cell. We use this method to identify differential network genes in a comparison of cells from brains of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and those without.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Devan V. Mehrotra
University of Pennsylvania
Friday, February 12th 1-2 pm

Lunchtime Career Chat with Mariel Finucane, PhD ‘11
Wednesday, October 21 1:00-1:55pm
Zoom info: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/3938231131?pwd=S3BxWnJrcWZQZk16eGkxYjQvTTVJUT09

All students and postdocs are welcome to join us in meeting Mariel, hearing about her path, her insights and advice! After exploring the world of statistical genetics as a postdoc, Mariel shifted focus to social policy research and joined Mathematica in 2014, where she currently is a Senior Statistician. “It’s a wonderful place to work: my colleagues are brilliant and collaborative; my datasets are big and structured; there’s time for methods work; and the applied research questions (about e.g. Obamacare implementation, school re-openings, and unemployment insurance) are all things that you’d enjoy reading about in the newspaper during your free time” says Mariel. From a lifestyle perspective, Mariel shares her enjoyment of many of the pluses of an industry job, while getting to work for an organization whose explicit mission is to improve public well-being.

CV Polishing from the Biostatistics Perspective, with Erin Lake
Friday, October 16, 2020
1:00-2:00pm EST
Sign up for a slot here
Zoom info: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/3938231131?pwd=S3BxWnJrcWZQZk16eGkxYjQvTTVJUT09
PhD students are welcome to sign up for guidance on your CV, geared toward academia, industry or elsewhere, via individual meetings with Erin Lake.

Monday, September 28, 2020
11:30—1:00pm EST
Conquering the Interview: Spotlight on Health Data Science
Email for Zoom information
Heather Mattie and Erin Lake invite you to these seminars jointly offered by the Career Development Series and the Health Data Science Capstone.
Distinct hiring cycles exist in various areas of our field, with that for data science typically commencing sooner in the year than the traditional biostatistics and computational biology roles. With that said, some traditional roles now also incorporate data science in various ways. Join us for an overview of the (health) data science interview process, including input and notes from students who have gone before you, insights and advice from faculty, a visit with several special guests in hiring roles out in the field, and a practice interview session. More info to follow. (Open to all students in the Department of Biostatistics. Geared toward SM students.)

Wednesday, September 16, 2020
1:00-1:55pm EST
Email for Zoom info
Learn what resources HSPH, GSAS and the Department of Biostatistics offer students.
Discuss application/hiring timelines across our discipline as you look ahead into the year.
Meet Alison McAlear and Sheila Krishnan, HSPH OCPD.
Hear insights and advice from 2020 Department of Biostatistics alumnus Mat Samuel (Health Data Science), and current SM Student Committee Chair and 2nd year (international) student, Alma Fredriksson (Biostatistics).
Moderator: Dr. Erin Lake
Bring questions and your lunch, and don’t miss this informal kickoff to the new academic year!

‘The ins and outs of applying for faculty positions’
Lunchtime Career Chat with Jessica Gronsbell ‘17

Wednesday, April 29, 2020
1:00-2:00pm | RSVP here
Zoom Info: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/993176ha77395
Dial-in:  +1 929 436 2866

We are thrilled to have Jesse back to visit and share her insights into the current academic job market and search process!

Jesse Gronsbell is currently a data scientist at Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences. Prior to joining Verily, she earned her PhD in the department under the direction of Tianxi Cai, and then was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford with Lu Tian.  Jesse’s research focuses on the development of statistical and machine learning methods to understand the digital phenotype – the health information that is left behind in the digital data we generate in our everyday lives.

Jesse made the decision to return to academia this year and has just completed her job search.  She is thrilled to be joining the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto, also with a faculty affiliation at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, starting this summer.  In this talk, Jesse will share what she learned in her application process in hopes of helping those interested in pursuing a role in academia.

Lunchtime Informal Q&A Discussion Around Current Challenges in Job/internship/research-project Searches

Friday, April 24, 2020 – focus on Master’s level current search activity
1:00-2:00pm | RSVP here
Zoom Info:  https://harvard.zoom.us/j/95058821625
Dial-in:  +1 929 436 2866

Join fellow (current) students and postdocs in a supportive setting to connect and share questions, challenges, experiences and insights around the current state of job/internship/research-project search activities.  Some opportunities have been cancelled amidst the pandemic, while others have become available.  This is an opportunity for members of the department to share and learn from one another regarding how various areas of our field are faring, and accommodating (or not) the global scene.  Any (current) Master’s student, PhD student, postdoc, or recent alum of the department is invited to this meeting.

Lunchtime Career Options and Preparations Seminar with Erin Lake

Friday, April 17, 2020
1:00-2:00pm – RSVP here
Zoom Info: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/99202433075
Dial-in:  +1 929 436 2866

Join Erin Lake (’01) for both a broad and detailed overview of the array of career opportunities made accessible by a degree in biostatistics, CBQG, or health data science, as well as comparisons between these sectors.  (For instance, in pharma, where in the development process of an investigational new drug might be roles for each of these degrees? How about in the academia, or nonprofit settings?) Depending on student attendance and interests, we may discuss tips around establishing ‘presence’ for starting a career in our field, interview preparation, and the elements of strong cover letters and CVs/resumes.

Lunchtime Informal Q&A Discussion Around Current Challenges in Job/internship/fellowship/postdoc/research-project Searches

Join fellow students and postdocs in a supportive setting to connect and share questions, challenges, experiences and insights around the current state of job/internship/fellowship/postdoc/research-project search activities.  Some opportunities have been cancelled amidst the pandemic, while others have become available.  This is an opportunity for members of the department to share and learn from one another regarding how various areas of our field are faring, and accommodating (or not) the global scene.  Any (current) student, postdoc, or recent alum of the department is invited to this meeting.

Wednesday, April 15, 2020 – focus on PhD level current search activity
1:00-2:00pm – RSVP here
Zoom Info:  https://harvard.zoom.us/j/95893089899
Dial-in:  +1 929 436 2866

Lunchtime Career Chat with Shira Mitchell, PhD ‘14

Friday, April 10, 2020
1:00-2:00pm
Zoom Info:  https://harvard.zoom.us/j/856022084
Dial-in:  +1 929 436 2866
RSVP here

Join us this Friday for a lunchtime career chat with Shira Mitchell, who will be Zooming in to meet with us from NYC!  Shira is a statistician working in politics.  After her PhD at Harvard and postdoc at Columbia, she worked at Mathematica Policy Research on small area estimation and causal inference for federal agencies (mostly Medicare and Medicaid).  She then worked at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics (MODA), deploying and critiquing data-driven policy.  Now she works at Civis Analytics on the company’s political research team in NYC.

