Biostatistics Alumni

Lei Zhao, MS Biostatistics 2015

I am currently a program analyst at Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), Wilmington, NC. PPD is a global contract research organization (CRO), which provides discovery, development, and post-approval services, as well as compound partnering programs. My daily work mainly focuses on project management, statistical analysis, and programming involved with Phase I – Phase IV of clinical trial research from clients.

I was fortunate to be one of the first groups of students who graduated from the master program of biostatistics at MSU. The program provided me a solid foundation for my career. In the two years of study at MSU, I had access to all the essential courses for my work. This includes from probabilities and hypothesis tests to observational studies, longitudinal studies, survival analysis and clinical trials. More importantly, and also what makes the MSU biostat program special, is that I had the opportunity to gain practical skills through working closely with professors with different backgrounds on real data analysis. The experience provided me proficiency in statistical programming and thinking, which gave me an advantage in securing a job.

I still miss life in Michigan State. Every professor was knowledgeable and helpful. They care about each student, and they work hard to ensure that each student is successful. I am thankful for the knowledge and skill that I learned from them.