Profile
Emma Crawford
I analyse data collected on new medicines tested in clinical trials
My CV
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Education:
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of Greenwich, St Olaves Grammar School, Langley Park School for Girls
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Qualifications:
MSc Medical Statistics, BSc Mathematics, Diploma in Industrial Studies, A level (Maths, Chemistry), AS level (Further maths, Music, Spanish), GCSEs (Maths, Statistics, English (Language & Lit), Double Science, Spanish, Textiles, Geography, Music)
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Work History:
MSD, Parexel, Numerus, Pfizer, McDonalds
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Current Job:
Senior Scientist, HTA Statistics
Biostatistics and Research Decision Sciences | BARDS Europe
MSD
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About Me:
A disney fan living in London.
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I live in London with my fiancé. I am mad about Dachshunds (sausage dogs) and hope to get a puppy after we get married next year. My fiancé is a bartender and I am his personal taste tester for his cocktails. I am a HUGE Disney fan. I sing in a choir at work, and enjoying doing crafts when I have the time!
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Medical Statisticians are key players in a drug development project team within the research, development and manufacturing of a pharmaceutical product.
Statisticians are becoming highly sought in the pharmaceutical industry and increasingly play leading roles in areas such as pharmacology, health economics, real world evidence, personalised healthcare, manufacturing and marketing.
Statisticians are involved in a wide range of activities, including:
- Designing scientifically sound experiments or trials
- Defining data collection methods
- Determining the analysis methodology and requirements
- Performing data analysis
- Correct interpretation and decision making
- Present results to senior managers and government agencies around the world
Statisticians almost never work in isolation in the pharmaceutical industry. Project teams are made up of a variety of disciplines, to include doctors, scientists, operations managers, compliance and marketing teams.
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My Typical Day:
Working as part of a team to deliver a clinical trial for a client – fuelled by lots of cups of tea!
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I have to commute from south-east to north-west London to get to my office, so my day normally starts with me watching catch up TV whilst on the train and tube.Once I get into the office, first thing is always a cup of tea whilst I settle down to read my emails, check my diary for meetings and plan my day ahead.
At PAREXEL, we conduct clinical trials on behalf of our clients in order to advance the approval process for a range of new drugs. I’m currently the lead biostatistician on three clinical trials and which involves overseeing the biostatistics and programming activities on these studies, and I am responsible for the team of statisticians and statistical programmers that also work on any of my studies.
I spend most of my day attending meetings (both project management and technical) and communicating with my other team members and to our pharmaceutical clients. Religiously at 12 o’clock I go for lunch with my colleagues from the statistics department. We all work on different projects so enjoy using this time to catch up on how each others studies are going, and also any office gossip (mainly what happened in GBBO or strictly!).
As I work in a multifunctional team, not everyone is familiar with statistics, so part of my job is to coach others and to interpret the results of any statistical analyses in a way that is understandable to colleagues without any statistics knowledge. This can be in person, in a tele-conference, or via email – all requiring different skills in order to best communicate my message.
Sometimes as part of my role I will also have to do some computer programming to check the data or to help my team perform some of the more complex statistical analyses. I am also responsible for overseeing the quality of work produced by the programming team on my study so will sometimes do some programming to check the work they have done is correct and makes sense.
Come 5 o’clock I’m ready to head home to hit the gym and to watch some TV to switch off ready for a good nights sleep so I’m ready to tackle whatever exciting challenges may be in store for me at work the next day!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I will donate the money to PSI CALC to help organise further careers events and resources so that they can continue to inspire students to study maths and statistics.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Organised, girly and short.
What did you want to be after you left school?
I wasn't sure. I went to uni and studied maths because I liked it, and chose to do a placement year to hopefully give me ideas of what to do, and it did! :)
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not personally, but my form had a reputation for the "worst class" in the year, and we had quite a few class detentions!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
This is a hard one - I love so many types of music! I think Beyonce is my favourite solo artist right now.
What's your favourite food?
Roast dinner with lots of gravy!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1) To have a big house in London for free, 2) Fill that house with lots of Dachshunds, 3) For my own island in the Caribbean with a private jet to take me there whenever I wanted
Tell us a joke.
Did you hear the one about a statistician? Probably.
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