We are thrilled to have Shira join us and look forward to a great discussion! Bring questions, or join us simply to learn of Shira’s experiences and insights.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Natalie Dean, PhD ‘14

Friday,  April 3, 2020
1:00-2:00pm
Zoom Info: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/964308949
Dial-in: +1 929 436 2866
RSVP here (just to give us a sense of numbers, otherwise feel free to pop on the call!)

Join us this Friday for a special chat with alumna Natalie Dean, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Florida. She researches methods for infectious disease epidemiology, with a particular focus on emerging pathogens and study design. She is Principal Investigator on an NIH/NIAID R01 to design innovative strategies for evaluating vaccines during outbreaks. Natalie will also talk about her experiences doing collaborative research on Ebola, Zika, and now COVID-19. Natalie has made recent appearances on CNN, BBC, and will join a panel at the Marvin Zelen Symposium this week, regarding her work and expertise in areas now critical to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will get a chance to talk informally with Natalie about her former studies, job search process, career trajectory and insights, the juggle of personal life and work, and keeping it all in balance during this fast-paced time in world research!  Natalie completed her dissertation ‘Surveillance Methods for Monitoring HIV Incidence and Drug Resistance’ with Marcello Pagano.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Emily Slade ’18

Thursday, March 5
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided

Emily Slade, PhD 2018, will join us for a Lunchtime Career Chat to share about her experience as a new faculty member at the University of Kentucky!  Emily has a wealth of experience and insight both in academia and industry, and was the original founder of the Harvard Biostatistics Student Consulting Center in our department. Come for an informative discussion, and bring your questions!

Lunchtime Career Chat with Kara Higgins ’18, and Ashley McKhann ‘16

Tuesday, February 25 
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided

Join in for an informal discussion with Kara Higgins, Biostatistician II at PROMETRIKA, and Ashley McKhann, Biostatistician II at HCSPH/CBAR! Both will have experience, advice and information on internships they completed, the organizations they now work for, and insight into the student experience and job search process.

Kara Higgins is a Biostatistician II at PROMETRIKA, where she works on statistical design and analysis for Phase I-III clinical trials for pharmaceuticals in a wide range of indications. Kara graduated with a Master of Science in Biostatistics from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2018.

Ashley McKhann is a Biostatistician II at the Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research (CBAR). She works on statistical analyses for clinical trials focused on people living with HIV, specifically in the areas of HIV cure and neurocognitive disease. Ashley graduated with a Master of Science in Biostatistics from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2016.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Alumnae Tai Cai ‘17, and Ina Jazic ‘18

Monday, February 24
1-2pm | Rm 426
Lunch provided

Join in for an informal discussion with Tai Cai, data scientist at Uber, and Ina Jazic, Senior Biostatistician II at Vertex! Bring questions for lively discussion! Tai and Ina each have unique experiences, and insight into topics ranging from dissertation work, the job search, and current topics out in the field.

Tai Cai is a data scientist at Uber working on competitive intelligence problems. Prior to Uber, he spent 2.5 years as a data scientist in cybersecurity risk management at a start-up called BitSight. Tai graduated in 2017 with a PhD in Biostatistics, advised by Tianxi Cai and Francesca Dominici.

Ina Jazic is a Senior Biostatistician II at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where she works on the design and analysis of clinical trials in pain and rare diseases, as well as methodology for adaptive design. Ina graduated with a PhD in Biostatistics from Harvard University in 2018, advised by Sebastien Haneuse.

CV, Resume and Cover Letter Working Session

Wednesday, February 12
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided

This interactive workshop with Dr. Erin Lake is geared toward both our Master’s and PhD students. Learn tips on how best to present yourself with your CV or resume, cover letter, and online presence, for academia, industry, and more.  Please bring 2-3 copies of your well-developed (reviewed already) and pre-edited working CV and/or cover letter.  We will focus on strengthening these materials from the biostatistics, CBQG, and HDS perspectives. ​

Preparing for the Job Interview in Biostatistics and/or Data Science

Monday, February 10
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided

This interactive workshop with Dr. Erin Lake is geared toward both our Master’s and PhD students. Learn tips on how best to prepare and present yourself after landing the interview. No matter the role or degree level going into the interview, most interview processes share common, basic elements.  Differences in the interview process across sectors in the field (academia versus industry, or biostatistics versus health data science, say), will also be discussed, depending on the interests of attendees at the workshop.  Participants will also get some practice interviewing (this is optional).

What Color is Your ‘Biostatistics’ Parachute?

Monday, February 3, 2020 and Wednesday, February 5
1-2pm | Room 426

Whether you are a doctoral or master’s student, have you ever wondered what the diagram of statistics, CBQG and data science career options looks like across academia, industry, the private and government sectors, consulting, non-profits and beyond?  Join Dr. Erin Lake (’01) for a broad outline and overview of the vast array of career opportunities made accessible by a degree in biostatistics, CBQG, or health data science, as well as comparisons between these sectors.  What’s it like to work on a team in Pharma…or for a CRO—and what is a CRO?  What range of roles is there in academia, and what types of funding?  Are there non-faculty research roles and what are those like? Where can one find a consulting role as a statistician?  What is the role of a data scientist in pharma or biotech? What might be a role for a statistician in government? We’ll discuss the larger picture, but also delve into details of what each sector might focus on from a statistical or data science perspective.

Many of our students inquire about such information, so we will hit on a sampling of requested topics in this seminar, with opportunity for discussion and sharing by students as well.  All are welcome.  If need be, we will reserve an upcoming lunch hour to hit on additional topics that come up or that we don’t have time to cover in this seminar.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Beth Ann Griffin, PhD ’06, Senior Statistician, RAND Corporation

Thursday, November 14
1:00pm – 2:00pm | Kresge G1
Light lunch provided

Please RSVP here

Beth Ann’s research has largely focused on causal effects estimation when using observational data. Her substantive research has primarily fallen into three areas: (1) substance abuse treatment for adolescents, (2) the impact of non-genetic factors on Huntington’s disease, and (3) the effects of gun and opioid state policies on outcomes. She co-directed the RAND Center for Causal Inference between 2013-2018. Currently, Griffin is a co-investigator on Gun Policy in America, a RAND initiative to understand the effects of gun policies, and is co-directing RAND’s Opioid Policy Tools and Information Center (OPTIC) to foster innovative research, tools and methods for tackling the opioid epidemic.

