Career Spotlight

National forum on science policy back for another year

BUT IN A NEW VENUE

Building on the immense success and positive impact of the Canadian Science Policy Conference held last fall in Toronto, the Canadian Science Policy Centre has announced the date and themes of its second annual conference.

This year’s event will be held in the heart of downtown Montréal, QC on October 20-22, 2010. It is expected to draw 500 people including scientists, executives, government officials, academics and industry leaders, for an exchange of ideas on how to best steer science policy in this country.

Spurred on by a belief that Canada deserves an annual forum dedicated to science policy issues, the 2010 Conference’s motto is “Building Bridges for the Future of Science Policy.” As such, the two main objectives of CSPC 2010 is to identify and discuss current Canadian science policy and secondly to forge stronger links between stakeholders and policymakers.

“With this year’s conference we continue our collective efforts to build a robust science policy network in Canada,” says Dr. Mehrdad Hariri, CSPC chair. “There is a need for new organizations within the area of science policy. We have to renovate our science policy landscape and make it advanced and progressive. What we hope to achieve is to continue this energy that has built up in the science community, to discuss the issues, most importantly to provide a solution oriented conference.”

Additionally, the conference is designed to facilitate collaboration and networking amongst diverse groups including scientists and researchers from academia; senior representatives from industry, government, research granting agencies and funding bodies, and NGOs; science policy-makers; science writers and journalists; communications and government relations professionals; CEOs; R&D managers; heads of scientific associations; science studies scholars; students and trainees; and others with an interest in the intersection of policy with science and technology.

All stakeholders in the Canadian science policy community are encouraged to attend. Likewise they are encouraged to submit proposals for presentations under the program themes: • Increasing the productivity of Canada’s economy using science and technology • Global perspectives on science and technology • Creating and retaining scientific talent in Canada • A glance at bioscience in Canada • Major issues in Canadian science policy

For information on CSPC 2010, please visit www.sciencepolicy.ca. We hope to see you there!

CAREER SPOTLIGHT

Bio-economy Career Profile

Position: Senior Biostatistician Name: Anona Thorne Company: Canadian HIV Trials Network Salary Range: $60,000 to $80,000 per year

What I do:

I am a statistician. I work at the Canadian HIV Trials Network, where we run studies of HIV and AIDS treatments and treatment strategies. These studies, called clinical, are the result of ideas from researchers in the network. For example, someone might hypothesize that drug A might work better than drug B for a certain condition, so we set up a trial with two groups of patients in order to test this hypothesis. I take the results of these clinical trials and analyze them. Then, with my colleagues, I write up the results and present them at conferences, post them to our website, and publish them in scientific journals. I also assist with organizing the study teams for the clinical trials that we conduct.

My workday varies. Since I am in charge of the study team structure, a certain amount of time is spent on organizational matters, such as arranging meetings or updating the internal study-team website. Often, I will have consultations with other statisticians or staff regarding particular studies and topics. Depending on the stage of the trials that I’m working on, I may work on the plan for a new trail, the statistical analysis of one which has been completed, the revision of a trial report or on producing plots for slides or posters used to present trial results at an upcoming conference.

What education and skills do candidates need for this position?

You require a Master’s degree in Statistics. If you do not have a Master’s degree, but sufficient experience with statistical data analysis, it is conceivable that you could start in a junior analytical position and work your way up, given the right environment. However, this depends on conditions in the job market and this sort of opportunity may not be easy to find.

For this position, you require organizational skills, written and oral communication skills, mathematical and statistical skills, and analytical ability. Before I came to this job, I spent several years working in computer science in both educational and business environments. I then returned to university to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Statistics. Several organizations contacted our department for graduates’names, and my present job was one of them; the job sounded ideal to me.

What are the best parts of your job?

The best thing about my job is that I get to work on a variety of intellectually challenging and socially beneficial projects. There are so many interesting possibilities. Statisticians are essential in so many areas that you have an opportunity to work in many different fields. And as statistical techniques evolve, you always keep learning. Most people have such a limited idea of what a biostatistician does, if they have any idea at all, that when they find out about all the possibilities, it’s a revelation to them.

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