Department of Statistics
Statistics in Pharmaceuticals 2026

Organizing Committee

Supporting Team

Promotion sub-committee:

Scholarship sub-committee:

Poster sub-committee:

Program sub-committee:

Founding Members:

Drs. Ming-Hui Chen, Qiqi Deng, and Dooti Roy

Eric Baron, Servier

Eric Baron Eric Baron is a Sr. Manager, Biostatistics at Servier Pharmaceuticals, specializing in early-phase clinical trials. He has led and supported studies in solid tumors, hematology, and glioma. Eric earned his PhD in statistics from the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on Bayesian modeling, adaptive Bayesian clinical trial designs, methods for incorporating real-world evidence, and Bayesian model assessment.

Jeremy Hunter, Amgen

Jeremy Hunter As an employee of Amgen Inc. since 2015, Jeremy has spearheaded efforts related to trial randomization and blinding, including helping establish standard operating procedures and controlled documentation critical to trial integrity and minimizing operational bias. Jeremy’s contributions also include cross-functional training, on-going study team consultation and expertise related to restricted data access and sharing. In addition, Jeremy continues to oversee the randomization and blinding aspects of several concurrent large-scale interventional trials. After receiving a Master of Arts from Columbia University (MA ’06), Jeremy spent five years as a statistician for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP), contributing his statistical skillset to diverse research topics including HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and prison recidivism.

Revathi Ananthakrishnan, BMS

Revathi Ananthakrishnan Revathi Ananthakrishnan works as a Biostatistician at Bristol-Myers Squibb on designing, analyzing and interpreting immuno-oncology trials. She has a broad interdisciplinary background of Mathematics, Statistics, Physics and Biology. She did her PhD in Theoretical (Bio)Physics and her post-doc in Biomathematics. All her work in academia on modeling cell elasticity, cell movement and cell division had relevance to cancer. After her post-doc, she started working as a clinical trials Biostatistician in Industry, and did her PhD in Biostatistics while working in Industry. She is interested in various aspects of Oncology clinical trials and clinical trial methodology, especially in the design of early phase Oncology trials, and has published in this area. She has worked on several early phase Oncology trials as well as trials for regulatory submission for solid tumors and blood cancers.

Ming-Hui Chen, UConn

Ming-Hui Chen Dr. Ming-Hui Chen is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He was elected to Fellow of International Society for Bayesian Analysis in 2016, Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 2007, Fellow of American Statistical Association in 2005. He also received the University of Connecticut AAUP Research Excellence Award in 2013, the UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Excellence in Research Award in the Physical Sciences Division in 2013, the University of Connecticut Alumni Association's University Award for Faculty Excellence in Research and Creativity (Sciences) in 2014, and ICSA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2020. He has published over 428 statistics and biostatistics methodological and medical research papers in mainstream statistics, biostatistics, and medical journals. He has also published five books including two advanced graduate-level books on Bayesian survival analysis and Monte Carlo methods in Bayesian computation. He has supervised or been supervising 37 PhD students. He served as President of the International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA) in 2013, Program Chair and Publication Officer of SBSS of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the ASA Committee on Nomination for 2016-2017 to nominate candidates for ASA President/Vice President. Currently, he serves as the 2022 JSM Program Chair, Past President of the New England Statistical Society, Co Editor-in-Chief of Statistics and Its Interface, inaugurated Co Editor-in-Chief of New England Journal of Statistics in Data Science, and an Associate Editor of JASA, JCGS, and LIDA.

Vindyani Herath, Boston University

Vindyani Herath Vindyani Herath is a final-year PhD candidate in Statistics at Boston University, expected to graduate in August 2026. Her research centers on causal inference, mediation analysis, and survival analysis, with applications in HIV/AIDS and applied health research. She serves as a Senior Statistical Consultant for the MS in Statistical Practice program at BU, collaborating with researchers across disciplines to support study design, data analysis, and communication of results. 

Meizi Liu, Takeda

Meizi Liu Meizi Liu currently serves as a Senior Manager of Statistics at Takeda, where she is the study lead for several early-phase trials in oncology and cell therapy. Prior to her role at Takeda, Meizi earned her Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of Chicago. With a strong foundation in statistical science, Meizi has co-authored various publications in peer-reviewed statistical journals, focusing on areas such as dose optimization, Bayesian dynamic borrowing, and Bayesian adaptive designs in clinical trials.

Glen Laird, Vertex

Glen Laird A practicing pharmaceutical industry statistician for over 20 years, Glen Laird is currently the head of Biostatistics Methodology and Innovation at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, having previously led the GMA Biostatistics group at Vertex. Prior to his 7 years at Vertex, Glen worked in oncology biostatistics at Novartis, BMS, and Sanofi, assuming roles with increasing responsibility across early and full development. Glen graduated with a PhD in Statistics from Florida State University and worked as a survey statistician for RTI International before joining the pharmaceutical industry.