Join Beth Ann over the lunch hour to hear more about her work and career, and the steps leading up to her current roles, as well as information on summer or full-time research opportunities. (Link to bio HERE)

Biostatistics Industry Career Panel:  Leveraging Biostatistics, CBQG and HDS Degrees for Roles in Industry

Thursday, October 24
Career Panel | 2:15-3:45pm
Kresge G1- Snyder Auditorium – RSVP

Post-Career Panel Drop-in Refreshments & Visiting | 3:45-4:45pm
Kresge Atrium off Sebastian’s Café – RSVP

Panelists:

Yannis Jemiai

AB ’97, PhD Biostatistics ’05
Chief Scientific Officer, Cytel

Yannis Jemiai is Chief Scientific Officer at Cytel Inc., a specialized provider of data-focused clinical research services and software solutions for the design and analysis of clinical trials, including industry standards East® and Xact®. In his role as CSO, Dr. Jemiai leads the product development and strategic consulting teams helping clients design innovative studies and answer tough questions about their data. His research interests include adaptive designs, modeling and simulation, quantitative decision-making, and causal inference.

Patti Bernardo
PhD Biostatistics, 1998
VP of Biostatistics and Statistical Programming, resTORbio

resTORbio is a small biotech company working on medicines that target the biology of aging to prevent or treat aging-related diseases. In this role, Patti’s primary responsibilities include taking care of all statistical aspects of trial design and analyses of data generated from our clinical trials.  She also makes sure that our analyses and datasets are compliant with regulatory requirements.   Patti’s dissertation advisor was Dave Harrington.

Anthony Lamattina
SM CBQG ’19
Associate Scientist, Computational Biology, Wave Life Sciences

At Wave, Anthony employs a variety of machine learning-based methods to predict the efficacy of antisense oligonucleotides and identify novel sequence motifs driving compound efficiency. Furthermore, he designs and builds workflows that enable faster and more comprehensive design of new oligonucleotides.

Reiko Nakashima
SM CBQG ’19, PhD (Osaka University) ’11
Principal Scientist, Computational Biology
Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development

Dr. Nakashima applies her interdisciplinary expertise in population science and bioinformatics to develop computational methods and pipelines for discovery research projects. Currently, she leads computational analyses of DNA-sequencing, RNA-sequencing, and single-cell RNA sequencing. She works for different research units and departments including pharmacology science and rare disease at Pfizer.

Abhijith Asok
SM60 Health Data Science ’19
Data Scientist II, Microsoft

Abi is a data scientist with Microsoft AI’s Development Acceleration Program. He facilitates data science efforts on Microsoft projects that integrate Artificial Intelligence capabilities into Microsoft products and services. Working out of the Cambridge, MA Research and Development Center of Microsoft, he is leveraging the data science training he received at Harvard to tackle practical data science challenges on a daily basis.

Amy (Stubbendick) Pace
ScD ’03
Director of Biostatistics, Alexion

Amy Pace is currently Director of Biostatistics at Alexion, working in Neurology Clinical Development as the Biometrics lead on the Eculizumab Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) program.  Prior to Alexion, Amy worked at Biogen for almost 13 years across development and life cycle management in Multiple Sclerosis and Hemophilia and headed up the Worldwide Medical Biostatistics group. She received her ScD in Biostatistics from Harvard  in 2003 and completed undergraduate studies at St. Olaf College in MN.  (Amy has run the Boston Marathon 13 times!)

Internship Roundtable

(In collaboration with the Biostatistics Student Seminar—look out for student presentations and discussion on internships earlier in week!)

Friday, October 11
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided
RSVP by Wednesday, October 8

It’s a week of exposure to internship experiences and opportunities shared by our students, as well as special guests.

This roundtable discussion is by and for the students. Come and share your own internship experience, or hear from others on all aspects of the student internship experience from landing the internship to carrying it out successfully. Many of our master’s students complete summer internships the summer after their first year, and some have part-time roles during the school year. Several of our doctoral students acquire and complete internships every year as well–depending on funding and dissertation timelines.

PhD student and Postdoc CV working session

Wednesday, October 2
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided

RSVP by TODAY, Monday, Sept 30

In addition to the 1-2pm workshop, you can sign up for 1-1 mini-meetings with Laura HERE.

Those planning to attend, please fill out THIS survey so that we can best meet your needs.

We are thrilled to welcome Laura Stark, PhD, Director of Graduate Career Services, OCS/GSAS, who will join Dr. Erin Lake, ’01, for this doctoral student and postdoc CV/cover letter working session. This workshop is specifically geared toward our doctoral students and postdocs, and is strategically placed at this time of year for potential applicants to academic institutions, as well as industry or government roles, and more. (Look out for a brief survey so that we can learn who will attend and what their specific needs will be.)  Learn tips on how best to present yourself with your CV and cover letter for academia and industry.  Please bring 2-3 copies of your well-developed (reviewed already) and pre-edited working CV and/or cover letter.  We will focus on strengthening these materials from the biostatistics perspectives. Dr. Stark will also be holding shorter, focused meetings that afternoon between 2:15-3:30, in follow up to our working lunch session (more info and signup for those, to come).

Lunchtime Career Chat with Colin Begg, PhD.

Thursday May 2
1-2pm | Lunch provided 

Chairman and Attending Biostatistician
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Professor of Biostatistics and Public Health, Cornell University

Dr. Begg will meet with students before he receives the 2019 Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science that afternoon. The award will be presented to Dr. Begg in recognition of his leadership in statistical methods for cancer research, his fundamental contributions to design and analysis of clinical trials and diagnostic imaging studies, his years of service on national advisory committees, his extensive contributions to leading research journals, his commitment to mentorship and leadership in the statistical community, and for building an environment in which statistics and its applications have flourished.

See website for more on Dr. Begg’s career highlights and information on his lecture.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Edgar Dobriban, PhD (2017, Stanford)
Assistant Professor of Statistics, Department of Statistics, Wharton School

Tuesday April 23
1-2pm | Building 2, Room 426

Lunchtime Career Chat with Owen White, PhD.

Thursday, April 18
12-1pm | Building 2 Room 401
Lunch provided

Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Maryland; Director of Bioinformatics for the School of Medicine;

Associate Director of Informatics of the Institute for Genome Sciences; Associate Director of the UM Center for Health-related Informatics and Bioimaging (CHIB).

RSVP

Dr. Owen White is an internationally recognized expert in bioinformatics with more than 25 years of experience.  He leads a group of over 25 scientists and engineers at the Institute for Genome Sciences who are collectively responsible for the development of nearly all production-level annotation pipelines, database systems, and tools for automated and manual annotation of genomes and metagenomic data sets at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine.  Dr. White’s primary role is to enable the researchers at the School of Medicine to perform state of the art high-throughput DNA sequence generation and genomic analysis.  He has also obtained funding to build a number of genome analysis tools including tools to build bioinformatics pipelines, visualization tools, and genome standards development.  We are thrilled to host a visit with Dr. White, and welcome all students and postdocs for a career-focused lunch with him during his stay.

