Biostatistics Alumni

Patrick Karabon, MS Biostatistics 2015

I currently work as a Biostatistician at the Oakland University William Beaumont (OUWB) School of Medicine based in Metro Detroit. I work in a consulting role, primarily assisting all medical students with a required four-year longitudinal research project. I also assist other investigators on their research projects. The primary bulk of my work is statistical analysis; however, I also work on power/sample size calculations, data analysis plans, and student questions regarding any statistics-related topics.

There are many skills that I learned during my time at MSU that help tremendously in the workplace after graduation. The wide variety of statistical analysis methods and the willingness of the faculty to present the most contemporary methods in clear, concise way help students to learn a wide variety of statistical methods. I have found my knowledge of statistics from MSU faculty prepared me for the workforce.

The Biostatistics faculty expose students to a wide variety of software packages, including SAS, Stata, and R. Being exposed to various software packages has allowed me to be more versatile in the workplace and able to approach problems in more than one way. Employers look for graduates who are well-versed in more than one software package.

The integration of Epidemiology classes and a course in Statistical Consulting helped train me well for the modern-day workforce as a consulting Biostatistician. These courses expose students to a variety of terms, which allow graduates to speak directly to collaborators who have a clinical and non-statistics educational background.

Finally, there is a comradery and a great culture amongst the students and faculty in the MSU Biostatistics program. This close comradery is great because it allows for students to build a good career network before graduation and values teamwork to help solve problems.