Leo Li, Boston University

Leo Li Haolin (Leo) Li is an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Boston University School of Public Health. Prior to joining BU, Leo earned his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on survival analysis, machine learning, clinical trials, and epidemiological study designs. Leo’s recent work in these areas has been recognized with ASA Distinguished Student Paper Awards from both the Health Policy Statistics Section (HPSS) and the Lifetime Data Science (LiDS) Section. He is also actively involved in statistical leadership, having served as the founder and inaugural president of the ASA Student Chapter at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Albert Man, Servier

Albert Man Albert is a biostatistician at Servier Pharmaceuticals, where he supports Oncology trials across all phases of drug development. He earned his PhD in Statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include Bayesian statistics, machine learning, factor analysis, dynamic borrowing, and adaptive clinical trial design.

Claude Petit, Astellas

Claude Petit After earning her PhD in Biostatistics related to Bayesian Analyses, Claude joined the Pharmaceutical Industry 25 years ago. Lecturer at Yale School of Public Health for a decade and VP Statistical & Real Word Data Science at Astellas since 2021, she is leading a global team of talented Statisticians, Real World Data Scientists and Programmers.Eternal learner, she has a passion for leadership, growth, and teaching. In 2021, she became a certified Executive Coach and funded Creating & Coaching Essential Leaders, LLC to empower one woman at a time. In 2024, Dr Petit was the President of the Leadership in Practice Committee (LiPCom) part of the Biopharmaceutical section of the American Statistical Association.

Shoumi Sarkar, Bristol Myers Squibb

Shoumi Sarkar Shoumi Sarkar is a Senior Manager, Biostatistics at Bristol Myers Squibb, supporting oncology trials at various phases of development. Before joining BMS, Shoumi served as a Biostatistician at Malcom Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville, FL. She earned her PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Florida. She is passionate about leveraging the power of statistics to meaningfully improve patient outcomes.

Jingning Mei, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Jingning Mei Jingning Mei is a Biostatistician at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where he supports clinical trials spanning infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, oncology, and several other therapeutic areas. Jingning received his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Toledo and is passionate about applying statistical methods to advance drug development and improve patients' lives.

Yulia Sidi, Merck

Yulia Sidi Yulia Sidi is a Principal Scientist in Merck, where she supports various oncology trials across different stages of drug-development. Prior to joining Merck, Yulia worked in Takeda and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Yulia received her PhD in Statistics from University of Connecticut and is passionate about scientific collaborations that could improve patient lives.

Kentaro Takeda, Astellas

Kentaro Takeda Dr. Kentaro Takeda is a Senior Director, Head of innovative statistics at Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc. His research interest covers Bayesian clinical trial designs, including dose-finding trials, basket trials, using real-world data, and oncology statistics. Dr. Takeda has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers in the research area. Dr. Takeda is leading an innovative statistics group in Astellas and has implemented novel statistical approaches, including his proposed methods, in new drug developments. Dr. Takeda is also an associate editor of several academic journals.

Lei Wang, The Lotus Group

Lei Wang Lei Wang, President and Managing partner at The Lotus Group, the recruiting firm for biometric positions. Lei was a statistical analyst at Northwestern University and AbbVie before she became a recruiter. She has been recruiting in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry for the last 20 years. She became a member of the Women Presidents Organization in 2020 and led The Lotus Group to become one of the 50 fastest growing women-owned businesses in 2020. Her passion for career development has driven her own career life. She wants to use her expertise to help bring out the best in candidates, hiring managers and ultimately successful Biometrics groups for every biotech and pharmaceutical - whether it's a company of 100 or 100,000. She is also an invited speaker and panelist and has presented at conferences in the U.S. and internationally. In her spare time she enjoys travelling, reading, cooking and, most of all, eating!

Jiping Wang, Lilly

Jiping Wang Jiping Wang is currently an advisor at Lilly, supporting real-world evidence generation for immunology. She earned her PhD in Biostatistics from Yale University in 2025. Her research interests include human disease networks, causal inference, and target trial emulation. 

Dong Xi, Gilead

Dong Xi Dong Xi is a Senior Director in the Biostatistics Innovation Group at Gilead Sciences. He has supported development and implementation of innovative statistical methodologies in multiple comparisons, dose finding, group sequential designs, estimands and causal inference. He is an associate editor of Statistics in Biopharmaceutical Research.

Thomas Zhou, AstraZeneca

Thomas Zhou Thomas Zhou is currently a Senior Statistician at AstraZeneca, where he serves as a study statistician for clinical trials in cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism. Previously, Thomas served as a Mathematical Statistician at the FDA/CBER, where he reviewed submissions for cell-, gene-, immuno-therapy, and other biologic products for various general medicine indications and hematologic malignancies. Thomas received his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Boston University. His current research interests include estimands, missing data, and trial design.