Lunchtime Follow up ‘Office Hour’ to Seminar ‘What Color Is Your Biostatistics Parachute?’

Thursday April 11
1-2pm
Building 2 room 426

RSVP

Students and postdocs are welcome to an open office hour session to delve further into topics discussed in the February 27 seminar with Erin Lake.  Given the short lunch hour, some topics were only briefly covered in the original seminar.  All are welcome to bring additional topics and questions for discussion, and we can review CVs/resumes and cover letters as well.

“Office Hours” with Mei Sheng Duh, MPH, ScD, Managing Principal, Analysis Group, Inc.

Thursday April 4
4:30pm – after Lightning Talks
Building 2 room 428, then room 426 with Happy Hour

RSVP

Analysis Group employs many of our SM and PhD department alumnae in their Boston office, as well as at other offices across the country.  Every summer several of our SM students do internships at AG as well.  Meet with Mei to learn more about opportunities, role descriptions and career paths at Analysis Group.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Godwin Yung, PhD ’16, Senior Statistician, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Giusi Moffa, PhD, Visiting Scientist, HCSPH

Wednesday, March 13
1:00-2:00pm, Rm 426
Lunch provided. All are welcome!

Godwin Yung defended his dissertation Statistical Methods for Analyzing Genetic Sequencing Association Studies in 2016, under the mentorship of Professor Xihong Lin.  He has internship (Takeda) as well as research trainee (BWH) experience, and currently spends time both in methods research and consultation, as well as trial pipeline support, at Takeda. Godwin has many insights from the alumnus perspective to share with students and postdocs about his own work and career path, the job search process, helpful coursework to embark on while still a student, and more.

Giusi Moffa received her PhD (2010) in statistics from the University of Bristol, UK, where her dissertation was titled Some Computational Advances in Sampling Based Statistical Inference.  After a research fellowship at the University of Regensberg, Giusi spent nearly 3 years as a Senior Statistician at Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, where she supported clinical pharmacology work for multiple Oncology trials, and partook in the planning and reporting of meta-analyses and exposure-response analyses in support of regulatory submissions.  Giusi has additional interesting stops in her background, and can offer a unique perspective on the student experience, fellowship/researcher/scientist role, and industry statistician perspective.

Data Science Everywhere Career Panel
Sponsored by the HBDC 

Tuesday, March 12, 5:30-7:00pm (networking until 7:30pm)
Northwest Building, room B101, Cambridge
Refreshments provided

RSVP: https://goo.gl/forms/fG7Epjp1i3T0Ifbb2

The Harvard Big Data Club (HBDC) at GSAS is excited to announce their upcoming panel talk!  Data analysis methods are applied across different fields, from cell biology, imaging, genomics, to cosmology. What do these areas have in common? How are the statistical approaches different? What can they learn from each other?

Come and join to hear a wide range of applications of data analysis techniques and participate in the discussion to learn about the role of data analysis across academia!

Panelists will include members from

• The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
• Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Eruptions, mergers and explosions of stars (wow!)
• Harvard-Black Hole Initiative, Computational photography and imaging
• Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cosmology, finance, economics and sports data analysis

This panel aims to bring together scholars working on seemingly different fields, but all related to data science, and tries to learn the differences and commonalities between their areas and methods of study.

Lunchtime Career Chat with Shannon Stock, PhD ’11, Assistant Professor of Statistics, College of the Holy Cross

Monday, March 11, 1:00-2:00pm, Rm 426
Lunch provided. All are welcome!

Shannon Stock completed her Ph.D. in Biostatistics (‘Exploratory Methods for Longitudinal Data Measured with Error’) at Harvard University in 2011, working with Professor Victor De Gruttola, and worked at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before commencing a junior faculty role at Holy Cross, where she now has tenure.

Shannon will have insights into the academic job search process, faculty teaching and research roles in statistics at a liberal arts institution, the tenure process, work-family balance, and can offer an alumna perspective across many fronts.

Wednesday March 6
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided

PhD student and Postdoc CV and Cover Letter Development and Tuning Workshop
with Dr. Erin Lake 

This interactive workshop is geared toward our PhD students and postdocs.
Learn tips on how best to present yourself with your CV and cover letter when applying for either academic or industry positions. Don’t underestimate the importance of a strong, coherent cover letter!

Monday March 4
1-2pm | Room 426
BYOL (bring your own lunch)

Master’s Student Resume and Cover Letter Development and Editing Workshop
with Dr. Erin Lake

This interactive workshop is geared toward our Master’s students. Learn tips on how best to present yourself through your resume and cover letter.

Thursday February 28
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided – RSVP HERE

Lunchtime Career Chat with Patrick Loerch, PhD ’08
VP, Global Head Data Sciences & Prevention Biomarkers
World Without Disease Accelerator
Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies
Patrick is a senior informatics and data sciences professional and entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience building and leading high performance teams in healthcare. With a track record of successfully formulating and executing on strategies that create significant business value, his expertise includes an in-depth understanding of the application of data sciences across disciplines, ranging from R&D to commercial analytics.

Patrick’s experience includes roles at Janssen, Celgene, and Merck, as well as time as an independent consultant/founder and CEO.  Patrick defended his PhD dissertation ‘Using Mixed Effects Models to Integrate High-Dimensional, Genomic Data and an Array-Based Analysis of the Evolution of Brain Aging’ in 2008, in the department of Biostatistics at HCSPH.

Bring your questions for lively discussion which will cover current work opportunities, job search tips, as well as advice and personal career perspective from an alumnus!

Wednesday February 27
1-2pm | Room 426
Lunch provided – RSVP HERE

What Color is Your Biostatistics Parachute?
Ever wonder what the diagram of statistics career options looks like across academia, industry, consulting, non-profits and beyond?  This will be a fun lunchtime seminar with Dr. Erin Lake (’01) providing a broad outline and overview of the vast array of career opportunities made accessible by a degree in biostatistics, spanning academia, industry, the private and government sectors, consulting and more.  We’ll discuss the job search, interview process, salary and benefits, touch on CV/cover letter development, self-presentation (both in-person and online), and strategies for developing the start of a career in any of these areas.

Many of our students inquire about such information, so we will hit on a sampling of requested topics in this seminar, with opportunity for discussion and sharing by students as well.  All are welcome.  If need be, we will reserve an upcoming lunch hour to hit on additional topics that come up or that we don’t have time to cover in this seminar.

Dr. Loni Tabb, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University will be speaking at a special seminar co-sponsored by the Dean’s Office and the Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology titled “There is a (time) and place for everything, including health” 
1:00-1:50pm in Kresge 502 (see flyer below and attached).

In conjunction with the talk, we are also inviting Biostats & Epi students and postdocs to an Informal Career Chat Breakfast with Dr. Loni Tabb 10:30-11:30am in the Biostats conference room (Building 2, Room 426). Come hear about her own career path, as well as insights and advice she has for students and postdocs like you!.

Wednesday, October 17
10:30-11:30am
Building 2, room 426

Conquering the Data Science Interview: before, during and after, and best presenting yourself throughout

A Career Development Workshop specific to our Health Data Science Master’s Program

Agenda for HDSC325 Capstone Course meeting:

3:45-4:30: Survey of topics relevant to the job search and interview process in Data Science
4:30-4:45: Video conference with BCG-gamma: Jenna Dennis and Eileen Leahy, Data Science hiring specialists
4:45-5:00: Video Conference with Chris Kakkanatt, Data Science Lead, Pfizer Headquarters, NY
5:00-5:30: Mock interview session

Entrepreneurship Career Panel

Featuring 3 PhD scientists who have successfully developed careers in entrepreneurship, Q&A format

Entrepreneurship can be a direction for those in academic careers, as well as those in non-profit or industry sectors.

Sponsored by the Harvard GSAS Business Club (HGBC)

Wednesday, April 18
6:00pm
Northwest B101 (between SEAS and Divinity School)
Dinner will be served.
Please RSVP here

A bit more on the 3 panelists:

Dr. Alexander D. Wissner-Gross is an award-winning scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and angel investor. He serves as President and Chief Scientist of Gemedy and holds academic appointments at the Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science, the Harvard Innovation Lab, and the MIT Media Lab. He has received 124 major distinctions, authored 18 publications, been granted 23 issued, pending, and provisional patents, and founded, managed, and advised 7 technology companies, 3 of which have been acquired. In 1998 and 1999, respectively, he won the USA Computer Olympiad and the Intel Science Talent Search. In 2003, he became the last person in MIT history to receive a triple major, with bachelor’s in Physics, Electrical Science and Engineering, and Mathematics, while graduating first in his class from the MIT School of Engineering. In 2007, he completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Harvard, where his research on neuromorphic computing, machine learning, and programmable matter was awarded the Hertz Doctoral Thesis Prize. A popular TED speaker, his talks have been viewed more than 2 million times and translated into 27 languages. His work has also been featured in more than 190 press outlets worldwide including The New York Times, CNN, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek.

Dr. Alice Ly is the Associate Director for Health and Sciences (H&S) at the Harvard Innovation Labs. She works with students, postdocs and clinical fellows to develop and execute on ideas that bring Health and Sciences innovation and entrepreneurship to society. To inspire and support the Harvard community, Alice oversees the Deans’ Health and Life Sciences Challenge, H&S workshop and event programming, advises students interested H&S entrepreneurship and manages on and off-campus resources for teams in the i-lab venture incubation program (VIP). Alice comes to the i-lab with 8 years’ of Student and Academic Affairs experience at Yale University supporting students and scholars pursue their academic and professional goals, her most recent position being the Associate Director for Postdoctoral Affairs. She completed her Ph.D. in Developmental Neurobiology at Yale University and her B.S. in Biological Sciences at University of California, Irvine. Although originally from Canada, Alice is a poor excuse for a Canadian: she lacks proficiency in skating or curling, but makes up for it with self-deprecating humor.

Dr. Steve Sonis is an entrepreneur who has founded several companies focused on various aspects of translational and precision medicine.  His first company, Biomodels, is a pre-clinical research organization which has catalyzed the clinical development of a range of drugs, devices, and biologicals for companies ranging from start-ups to big pharma.  A spin-off, Primary Endpoint Solutions (PES) assists companies in the transition to clinical trials and then throughout the process to optimize study success.  Subsequently, PES identifies and validates endpoint-related biomarkers and establishes genomic algorithms to define predictive patient response.  Steve is also a founder of Inform Genomics, where he continues to serve as a scientific advisor, and of BioInsight Diagnostics, an early stage company which is developing novel technology for use in the food industry.  He is the former President of Triad, an international not-for-profit company which focused on the adverse health and economic outcomes of cancer treatment toxicities.  He serves as a special government employee of the FDA. Steve has published extensively on the clinical, biological, and health economic aspects of cancer and complications associated with its treatment. He holds several patents and is the author of more than 250 original publications, reviews, and chapters and is completing his eleventh book.

Visit with HCSPH Alumnae from ‘Exponent’

A health sciences engineering and scientific consulting firm employing biostatistics, data science, epidemiology and environmental health graduates

Sponsored by the Office for Alumni Affairs and Career Advancement (OAACA)

Speakers: Richard Reiss, Sc.D.
 Ellen Chang, Sc.D.
 (Ellen ’03, minored in biostatistics while completing her EPI doctoral degree at HCSPH.), both Principal Scientists at Exponent and HSPH alumni.

Discover roles at this unique consulting firm that allow you to take full advantage of your scientific and analytical background to solve many contemporary scientific problems around the globe.  Exponent has locations across the US (including Boston), Europe and Asia.  This lunchtime session provides an opportunity to learn about the nature of ‘health sciences and engineering consulting’, and examples of consulting projects will be presented.

Friday, April 13 
1:00 – 1:50pm
FXB G13
Lunch provided
RSVP HERE

Consulting in the Biostatistical Sciences:  A Department of Biostatistics 4-part Mini-Symposium

Part 4:  Biostatistical Consulting from the CRO perspective

(Rescheduled after snow cancellation)


We are thrilled to have Department of Biostatistics 2003 alumna Christina Holcroft, currently with PROMETRIKA (some of you might remember Miganush Stepanian’s visit last spring), visit us this Wednesday for lunch. Christina will shed light on the CRO perspective and opportunities, but also on her fascinating and varied career path to her current role at PROMETRIKA, which includes faculty at Tufts, statistical consultant in the hospital setting in Canada, and work with the US National Fire Protection Association.  Take a break from dissertation and thesis preparation, coursework and projects, for lunch with Christina!

Christina holds a BS in Bioelectrical engineering from MIT, and both an Sc.D. and MS in Biostatistics from Harvard School of Public Health.  She formerly worked as Director, Research and Special Projects at the National Fire Protection Association. Before that, she was Faculty/Statistical Consultant at Tufts Medical Center, Statistical Consultant at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, and Research Faculty/Post-Doc in the Work Environment Department at University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Wednesday, April 11
1:00-2:15pm
Building 2, room 426
Non-pizza lunch provided.
All are welcome!
Please RSVP for lunch purposes, but all are welcome last minute.

