Meet our data scientists | Roche

Meet our colleagues exploring the Fascinating World of Data Science

Welcome to the captivating realm of data science, where the convergence of information and innovation fuels groundbreaking advancements in healthcare. In Product Development (PD) Data Sciences, we are driven by the opportunity to harness the full potential of data, revolutionizing patient care and empowering scientific progress. Through this article, we invite you to dive into the dynamic world of data scientists, discover their invaluable contributions, and explore the remarkable stories of some of our team members who make it all possible.

At PD Data Sciences, our multidisciplinary team comprises experts from diverse fields, including data and statistical sciences, epidemiology, outcomes research, mathematics, programming, informatics, and software development. Together, we create an ecosystem that integrates traditional approaches with cutting-edge methodologies. By combining our strengths and leveraging collaboration, we deliver comprehensive solutions to the ever-evolving landscape of drug development.

Isaac Gravestock, Real World Data Scientist and Statistical Engineering Lead

I started my career as a SAS programmer analysing traffic and crash data for a government department in Australia. I quickly realised that my interest in data and statistics lies in the connection to people and making people’s lives better. To pursue this, I moved to Switzerland to study biostatistics and completed a PhD at the University of Zurich. After working for a few years in university research groups on observational studies, I joined Roche to work on analysing observational and real world data.

This is really fascinating work: studying the impact that medicines have on people’s lives outside of clinical trials and helping to make sure that the medicines we develop have the greatest impact. It is methodologically challenging and requires a good understanding of the diseases and therapies, so I am constantly learning from my clinical and data science colleagues.

Over the last few years I have become increasingly involved with research software engineering and now have the opportunity to lead a talented team developing statistical software. We collaborate with statisticians and methods experts internally and externally to implement tools for efficient and innovative analyses.

Getting to work at the forefront of statistical methodology, software development and clinical research is what makes me so excited to be at Roche.

Meet Jessica Braid, Principal PCOR Scientist, Digital Innovation Chapter Lead

I started my career within healthcare consultancy which gave me exposure to a variety of disciplines including International and National Market Research, Medical Communications, Real World Evidence Generation, Health Economics and Outcomes Research. Working in consultancy gave me a broad understanding of the pharmaceutical development process from early development to post-launch and established my passion for patient-centered outcomes research.

I joined the patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) team at Roche in 2018, located in Welwyn. Our role is to advise clinical development teams on incorporating patient-centric endpoints into drug development programmes from Phase 1 through to Phase 3. As part of my role working specifically in rare neurological diseases, I gained exposure to digital measurement, a novel way to measure patient-relevant outcomes beyond the traditional clinical outcome assessment types (PRO, ObsRO, PerfO, ClinRO).

My current role is to lead the Digital Innovation Chapter within the PCOR function. This role allows me to work cross-functionally to drive the application of patient-centered measurement science to digital measures across Genentech and Roche, and be a champion for digital measures within PCOR. As part of this focus on digital measurement, I played an important role in a cross-functional team responsible for securing regulatory qualification of a novel digitally-derived endpoint in a rare neurological condition, facilitating faster, less burdensome clinical development programs, with sample size and study duration being able to be reduced by at least 50%. This was an industry first and a great example of “Doing what patients need next”.

It is this sort of work that makes me proud to work for Roche. The ability to work on cutting-edge projects is one of the many reasons why Roche is a fantastic place to work. It allows for continual professional and personal growth in an extremely supportive and collaborative environment.

Meet Marcel Wolbers, Expert Statistical Scientist

My career path brought me from a PhD in mathematical statistics, to work as a study statistician at Roche, to academic research at the University Hospital Basel and at a large tropical medicine research unit in Southeast Asia, and finally back to Roche Basel.

I now work in Roche’s Methods, Collaboration, and Outreach group. Our mission is to support data scientists across Roche in applying the most appropriate quantitative methodology to efficiently develop new drugs and solutions for patients. My work is very diverse: I provide statistical consulting, develop statistical methods to solve trial design and analysis problems, collaborate with statistical engineers to implement novel methodologies in high-quality R packages, teach statistics within Roche and externally, collaborate with academic and industry colleagues, and mentor other statisticians.

I love the collaborative spirit at Roche working with a large number of motivated and highly skilled colleagues on developing drugs that can change the life of patients. Seeing that some of the statistical tools I rolled out at Roche are now used widely gives me great satisfaction. Our business relies heavily on innovation, so there’s never a shortage of challenging quantitative research questions and opportunities to have a real impact!

Muriel Buri, Senior Data Scientist

After obtaining a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Zurich, I joined the pharma development data science and statistics team in October 2020. Since then, I have been working as a statistical scientist on several clinical trials for haematological diseases.

In my current role at Roche, I contribute to the design and analysis of clinical trials, which are essential for the development of new medicines and treatments. I especially enjoy combining my passion for numbers and medicine to analyse complex healthcare data and collaborating
with cross-functional colleagues, making evidence-based decisions that directly contribute to medical advancements and potentially improve patients' lives. Moreover, I appreciate the international and interdisciplinary working environment at Roche. It is inspiring to collaborate with diverse stakeholders such as physicians, biomarker scientists, operational experts, pharmacists, etc. This environment allows me to tackle challenges from a diverse perspective and to exchange ideas with different innovative subject matter experts – always working together towards the common goal of doing now what patients need next.