Sarah from Statistics

• • Statistics

  • Sarah
  • Aaron

I graduated from Glasgow University with a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Statistics. From there I studied for an MSc in Medical Statistics at Leicester University and then joined AstraZeneca as a graduate recruit.

"When I joined AstraZeneca I was suprised by the amount of responsibility I was given from day one" Sarah

Upon joining I became a member of the Biostatistics group at Alderley Park, Cheshire.  Since I joined the company I have worked as a study team statistician, working in early phase clinical trials in both patient and healthy volunteers, which assess mainly safety and tolerability of new compounds. I am involved in inputting into the design and analysis of these studies starting from the study design, through to study set-up, collecting and analysing the data and reporting the results. A crucial part of my job is interacting with the members of my study team and learning how to communicate statistical concepts to non-statistical audiences always a challenge!

When I joined AstraZeneca I was surprised by the amount of responsibility I was given from day one. It was not long before I had my own studies to work on. At first this seemed a little daunting but in the end it has helped me to grow in confidence and learn a lot faster than I had expected. I received a lot of support from the other statisticians that I worked with and each new starter gets assigned a coach who is there to guide and support you as you settle into your job.

The study teams that I work with consist of representatives from different skills areas within the company, all of who are vital to the development process of new compounds. It is important for statisticians to understand the clinical questions of interest and how statistics can aid in answering these questions. To be able to do this it is often important to think beyond statistics and draw on expertise from non-statistical colleagues.

A lot of the knowledge I built up at University has been invaluable for my job but even now it is still a learning process. I am constantly developing my statistical skills and I find being able to put them in practice has helped increase my understanding. I find my job at AstraZeneca both challenging and rewarding.

Working for AstraZeneca has allowed me to develop at a pace which is right for me. They promote a healthy work life balance and provide support for new starters both within work and on a more personal level. AstraZeneca has its own graduate committee who organise social events to help new graduates settle in and provide them the opportunity to meet new people.  

If I'm honest I never really planned to become a statistician, if anything I guess I stumbled across it without having much knowledge of what it actually involved!  However, looking back I'm really pleased I have begun a career in pharmaceutical statistics.