“A Visit with Alumnus Aaron Foster, ScD ’00”

VP Business Analytics & Insights, Vaccines, Rare Disease & Oncology at Pfizer, Inc.,
Lecturer in Applied Analytics at Columbia School of Professional Studies

Business analytics is the science of driving better business decisions and having a competitive advantage to how you use statistics and data to make them. Aaron Foster is a Vice President of Business Analytics & Insights at Pfizer, Inc., and his global organization supports four of Pfizer’s core innovative businesses: Vaccines, Oncology, Rare Disease and Emerging Markets.

Aaron’s focus is using real-world data, survey and statistical techniques to understand unmet medical need and help Pfizer develop medicines to address these needs. He also guides marketing and sales strategies for approved medicines to help patients, physicians and other stakeholders understand their role in treatment and prevention. In addition to working at Pfizer, Aaron is a lecturer in Applied Analytics at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies. Earlier in his career, Aaron was a statistician at KPMG LLP and a Biostatistician at Bristol-Myers Squibb. He holds a Doctor of Science in Biostatistics from Harvard University (where he won the Robert Reed prize) and a BS in Mathematics from Morehouse College.

Monday, April 2
1:00-2:30pm
FXB G12
RSVP here

 

“Lunchtime Career Chat with Catherine Calder”
 
Please join our next invited colloquia speaker, Dr. Catherine Calder, Professor of Statistics, Ohio State University, for a Lunchtime Career to hear about her own career path, as well as insights and advice she has for students and postdocs like you!

Catherine (Kate) Calder received her PhD from Duke and joined the statistics faculty at Ohio State in 2003.  She serves as an associate director of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute and is a faculty affiliate of the Institute for Population Research and the Criminal Justice Research Institute at Ohio State.  She is currently an associate editor for the Annals of Applied Statistics and Bayesian Analysis and has served the profession through various elected roles in sections of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and in the International Society for Bayesian Analysis.  Her research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, NASA, and other agencies and foundations.  She received the ASA Section on Statistics and the Environment’s 2013 Young Investigator Award and was elected Fellow of the ASA in 2014.  Much of Kate’s research is motivated by applications in the environmental, social, and health sciences, and she currently collaborates with social scientists at Ohio State on the Adolescent Health and Development in Context Study, a longitudinal study of adolescents and their daily activity patterns.  Cate has mentored and taught many students.
 
Don’t miss the colloquia talk thereafter at 3:45 pm (FXB G13) where Kate will discuss “Activity Patterns and Ecological Networks: Identifying Shared Exposures to Social Contexts”.  This is a really cool area of work!

Lunchtime Career Chats are specifically designed to be informal, career-based discussions that students and postdocs can have with our invited speakers whom they might not otherwise have access to by attending just the colloquia talks, which are focused on research.

Thursday, March 29
1:00-2:00pm
Rm 401, Dept of Biostatistics
Lunch provided!  
RSVP to Valerie Coffee

“Data Science for Social Good: Career Panel”

Data science has far-reaching applications beyond the tech world. Ever wonder what a data science career in social sciences or public service looks like? Come hear from data scientists at the Red Cross, McGraw-Hill Education, City of Boston – Analytics team, Civis Analytics, and National Fire Protection Association.  Wow!  Sounds fantastic.

Find panelist bios HERE:
Mohammed Ayub, Data Scientist at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
Stefanie Costa Leabo, Analytics Team – City of Boston
Austin Crumpton, Data Scientist at Red Cross
Sarah Graham, Civis Analytics
Shirin Mojarad, Lead Data Scientist at McGraw-Hill Education

Sponsored by the Harvard Big Data Club.  Consider joining the HBDC executive board—they are looking for co-presidents and VPs.  Visit the HBDC website to apply, and talk with our own biostatistics students Divy Kangeyan (Co-president) or Xinrui Cao (VP External Relations) for more details!

Wednesday, March 28
6:00 – 7:30 pm
Harvard’s Tsai Auditorium, CGIS South S010 (1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge)
Refreshments provided
RSVP here

“Ask the CBAR Statistician!”

Join department alumni Ashley McKhann, SM, Summer Zheng, PhD, Ritesh Ramchandani, PhD, as well as Carlee Moser, PhD and other CBAR statisticians at both the PhD and SM levels for a lunch panel presentation and discussion on topics from current CBAR research and ongoing clinical trials, to individual experiences, to real-time job search advice.  This is a great opportunity to hear what it’s like to work in a collaborative research environment as a biostatistician as well as ask questions about CBAR’s current openings for PhD and Masters level positions.

 

Friday, March 23
1:00-2:30pm
Building 2, Rm 426 1-2pm; Rm 401 2-2:30pm

 

 

Consulting in the Biostatistical Sciences: A Department of Biostatistics 4-part Mini-Symposium

Career Opportunities with Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM)

Lunchtime Info Session with Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Johnson & Johnson)

Lunchtime Career Chat with Peter Mueller

Please join our next invited colloquia speaker, Dr. Peter Mueller, for a Lunchtime Career Chat in Room 2-401 at 1pm on Thursday, January 25, to hear about his own career path, as well as insights and advice he has for students and postdocs. RSVP to Valerie Coffee (space is limited). Don’t miss the colloquia talk thereafter at 3:30pm (FXB G13) where Peter will discuss “Bayesian Feature Allocation Models for Tumor Heterogeneity.”

Thursday, January 25
1:00-2:00pm
Building 2, Room 401
Lunch provided
RSVP to Valerie Coffee

 

Lunchtime Career Chat with David Draper

Professor of Statistics, UC Santa Cruz
CEO, Uncertainty Quantification, a statistical consulting firm

Thursday, December 7
1:00-2:00pm
Building 2, Room 401
Lunch provided

RSVP to Valerie Coffee

Masters Student Lunchtime Internship Chat

Monday, December 4
1:00-2:10pm
Kresge G3
Lunch Provided

RSVP Here

Postdoc to Professor: Lunchtime Chat on Academic Careers in Biostatistics

Wednesday, November 29
1:00-2:15pm
Location TBD
Lunch Provided

RSVP HERE

Considering a PhD in Biostatistics?

