Innovation

Interview with Necdet Gunsoy

Why do you think many of these “subgroup” projects are a headache for statisticians?
Have you felt frustrations about such projects yourself?
What are the steps to avoid or at least minimize these frustrations?

Do you have the same questions in mind? These are some of the questions Necdet will be answering and sharing with us.

This episode is based on a presentation at PSI 2019. Necdet won The Effective Statistician Best Presenter award for the amazing delivery of the presentation. But not only the delivery was excellent – the content will help you a lot. Here’s the abstract for the conference:

Abstract: Practical aspects of subgroup detection
Recent years have seen the emergence of new methods for detecting subgroups with enhanced treatment effects and statisticians are now faced with an overwhelming choice of approaches to consider. Confusion around the potential advantages and disadvantages of different methods can often result in the implementation of an approach which is not appropriate for a particular research question. This talk will provide a practical guide to the design and conduct of subgroup detection analyses, providing points to consider for selecting an appropriate method based on the research objective, the context of the analysis, the outcomes, and the covariates under consideration. Two example case studies will be presented to illustrate the discussed considerations.

Necdet and I will also discuss the following

Replay of the PSI conference 2018

Are you a sponsor who is seeking joint scientific advice from a regulatory agency and from an HTA body?

If yes, this episode is for you. This presentation replicates the discussions which may go on during scientific advice. The example was in Respiratory. This roleplay was played by David Wright, Oliver Keene, Stephen Ruberg, and myself. Mouna Akacha moderated the discussion. The aim was to show a couple of discussion points and an interesting aspect that may come up with such discussions.

A lively debate followed about the differing needs of Regulatory agencies vs HTA, with the patient voice often not taking centre stage.

We will also be talking about the following:

People who ask take the lead

As statisticians, we work in cross-functional teams, but many people, especially junior people prefer to follow rather than to lead – and that’s okay. Ask yourself:

Do you always take the position of the follower or a leader?
Do you need to train yourself to lead?
Are you seen as an implementer?
Do you have goals for your project?

You can lead as well. According to Forbes, the best leaders lead with questions, not answers. Leading with questions works because really good questions have a direct impact on the brain. When we are challenged by a question that triggers an insight, neurons connect in new ways. This releases neurotransmitters that create the motivation to act. The net result is that the other person not only likes the idea, but they also want to do something with it.

In today’s episode, Benjamin and I will be talking about:

A lot of statisticians, especially in pharmaceutical companies but also CROs, fear outsourcing because it might make their job redundant. Think about:

What can you do about it?
How can you add value to your organisation?
What would it cost to outsource your organisation?
If you would need to compete with other organisations, would you survive?
If you think of yourself as your own organisation – can you make yourself outsourcing proof?

In this episode, Benjamin and I will be talking about these tips and tricks:

Interview with Kat Greenbrook

Storytelling allows businesses to better understand insight.

Data visualization is a great tool to help share, or tell a story, but relies on the story being written first. Improved data communication comes from combining good visualization with a well-written narrative. 

At storytelling with data, the goal is to rid the world of ineffective graphs and help people elegantly communicate with data. They aim to bring data to life and use it to tell a story to an audience, with a focus on simplicity and ease of interpretation. They believe everyone can inspire positive change through the stories they tell with data.

Forbes also discussed the importance of telling a great data-driven story and gives a good example of how to do it. Telling a great data-driven story can be useful for both stakeholders and your customers and can drive better decision making within an organization and also drive conversions with your customers. By using data visualization to make key observations about your customers and their wants, it can help with lead generation and customer retention.

There’s a lot to learn to be a good data storyteller.

Today, I’m talking with Kat about:

There is an endless list of things that can go wrong in sponsor-CRO relations. I’m pretty sure you have been in painful discussions about this. Have you felt a lot of frustrations on both ends?

If yes, this episode is for you. We’re sharing interesting insights here as Benjamin works for a CRO and I work for the sponsor side. We will be giving you a lot of insights on what to do and what not to do, and how to make the collaboration between a sponsor and a CRO successful.

Specifically, Benjamin and I will be talking about: