The members of the CDA Association held a salon event in Boston. The two experts each shared data analysis applications in different fields, and focused on the cultivation of data analysis talents.

1. Guest Information

JaredChristensen senior research director P fizer, he has six years P fizer work. Prior to joining P fizer, he spent five years at Wyeth, until October 2010 acquisition of P fizer W yeth so far. J ared in 2004, completed his doctoral studies at the Harvard School of Public Health.

MarieGayron is a Research Scientist V eriskHealth company population health department. She is widely known because she has developed powerful algorithms to predict expensive events, identify high-risk groups, turn data into executable reporting solutions, and improve process efficiency through automation and data visualization. Ms. Marie holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Salem State University and a Master of Public Health degree from Boston University.

2. Company Information

PfizerInc. (Pfizer), founded in 1849, so far has been 160 years of history, headquartered in New York, is the world's largest research-based biopharmaceutical company. Pfizer's products cover a wide range of potential therapeutic and health fields including chemical pharmaceuticals, biological agents, vaccines, and health medicines. At the same time, its outstanding R & D and production capabilities are in a global leading position.

VeriskAnalyticsInc., Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, is the largest integrator of insurance actuarial and insurance data related to real estate and accident insurance risks in the United States. The company went public in the US in 2009 .

3. Activity summary

1) Data scientist jobs

In the United States, data science jobs are one of the highest paid jobs; and there is a high demand for data scientists who have substantial knowledge in a particular field (such as health care, finance, etc.). However, the fact is that the existing doctoral or master's courses are difficult to meet the huge data scientist talent training gap; but this also provides an opportunity to train data scientists for education or training projects.

2) Popular statistical software

Whether it is in a pharmaceutical company or a healthcare company, SAS is still a commonly used statistical software for data management, analysis, and reporting. At the same time, you need to be familiar with the database language (SQL) in practice.

3) Popular statistical techniques

In pharmaceutical companies, most of the statistical work is about conducting clinical trials. Therefore, learning to master the basic principles of designing and conducting clinical trials (eg, calculating the size and importance of samples) is an essential skill. Today, sequence design and Bayesian adaptive design are playing a more important role.

4) Non-statistics major

If you have n’t studied statistics in school, but want to become a data scientist, it ’s best to learn some basic statistics and SAS programming language . It is a good way to get started, join a consulting company or CRO, which has accumulated data analysis experience in different industries. Although some jobs require a Ph.D. in statistics or biostatistics, some people without these degrees can also possess strong data analysis skills.

5) Data analysis training program

It would be very beneficial to provide some training courses in the field of data analysis. However, different industries require different data analysis skills, and the curriculum design should take this into account. The data science work in the consulting company will value the interviewee's certificate ownership. Large pharmaceutical companies need a degree in statistics.