Planning for 2025 doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it can be a powerful exercise in aligning your goals with your ideal lifestyle and long-term aspirations. In this episode, Alun Bedding provides actionable strategies and thoughtful insights to help you approach the year ahead with clarity and purpose. Whether you’re aiming to elevate your career, find balance, or simply refine your approach to goal-setting, this episode is packed with ideas you won’t want to miss. So, listen now and take the first step toward making 2025 your most impactful year yet. And if you found this episode valuable, don’t keep it to yourself—share it with friends and colleagues who could benefit from these transformative strategies!

How do we find the right dose in immune-oncology trials?

Is the traditional “maximum tolerated dose” approach still enough, or should we also focus on efficacy?

In this episode of The Effective Statistician, I talk with Teppo Huttunen, a seasoned statistician and co-founder of the boutique CRO, Estimeds. We uncover the shortcomings of the conventional three-plus-three design and explain how the Bayesian Optimal Interval (BOIN) design gives us more flexibility and better insights. Teppo shares practical tips on dose optimization and highlights the critical role statisticians play in shaping smarter, evidence-based decisions for phase two trials.

If you want to learn how we can balance safety, efficacy, and practical challenges in oncology studies, this episode is for you!

Are you feeling stuck or overwhelmed in your work as a statistician?

Do you wonder how to stay sharp and maintain balance while tackling complex challenges?

In this Friday episode of The Effective Statistician, my co-host for, Alun Bedding, takes the lead to unpack the concept of "sharpening the saw," inspired by Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Alun dives into the art of continuous renewal—physical, mental, social, and spiritual—to help you stay proactive and effective. He shares practical tips, personal insights, and lessons from recent PSI webinars, offering actionable steps to improve focus and boost productivity.

Listen in and discover how small, intentional changes can sharpen your edge as a statistician!

Welcome to this episode of The Effective Statistician! Today, I explore an exciting and rapidly growing field: digital health interventions.

Have you ever wondered how to define engagement with these tools?

Why does measuring engagement matter so much for their success?

And how can statisticians solve the unique challenges that come with this digital space?

I speak with Jack Elkes, a PhD researcher focused on digital health, to answer these questions. Together, we tackle the complexities of these interventions, their use in areas like mental health, and how tools like cluster analysis help make sense of multidimensional data. With over 10,000 mental health apps already on the App Store, this field expands rapidly, creating opportunities and challenges.

If you want to know how engagement in digital health connects to marketing strategies or how these tools reshape decentralized trials, you’ll find plenty of insights here. Let’s dive in!

Have you ever thought about how clinical trials affect the environment?

I hadn’t, until I spoke with Annie Wright, a first-year PhD student at Imperial College who is passionate about greener research. In this episode, we uncover how clinical trials contribute to climate change, from travel emissions to operational inefficiencies. We dive into practical actions statisticians and researchers can take to reduce the carbon footprint of trials, like adopting decentralized approaches and streamlining study designs.

Join us as we explore how to transform clinical research into a more sustainable practice while still delivering valuable scientific outcomes.

Have you faced the challenge of dealing with non-proportional hazards in survival analysis?

In this episode, I team up with Kaspar Rufibach, a statistical methodology expert, to break down what proportional hazards mean, why the assumption often fails, and how you can tackle these situations effectively.

We explain key concepts like hazard functions, discuss practical ways to analyze and visualize survival data, and share strategies for designing better clinical trials.

Whether you’re working on your first survival analysis or refining your approach, this episode will equip you with the tools to address non-proportional hazards confidently.

Introduction to Episode: "How Real Leaders Help Their People Grow Professionally and Personally"

What does it take to be a great leader?

How do you build trust, inspire growth, and create real value for your team and organization?

In this episode of The Effective Statistician, I sit down with Aziza Yormirzaeva and Klaus Breuer to answer these questions. Aziza shares how Klaus, her former manager, guided her to discover her passion for statistics and grow both as a professional and as a person. Klaus explains how he empowers his team, fosters trust, and creates a workplace culture that prioritizes learning and collaboration.

Their story is filled with practical lessons, inspiring moments, and insights that will challenge how you think about leadership and personal growth.

Let’s jump right into this fascinating conversation!

What makes gene therapy so different from traditional drug development?

How do we address safety when each patient only receives a single dose?

And why are statisticians so essential in this process?

In this episode of The Effective Statistician, I sit down with Oscar Segurado, an MD, PhD, an expert in gene and cell therapies, to answer these questions and more. Oscar draws on decades of experience in academia, med tech, and biopharma—including his work on the blockbuster drug Humira—to guide us through the complexities of clinical development in gene therapy. We discuss everything from early clinical trials to commercialization, uncovering the unique challenges of treating rare diseases like hemophilia A and spinal muscular atrophy.

Whether you’re a statistician, data scientist, or just curious about the future of medicine, this episode offers valuable insights into the clinical development of gene therapies and the vital role statisticians play in advancing these groundbreaking treatments.

What if we could target genetic diseases at their root, offering lifelong cures instead of temporary solutions?

And what role do statisticians play in making this breakthrough possible?

In this episode of The Effective Statistician, I dive into the fascinating world of gene therapy—an area packed with both promise and complexity.

I'm thrilled to finally cover this revolutionary field with two expert guests, Avery McIntosh from Pfizer and Alex Sverdlov from Novartis. Together, we break down the science behind gene therapies, explore the ethical and logistical challenges, and reveal how statisticians drive these life-changing treatments forward.

So, how close are we to curing diseases through gene therapy? Let’s jump in and find out.

What does it take to create an effective clinical development plan? How do our early decisions shape the path of a compound through clinical phases? And how can statisticians actively balance the demands of science, speed, and cost in drug development?

In this special 400th episode of The Effective Statistician, I dive into these questions with Carrie Li, a biostatistics expert whose career spans both big pharma and startups. Carrie shares how she builds clinical development plans from scratch, collaborates with cross-functional teams, and uses statistical expertise to create strategies that drive both scientific and commercial success.

Join us as we explore the impact statisticians have on the clinical development journey.