Monday, November 20
1:00-2:15pm
Kresge G1
Pizza Lunch

 

Lunchtime Career Chat w. Gary King

Friday, November 17
2:00-2:45pm
Kresge G2
Light Lunch Provided

RSVP HERE

Lunchtime Career Chat w. Joseph Koopmeiners

Thursday, November 16
1:00-2:30pm
Bldg 2, Rm 426
Lunch Provided

Please join our next invited colloquia speaker, Dr. Joe Koopmeiners, for a Lunchtime Career Chat to hear about his own career path, as well as insights and advice he has for students and postdocs.

Don’t miss the colloquia talk thereafter at 3:30pm (Kresge 202A) where Joe will share new adaptive design methodology utilizing MEMS in emerging infectious disease.

RSVP to Valerie Coffee

Lunchtime Career Chat w. Menachem Fromer

Friday, November 3
1:00-2:30pm
Bldg 2, Rm 426
Lunch Provided

Please join Menachem for lunch and learn more about his career and current work as Data Science Tech Lead at Verily (Google) Life sciences.

Dr. Menachem Fromer received his PhD in Computer Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem working on computational protein design, probabilistic graphical models, and machine learning-based optimization. In 2010, he moved to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to work on psychiatric genomics, specifically the analysis of DNA-sequencing of patients with schizophrenia, autism, and controls. He continued this work when he moved to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NY as an Associate Professor, and worked on the analysis of RNA-sequencing of postmortem brain samples of patients with schizophrenia. Since 2016, he has worked at Verily on more deeply modeling the phenotypes of neuropsychiatric diseases using digital technologies such as smartphones and wearable watches.

Lunchtime Career Chat w. Nick Horton

Thursday, October 19
1:00-2:00pm
Bldg 2, Rm 426
Lunch Provided

Please join Nick for lunch and learn more about his enjoyment of teaching, his academic career in the liberal arts college setting, and advice for students considering this career path.

In addition to his research focus in multivariate response models, longitudinal studies, missing data, and statistical computing, Nick Horton has been the recipient of many prestigious teaching awards during his career. He is passionate about improving quantitative literacy for students of all levels and varying backgrounds, and has focused much of his academic career thus far, first at Smith College, and now at Amherst. Nick was not only a student in the Department of Biostatistics (ScD 1999), but he also taught the Statistical Computing Environments offered toward the end of his tenure here.

Navigating the Doctoral Dissertation…and lots more…

Thursday October 5
1:00-2:30pm
Building 2, Room 401
Lunch Provided

Join Jessica Gronsbell over an informal lunch and hear her insights and advice on being first an SM then a PhD student here, completing the qualifying and oral exams, navigating the dissertation process, starting a new postdoc position at Stanford, and her passion for a career in academia.

Jessica defended her dissertation ‘Robust and Efficient Machine Learning Methods for the Analysis of Electronic Medical Records Data’ (advisor Tianxi Cai) in the Department of Biostatistics, and graduated in May, 2017. She will be visiting the department this week (to share her expertise in writing a successful F31 grant application with our students in BIOSTAT 254).

RSVP here to attend.

Resume Working Session for Masters Students

Thursday September 28
1:00-2:30pm
Bldg 2, Rm 426

Join David Wypij and Erin Lake for an informal session offered specifically for Masters students who already have relatively well established resumes and would like constructive feedback.

The Office of Career Advancement offers numerous resume workshops throughout the year that are helpful in establishing the basics of a good working resume. We will not be doing much of this on Sept 25, but instead offering focused advice and feedback specifically on how best to present yourself via your resume for jobs or internships in biostatistics or related fields.

Please come with your lunch and several copies of your resume.

RSVP HERE if you plan to join.

Lunch Career Chat w. Michael Rotundi

Please join Michael for an informal lunch chat (bring your own lunch) on:

Thursday, September 28 at 1:00pm
Meet in Building 2, room 437A, and then head down to Sebastian’s to chat over lunch.

Please email Michael and Erin Lake directly if you intend to join.

Michael Rotondi is a visiting faculty member currently working with Victor De Gruttola and Rui Wang on improving regression methods for Respondent-Driven Sampling. Michael did his PhD at the University of Western Ontario in 2010, had a brief NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) of Canada postdoc in statistical genetics at the Lunenfeld Research Institute, and started as an Assistant Professor at York University in Toronto in 2011.

Michael is delighted to meet with students to discuss the academic market in Canada, his own career trajectory, and his research. We will be saying farewell to Michael at the end of the week (9/28) when his working visit in the department is over, and he returns home to York University.

Computational Biology & Quantitative Genetics Career Panel

Thursday, September 14
1:00-3:30pm
Kresge G2
Lunch Provided

Please join us for the first ever Computational Biology & Quantitative Genetics Career Panel!

Hear directly from professionals in Computational Biology and Quantitative Genetics:

– at varying points in their careers –
– across industry and academia –
– their unique paths –
– their passion for science, data, statistics, and health –
– career tips and advice-

• Q&A and Lively Discussion
• Bring Questions
• All students, postdocs and faculty welcome, even those not working in this area since there is such overlap across disciplines within biostatistics.
• Please RSVP

Meet the Pfizer Panelists

Monday, April 24
3:30-5pm
Bldg 2, Rm 426
Coffee, tea and dessert provided

Please join Department of Biostatistics alumni Jared Christensen, PhD ’04, Florence Yong, PhD ’15, Melissa Naylor, MD, PhD ’08,  all now statisticians with Pfizer, Cambridge, MA, to hear about the paths these interesting alumni took after graduating, and about their current roles at Pfizer today! Bring your questions about the structure of roles and the pipeline at this Pfizer location, internship and postdoc opportunities there, and general questions about the current job market, interviews and interview talks, and applying for positions at Pfizer.

All SM and PhD students, postdocs and members of the biostatistics community are welcome. Please RSVP

Career Chat with Scarlett Bellamy, Yerby Lecturer
Wednesday, April 19, 3:00-4:00pm, Kresge 1019

Alumna Scarlett Bellamy, ScD ’01, Professor of Biostatistics and Director of Graduate Studies in Biostatistics at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, will visit the school on Wednesday, April 19th to give the distinguished Yerby Diversity Lecture “Embracing the role of the statistician in the age of big data and data science”, 12:30-1:30pm, Kresge G1.

Scarlett will be welcoming students with career advice questions between 3-4pm in Kresge 1019. Students and postdocs are invited to join this informal chat to connect with Scarlett Bellamy and learn more about her career path, what influenced her choices, what obstacles she faced, and the role of mentors in her professional life.

