My Yellow Brick Roads Journeys of a Female Statistician

1
My Yellow Brick Roads Journeys of a Female
Statistician

• Christy Chuang-Stein, PhD
• Pfizer Inc

2
My Main Roads

• Receive my BS in Math from Taida in 1975.
• Received my PhD from U of Minnesota in 1980.
• Taught at U of Rochester and consulted at the U
  of Rochester Medical and Cancer Centers in
  1980-1985.
• Joined The Upjohn Company as a Biostatistics
  Scientist in 1985.
• Joined management in 1995.
• Upjohn -gt Pharmacia Upjohn -gt Pharmacia -gt Pfizer
• Currently, Head of Statistical Research and
  Consulting Center.

3
Other SRCC Members
Bob Miceli
Byron Jones
Mike Gaffney
Robb Muirhead
Neal Thomas
Simon Kirby
4
Roads of Committees

• American Statistical Association (ASA) Biopharm
  Section Executive Committee (1996-1999)
• Drug Information Association (DIA) Steering
  Committee of the Americas (1998 2003)
• DIA Training Committee and Course Faculty (1998
  present)
• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
  America Biostatistics and Data Management Group
  (1999 present) Chair 2003-2004 Advisor
  currently
• Fellow Committee of the ASA (2008-2010)
• Vice President of the ASA (2009-2011)

5
Roads of Editorial Fun

• Editorial Board of the American Statistician
  (1993 1999)
• Editorial Board of the Drug Information Journal
  (DIJ) (1996 present)
• Editorial Board of J of Biopharmaceutical
  Statistics (2000 2002)
• Editor for a special statistical issue of DIJ
  (2001)
• A founding Editor-in-Chief for Pharmaceutical
  Statistics (2002 2005) member of the editorial
  board (2002 now)

6
Three Powerful Words in Life

• Passion about what we do
• Courage to face our fears
• Tenacity to reach our goals

7
Beyond Academic Training

• Keep abreast of new advancements in our field of
  expertise.
• Expand our knowledge in other areas to enable
  collaborations.
• Pay attention to social etiquettes and learn to
  work in a team environment.
• Polish our communication skills.
• Set our career goals take actions. Refine the
  goals as we gain more maturity.

8
Development Hints

• Be attentive and respect others points of view.
• Be willing to go the extra miles and take risks.
• Be willing to get out of our comfort zone and
  challenge ourselves.
• Take a proactive approach to recognize and solve
  problems.
• Look for opportunities to cultivate leadership
  skills.
• Build and continue to expand our network.

9
Seek Management Support

• Organization doesnt really accomplish anything.
  Theories of management dont much matter.
  Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people
  involved. - Colin Powell
• Qualities management looks for in individuals
  loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a
  balanced ego, and the drive to get things done.
  - Colin Powell
• Form an alliance with your supervisors.

10
Helpful to Remember

• On-the-job training is a continuous effort,
  requiring self-motivation, self-planning,
  self-directing, and self-execution.
• Respect and trust are something we need to earn
  ourselves.
• A can-do attitude goes a long way.
• Treat every opportunity seriously and with
  respect.
• Dont be afraid to challenge the experts, but
  remember to be respectful when doing it.
• This is a small world and do not burn bridges.

11
Things We Could Do Better

• Learn from our successes and failures.
• Seek feedback sincerely and accept it gracefully.
• Always look at the positive side no matter how
  bleak things might look.
• Support our peers as much as we support
  ourselves.
• Be willing to deal with ambiguity.
• Dont become too complacent.

12
Challenges for a Female Professional

• Balance between family and work life, especially
  for women
• Need a supporting (and understanding) spouse or
  group.
• Find mentors.
• Challenges when working in a foreign country
  (all)
• Lack the social and cultural background.
• Extra efforts in adapting to local customs.
• Language could be a handicap.
• Fighting against stereotyping.

13
Stereotype (German and Chinese)
14
Parting Quotes

• The only limit to our realization of tomorrow
  will be our doubts of today.
  - Franklin D. Roosevelt
• I do not believe things happen accidentally, I
  believe we earn them. - Madeleine
  Albright
• You miss 100 of the shots you never take.
  - Wayne Gretzky
• I cant imagine a person becoming a success who
  doesnt give this game of life everything hes
  got. - Walter Cronkite
• Should you shield the canyons from the
  windstorms, you would never see the beauty of
  their carvings.
  - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross