Data-Driven Impact: The Evolving Role of Statisticians and Data Scientists in Academic Medicine

Academic statisticians and data scientists are team science focused and lead scientific innovation in learning health systems. As the role of and demand for data experts broadens, there is a need for both methodology focused researchers and those that are key leaders in collaborative projects. Collaborative statisticians and data scientists are critical to the success of academic medicine and must have expertise in traditional analytics and data management, as well as in innovative study design and inferential methods to answer important health care questions in a rapidly evolving evolving environment. Roles and expertise can include data coordination of large, multi-center trials and trial networks; integration in clinical care lines and/or clinical departments as an embedded scholar; electronic health record extraction, analysis, and integration; implementation science; and design methodology. Collaborative statisticians and data scientists are key communicators of scientific results and play a large role in the dissemination of research, subsequent design of future research, and in the training of the next generation of researchers. Further emphasizing their contributions, many collaborative academic statisticians and data scientists co-develop and lead research programs or centers, work within Clinical Translational Science Award Programs, and serve in departmental and/or institutional leadership roles. The purpose of this panel discussion is to describe the various roles and impact of collaborative statisticians and data scientists that are essential to furthering the science of healthcare. Advances in medicine cannot proceed without the critical and high-impact contributions of team scientists trained with expertise in analytics and study design. We will discuss the importance of structural support within institutions and how leaders can advocate for team science experts to be well-resourced and valued both in their respective organization and nationally, and to be set up for career success. Panelists include: • Dr. Anna Snavely, Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. • Dr. Erinn Hade, Associate Professor and Associate Director, Division of Biostatistics, Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. • Dr. Cristina Murray-Krezan, Associate Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. • Dr. Emily Dressler, Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. • Dr. Randi Foraker, Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics and Medical Epidemiology, University of Missouri School of Medicine. • Dr. Leslie McClure, Professor and Dean, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University