Translating Academic Training into Industry Readiness
Title: TBD
Friday, Aug 20th, 2026
Speaker: Xiaoyan Liu, Senior Principal Biostatistician
Novartis
Xiaoyan Liu works as a trial statistician at Novartis, supporting clinical studies in the immunology therapeutic area. Xiaoyan received his PhD in Biostatistics from Boston University and worked as an extern in the biometrics department at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. His research interests include clinical trial designs, estimands, and missing data handling.
Title: TBD
Friday, Aug 20th, 2026
Speaker: Hongjian Zhu, Sr. VP, Global Head of Statistic and Data Science
SysImmune Inc
Hongjian Zhu is currently working at SysImmune Inc. as a Sr. VP, Global Head of Statistic and Data Science. Dr. Hongjian Zhu received his PhD in Statistics from the University of Virginia in 2010 and subsequently completed postdoctoral training at Yale University. In 2012, he joined UTHealth and was promoted to tenured Associate Professor. He then served as Director and Research Fellow in the Statistical Innovation Group at AbbVie Inc., where he provided strategic and innovative statistical leadership across multiple therapeutic areas including Immunology, Oncology, Neuroscence, and Eyecare. He is currently Sr. VP and Global Head of Statistics and Data Science at SystImmune Inc., where he provides enterprise-level leadership for statistical strategy, governance, and data sicence infrastructure supporting global oncology development.