Alumna: Nina Orwitz
Nina Orwitz, PhD
Principal Biostatistician
Novartis
My path since graduation in 2017 from the Columbia Biostatistics MS program has been incredibly rewarding. During my time at Mailman, while I was a summer intern at Covance, a Contract Research Organization (CRO), I first saw the importance of biostatisticians in drug development. I decided that in order to achieve success in a career in industry, I needed to continue building upon my statistical knowledge and analytical skills. After graduation, I entered the PhD program in Biostatistics in the Vilcek Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at New York University. My research and eventual dissertation focused on statistical methods for personalized medicine in two areas: (1) developing novel practical and innovative approaches to measure confidence in a treatment decision made for an individual patient, with applications to mental health, and (2) developing functional data approaches to evaluate ecological momentary assessment data extracted from wearable devices. I successfully defended my dissertation in August 2021, and a few weeks later began my career in industry at Novartis.
At Novartis, I work as a principal biostatistician in the Early Development Analytics division. Primarily, I am a trial statistician for first-in-human and phase 1 trials for compounds being developed to treat patients with hematological malignancies such as leukemias and lymphomas. The role is a combination of statistical design, writing plans and protocols, and conducting and reporting analyses of clinical, pharmacokinetic, and biomarker data. I also support clinical pharmacology studies that provide critical information for drug labeling purposes. Outside of clinical trial responsibilities, I contribute as a statistical line function representative for several research initiatives looking to use and develop innovative statistical approaches to improve future oncology study designs at the company. My favorite part of the job is having the ability to strongly influence drug decision-making while collaborating with diverse cross-functional teams.
My experience at Mailman gave me both the methodological foundation necessary to succeed in obtaining my PhD and the practical knowledge that has helped me launch a career in biostatistics. The most valuable lesson I believe that I learned at Mailman, however, is to be curious, inquisitive, and to always ask questions when collaborating with others, which came from courses such as the Capstone Consulting Seminar. During my doctoral program, and now especially at Novartis in my interactions with physicians, programmers, data managers, and scientists, I have seen firsthand the value and importance of effective communication.
This fall 2022 semester, I found myself in a full circle moment when I was given the opportunity to return to the biostatistics department at Mailman as a professor for the Design of Medical Experiments course. Given the work-from-home flexibility I have with Novartis, I have been able to teach in-person once a week at Mailman. I took this course as a student and the material made a huge impact on me at the time, sparking my interest in clinical trial design and methodology. It has been invigorating to teach and give back to students at the school where my passion for biostatistics began.