Alumni Spotlight: Yimeng Lu

Can you tell us a bit about your career path and what led you to the role you’re in today?

After receiving my PhD, I joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals as a senior statistician responsible for statistical work at the study level. One year later, I was promoted to senior principal statistician, gradually taking charge of leading phase 2 and phase 3 studies, meta-analyses for FDA advisory committee meetings, and major submissions. After spending six years at Novartis in general medicine, I joined Alexion Pharmaceuticals to focus on rare diseases and took charge of developing compounds in three disease areas. In 2016, I joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals as a statistical lead in cystic fibrosis and hematology. I also spend 15% of my time leading or contributing to various working groups at Vertex. In addition, I engage universities in research, such as basket trial design and surrogate endpoints.

What lessons did you learn in earlier roles that help you today?

In my early days at Novartis, by being actively involved in statistical review forums and in collaborations with the Statistical Methodology group while designing dose-ranging studies using innovative methods, I learned a lot at these forums and also received mentorship from well-recognized statistical experts, such as Frank Bretz, Paul Gallo, and Jose Pinheiro, to name a few. The opportunities and challenges of conducting meta-analyses for FDA advisory committee meetings and later leading submissions also helped me gain in-depth knowledge and experience in various methods of statistical analyses. I also had the opportunity to organize statistical conferences and present statistical talks at Novartis. My years at Alexion enriched my experience in rare diseases and helped me do a good job in leading multiple compounds at Vertex.

What skills, abilities, and personal attributes are essential to success in your field?

To be a good statistician in the pharmaceutical industry requires both solid statistical skills and soft skills, such as communication and leadership. To have solid statistical skills, one needs to keep learning from peers in both the industry and academia by attending conferences and reading literature. The soft skills can be built by day-to-day practice. At Vertex, statisticians are expected to contribute to various working groups and give talks in various topics. Meanwhile, statisticians are also expected to be leaders in drug development who our clinical and regulatory colleagues can always rely on for expertise and advice.

What do you enjoy most about the work you do? What are you most excited about right now?

I enjoy being a statistician in the industry, particularly for the opportunities to make impactful change in patients’ lives. I also enjoy the experience of finding solutions for new statistical problems. I am now working on CTX001, a potentially transformative therapy based on gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9 technology for sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia. I am also writing a chapter on gene therapy for a book on rare disease.

What do you wish you had known when you were starting out in your career?

I wish I had known many of the statistical workshops in the industry. Participating in workshops is definitely very helpful in career development.