Letetia completed both her Doctorate (PhD.) in Mathematics and Master of Philosophy (MPhil.) in Statistics at the University of the West Indies (UWI). She is currently a Project Officer and consulting Statistician at the University Office of Planning, the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. Her work involves data analysis in surveys and institutional data, as well as creating statistical and mathematical models for higher education purposes.

Her passion for both Mathematics and Statistics-related research is evident in her publications in both fields. She has over ten years’ experience lecturing a variety of tertiary level courses in Probability, Statistics and Mathematics. Letetia has also assisted with statistical consulting on various statistical projects in Engineering, Psychology, Agriculture and Chemistry. She previously served as the coordinator of the Mathematics Help Centre at the UWI. She has been actively involved in Outreach activities such as Mathematics Fairs and STEM Research Symposiums.

She is passionate about the applications of Mathematics and Statistics and is motivated to add value to society in any way she can. The ASA GivesBack Leadership team is the right forum for this, and she hopes to have an impact as a young female professional from a developing country.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading, makeup artistry, cooking, exercising, volunteering, and making the world a better place 😊

Arinjita Bhattacharyya is a Ph.D. graduate in Biostatistics from the University of Louisville, KY. She is currently working as a Senior Scientist at the Biostatistics and Research Decision Sciences (BARDS) division of Merck & Co., Inc. She has completed her Bachelors and Masters in Statistics from the University of Calcutta, and the University of Pune, India respectively. She is the recipient of the Graduate Dean's Citation Award during her Ph.D. and has internship experiences at Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) and the University of Michigan.

Arinjita currently supports early phase clinical trial development and is involved in designing clinical trials, writing study protocols, clinical study reports, data analysis, and communicating with the clinical research team. Her area of work includes learning, researching, and implementing statistical methods in discovering and developing new therapeutic options for patients with unmet medical needs. She also collaborates with researchers and provides biostatistical support for manuscript preparation.

She loves to meet people, make connections, mentor students on projects, data challenges, and has actively volunteered for ASA, CAUSE, and others. As a part of the ASA Giveback leadership team, she would love to guide and help younger statisticians in their journey of exploring and playing with data. She looks forward to gaining knowledge by communicating, reviewing manuscripts, and collaborating effectively, further engaging in ASA activities, and learning from experiences and guidance. Arinjita is excited about the opportunity to give back to the Statistics community that she has taken so much from.

During her leisure time, she loves to play badminton, travel, and hike in national parks.

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/arinjitabhattacharyya/home

Serene (Lingjing) is a senior statistician at Janssen Pharmaceuticals. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biostatistics from University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Her dissertation topic was “Statistical Methods for Longitudinal Data Analysis and Reproducible Feature Selection in Human Microbiome Studies,” and her paper “Assessing Reproducibility of Feature Selection with High Dimensional Microbiome Data” won the 2020 WNAR Most Outstanding Student Paper Award. In addition to her Ph.D. in Biostatistics, Serene has a Bachelor of Arts in Language Translation and Interpretation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Masters in Statistics from UCSD.

Serene is passionate about using statistics to drive critical decisions, through effective data visualization and compelling story telling. Thanks to her undergraduate background in liberal arts and graduate training in statistics, Serene found statistics an attractive area to combine her interests in both arts and science.

Serene joined the ASA Leadership Group with the goal of promoting statistical thinking to a wider audience, especially those with little exposure to qualitative science, and of contributing to the growth of the statistics community with the insights from a pharmaceutical statistician.

In her leisure time, Serene enjoys hiking, gardening, reading and learning languages with her husband and her 3-year old daughter.

Allison Leanage is a Sociologist/Economist Analyst at Statistics Canada in the Social Analysis and Modelling Division Branch and a Research Assistant for the Department of Sociology at McMaster University. Her areas of research interests are the social determinants of health taking a intersectional approach. She obtained her Ph.D. in Sociology from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Her dissertation topic was on the “Mental Health of Children in Canada Across Immigrant Generations” and takes into the intersectionality of gender and ethno-racial differences. In addition to her Ph.D. in Sociology, Allison is certified as a Clinical Research Associate. Allison is very passionate about social statistics and how it can inform policy decision-making and improve quality of life (e.g., mental health) for individuals.

She joined the ASA Leadership team to promote the value of social statistics and data literacy skills to those that are willing to learn and might not have access to resources. Her goal is to encourage the uptake of statistics in the social sciences.

In her spare time, Allison enjoys exploring new trails, playing video games, play sports, reading and learning new skills.

Figaro L. Loresto Jr., PhD, RN is a nurse scientist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, a nurse quality research specialist at Denver Health, and assistant professor at University of Colorado College of Nursing. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 2007 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2010. His doctorate is in Clinical Science with a concentration in Biostatistics which he earned in 2018. Figaro is a registered nurse and carries a license for the state of Colorado, but he now practices statistics within the field of nursing. His role as a nurse scientist provides this opportunity. He values the core principles of nursing in which the major tenets is the care for the whole individual and often attempt to incorporate this view within his statistical practice. In 2020, he was nominated to be part of the American Organization of Nurse Leaders, Young Professionals group, a group of nurse leaders with potential to impact the nursing field.

Figaro is passionate about statistics and enjoy learning and implementing new methods, specifically in the topics of social network analysis and text mining. One of his goals is incorporating statistical thinking into nursing and non-profit sectors. Ever the volunteer, Figaro’s reason for joining ASA GivesBack stems from his desire to serve and to give back, a call back to his nursing roots. He hopes to use the platform to explore how statistics can positively impact society.

When not working or volunteering, you can find him in coffee shops reading books, strumming on his guitar, taking an art class, backpacking at national parks, cooking new recipes, or playing video games with friends.

Alison is the founder and CEO of Metrics Together. Metrics Together works with state and local government agencies, NGOs, and individuals to bring data into the narrative, assisting in reporting project progress, making the federal grants process a little easier, hosting supplemental data on income and economic drivers, and connecting people to the data they produce in order to make human centered projects successful. Originally from New Mexico, Alison ended up in Boston where she spent the beginning of her career as a municipal bonds trader and where she completed her Masters in Statistical Practice at Boston University in May 2020.

Alison spends the majority of her time thinking about how data serves people and the stories that are told through numbers. She has been a member of ASA since 2019 and has a passion for bringing more people into the wonderful world of statistics.