Joint with Office of Alumni Affairs and Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

From Student to CEO: Reflections, Insights & Advice from a Unique Career in Statistics

Friday, April 14
1:30-3pm
Building 2 – Room 426
Lunch provided

Miganush Stepanians
PhD Statistics, President and CEO, Founder of PROMETRIKA

Talk (1:30-3pm): Please RSVP if you plan to attend the talk
Individual Meetings (between 11am and 12:40pm): Sign up to meet with Dr. Stepanians before her talk

Miganush Stepanians, PhD, received her training in mathematics and statistics from MIT and BU, completing her dissertation work with Ralph D’Agostino.  She went on to gain over 25 years of experience in the drug development industry, establishing herself as a leader in the biostatistics and data management areas, with extensive regulatory (FDA) experience.  Dr. Stepanians devoted the early years in her career to consulting and providing statistical services to investigators and pharmaceutical companies.  She has also participated in numerous Independent Data Monitoring Committees, and authored many journal articles.  Dr. Stepanians is now not only at the helm of her company’s scientific and operational activities, but is a hands-on practicing statistician, directly involved in study design and analysis, strategic development and planning, and commercialization for her clients.   She has seen hundreds of Phase I through Phase IV clinical studies of drugs, medical devices, biologics and diagnostics through to completion and has had a key role in 15 New Drug Applications. PROMETRIKA was founded in 2003, and is a clinical research organization (CRO) located in Cambridge, MA, with 75 employees.

BSCC Launch Party
Friday, April 7, 4-5:30pm, Kresge Café
Congratulations to those who have been involved in the development and launching of the Biostatistics Student Consulting Center! Careers in biostatistics can start in many ways, and all careers in the field, from academic to government to nonprofit to industry and consulting, can benefit from early consulting-type experiences as a student.  Hats off to Emily Slade for her vision and leadership in this exciting venture!

Career Advice Lunch w. Enrique Schisterman
Wednesday, April 5, 12:30-1:30pm, Building 1, Room 1002,
Career advice lunch chat with Enrique Schisterman, Chief and Senior Investigator at NIH (good for anyone interested in learning about careers in the government sector, among other areas in which Enrique has experience).  Enrique is offering this special lunch meeting with students and postdocs in addition to his colloquium talk that day. RSVP to Susan Luvisi for this lunch chat.  All students and postdocs welcome.  Veggie lasagna lunch provided.

NYC Career ‘Trek’– to our own biostatistics alumni at Pfizer NYC!
April 4-5
Did you know about this career development trek to NYC on April 4-5 below offered by the Office of Alumni Affairs and Career Advancement here at HCSPH?
http://alumni.sph.harvard.edu/s/1319/02-HSPH/social.aspx?sid=1319&gid=2&pgid=1019

Biostatistics alumni Aaron Foster ’00 and Natasha Rajicic ’06, both currently at Pfizer NYC, will be speaking at this event. Look also here for the page on Pfizer and other groups attending:
http://alumni.sph.harvard.edu/s/1319/images/gid2/editor_documents/nyc_trek/2017_student_guidebook__nyc_career_trek.pdf

Biostat Student Seminar: The R-gument for SAS
Tuesday, April 4, 12:30-1:30pm, in FXB G11
The “R”-gument for SAS with Tony Thaweethai will be held at its usual time this Tuesday, April 4, 12:30-1:30pm, in FXB G11. This seminar has relevance in career preparation, and thus is listed here.  The text in announcement for this seminar couldn’t ring more true.  So many of us focus on R and other languages while working toward our degrees.  However having facility with SAS is critical to many sectors of biostatistical work, from industry to academia, and so it is wise to understand the breadth, depth, and many applications of SAS early on!

A Perspective on Women’s Careers in Biotechnology and Pharma
Monday April 3, 6-7pm, TMEC 227
Cohosted by HGWISE (Harvard graduate women in science) and the Harvard Biotech Club. Biostatistics alumna Melissa Naylor ’08 will speak on the panel. Pizza provided. Our own Shayna Stein, 1st year biostatistics PhD student is co-chair of HGWISE, and responsible for organizing this event!

ASK THE CBAR STATISTICIAN!

March 30, 2017
Bldg 2, Rm 426 | 12:30-1:30 PM
(non-pizza) lunch provided – RSVP

Join Scott Evans, David Shapiro, Carlee Moser, alumni Summer Zheng and Ritesh Ramchandani, and hiring manager Rachel Sotak for a lunch panel presentation and discussion on topics from current CBAR research and ongoing clinical trials, to individual experiences of alumni currently working there, to real-time job search advice!

This is a great opportunity to hear what it’s like to work in a collaborative research environment as a biostatistician as well as ask questions about CBAR’s current openings for PhD level Research Associates.

Panelists will address the following questions:

* What IS CBAR?
* What is it like to be a statistician at CBAR?
* What cutting edge research is ongoing across several of CBAR’s major networks (which include the AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) and the Infant Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT))
* What training, career progression, and mentoring practices exist at CBAR which make it unique?
* What job opportunities are currently open at CBAR?
* What is CBAR looking for in job candidates and during interviews?
* What coursework in our department is helpful to have completed?
* What advice would alumni of our department now working at CBAR have to offer?
…and more!

Career Advice Lunch Chat with Amy Herring
Thursday, March 23, 12:30-1:30pm

Amy Herring, ScD ’00, and Associate Chair, Department of Biostatistics. UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health will be giving a department colloquium talk ‘Bayesian models for multivariate dynamic survey data’ on Thursday, March 23.

Amy will be welcoming students over lunch, between 12:30-1:30 during her visit to the department, to chat informally and answer any questions you might have for her. Amy was a star student while in our department here at Harvard, and has gone on to flourish in an academic career at UNC. Amy was recently awarded a Distinguished Professorship and currently serves as Associate Chair of the Department of Biostatistics. Amy also happens to be a talented and compassionate teacher and full of career experience, advice and insights.

Don’t miss this chance to talk personally with a somewhat recent alumna of the department who has come back to share her experiences with you all!

Lunch will be served to everyone who can attend.
Please RSVP in advance to Susan Luvisi (sluvisi@hsph.harvard.edu)..

A View into the Role of the MS Statistician at CBAR
Wednesday March 22, 12:30-1:30pm, Building 2 -Room 426, Lunch provided
All SM students are invited to an informal lunch with CBAR SM level statisticians who will be sharing insights into the roles and opportunities currently open at CBAR, and answering any questions that you have about working at CBAR, working
in clinical trials, the job search process, and more. This is
a great opportunity!

Ashley McKhann SM ’16, Lauren Ziemba MS, Carlee Moser PhD, and Rachel Sotak, hiring Coordinator, will be our panelists. Ashley is a recent graduate of our SM program in biostatistics, and can also speak about her experience while in our department and how this has helped her in her current role at CBAR. Please RSVP.