The Speakers

Ana Ortega-Villa, PhD (FEBW Committee Chair) is an Associate Director of Biostatistics at Biogen. Prior to this role, she served as a mathematical statistician at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Cancer Institute, and earned her PhD in Statistics from Virginia Tech, where she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor.

Her interests include design and analysis of clinical trials and observational studies, longitudinal data, mixed models, postpartum depression, immunology, research capacity building, statistics education, and initiatives that foster a culture of belonging.

Dr. Ortega-Villa is a COPSS Emerging Leader, the Chair of the American Statistical Association Biometrics Section, a member of ENAR RECOM, and an Associate Editor of Statistics in Medicine.

Justice Akuoko-Frimpong is a PhD candidate in Biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, working under the supervision of Prof. Susan Murray.  His research focuses on survival analysis, nonparametric methods, and methods for complex and incomplete biomedical data, motivated by applications in clinical and population health. He serves as a Graduate Student Research Assistant, collaborating closely with physicians and clinical teams in COPD and pulmonary health. Through this work, he has gained experience bridging methodological development with real-world clinical questions.  In addition to his research, he is passionate about teaching and mentorship and has served as a teaching assistant for multiple graduate-level biostatistics courses. Outside of school, Justice enjoys playing FIFA games and watching soccer matches.

Lydia Owens is a Morehead-Cain and Goldwater Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is pursuing a dual degree in Biostatistics and Mathematics with a minor in Data Science. Having spent time in research groups at Oxford, Harvard, and Duke, Lydia has developed a deep interest in infectious disease modeling, causal inference, and health equity. As a third-time attendee and the Undergraduate Representative for the Fostering Excellence in Biostatistics Workshop (FEBW), she is dedicated to strengthening mentorship pathways and ensuring student feedback helps shape the future of the biostatistics community. Her previous work includes a first-author study in BMJ Open on agent-based modeling of COVID-19 in U.S. prisons, as well as research on telomere length and cognitive trauma. At this year’s ENAR meeting, she is excited to share her Oxford-based work on Bayesian spatial modeling (CAR and GP models) of UK lung cancer mortality. This summer, she looks forward to joining the Harvard Department of Biostatistics to work with Dr. Rui Duan on electronic health record (EHR) data. Lydia plans to pursue a PhD in Biostatistics with a long-term goal of leading global health initiatives.

Jodeci Roberts is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Biostatistics at Harvard University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Mathematics and a master’s degree in Computer Science. Her research focuses on developing statistical methods to examine how food environments influence colon cancer outcomes, with an emphasis on improving population health and addressing health disparities.

Dr. Gary Sullivan is the founder of Espirer Consulting, LLC (est. 2018) where he provides leadership training, coaching, and advising to statisticians, quantitative scientists and their leaders.  He is the co-developer and primary instructor for The Effective Statistician Leadership Program, an on-line and in-person leadership program for statisticians and quantitative scientists in the pharmaceutical industry.  He has provided leadership training to over 1000 professionals within the pharmaceutical industry and the ASA. Dr. Sullivan has trained and consulted with over a dozen pharmaceutical companies/CROs on topics including communication/presentations, trust-building, strategic thinking, driving change, business acumen, negotiation/conflict resolution, teamwork, supervising employees, and career development/planning.

Dr. Sullivan retired from Eli Lilly and Company in 2017 as the Senior Director for Non-Clinical Statistics.  He joined Eli Lilly in 1989 and held various technical and administrative roles over his 28 years there.  While at Eli Lilly, he led the development and administration of a leadership program for the statistics function from 2009–2017. Dr. Sullivan holds a bachelor’s degree in Statistics from the University of Pittsburgh, and both a Master’s and Doctorate in Statistics from Iowa State University.

Dr. Brian A. Millen, is Vice President, Head of Statistical Sciences & Evidence Generation at Biogen. In this role, he ensures data-driven decision making in support of Biogen’s drug development portfolio and provides strategic and administrative leadership to the Biostatistics, Real World Data Analytics, and Epidemiology organizations. Dr. Millen’s career in the pharmaceutical sector spans more than two decades. He is known for establishing team cultures of high performance, inclusion and innovation.

Dr. Millen is a passionate advocate for professional development. Throughout his career, he has mentored dozens of students and professionals and organized bespoke development programs for these groups. This includes his initiation and launch of the JSM Diversity Workshop and Mentoring Program (2009) which, since its inception, has provided mentoring and skills development for career success to hundreds of statisticians and data scientist from underrepresented minority groups. Dr. Millen’s impact via service to the profession has led to multiple elected or appointed leadership and advisory roles in professional societies. He is apast Chair of the American Statistical Association’s (ASA’s) Biopharmaceutical Section, a past Chair of the ASA’s Committee on Minorities in Statistics, a current member of the International Biometrics Society (IBS) Representative Council, and has chaired or co-chaired multiple conferences and workshops serving statisticians and data scientists at various career levels.

Dr. Millen has the current honor of being President-elect of the American Statistical Association. He is the first pharmaceutical industry leader to be elected to the role. Dr. Millen holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Georgia. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association.

Sefanit Admasu, MPH is a statistician at Merck, supporting clinical trial design and analysis within the Respiratory and Immunology group. Sefanit earned her MPH in Data Science and BS in Statistics and Analytics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to Merck, she worked with the UNC Department of Epidemiology and at IQVIA in Durham, NC. Her research interests include clinical trial development, survival and longitudinal data analysis, and public health research with a focus on women’s health and health disparities. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, being active, and spending time with loved ones.

Lydia Owens is a Morehead-Cain and Goldwater Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is pursuing a dual degree in Biostatistics and Mathematics with a minor in Data Science. Having spent time in research groups at Oxford, Harvard, and Duke, Lydia has developed a deep interest in infectious disease modeling, causal inference, and health equity. As a third-time attendee and the Undergraduate Representative for the Fostering Excellence in Biostatistics Workshop (FEBW), she is dedicated to strengthening mentorship pathways and ensuring student feedback helps shape the future of the biostatistics community. Her previous work includes a first-author study in BMJ Open on agent-based modeling of COVID-19 in U.S. prisons, as well as research on telomere length and cognitive trauma. At this year’s ENAR meeting, she is excited to share her Oxford-based work on Bayesian spatial modeling (CAR and GP models) of UK lung cancer mortality. This summer, she looks forward to joining the Harvard Department of Biostatistics to work with Dr. Rui Duan on electronic health record (EHR) data. Lydia plans to pursue a PhD in Biostatistics with a long-term goal of leading global health initiatives.

Ofer Harel, Ph.D. is dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Professor of Statistics at the University of Connecticut. He received his doctorate in statistics in 2003 from the Pennsylvania State University and his post-doctoral training at the University of Washington, Department of Biostatistics, where he worked for the Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D) Center of Excellence, VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, and the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC). He Joined UCONN as an Assistant Professor in 2005 and is there since. Dr. Harel has served as a biostatistical consultant nationally and internationally since 1997. Dr. Harel is a member of the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics. He was appointed to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Technical Advisory Committee (BLSTAC) at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics among many national elected and appointed positions. Dr. Harel is a Fellow of American Statistical Association

Dr. Scarlett Bellamy is chair and professor of Biostatistics. Prior to her arrival at BU, she was a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health. Before joining Drexel University in 2016, Bellamy spent 15 years at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Perelman School of Medicine, where she was a professor of biostatistics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Hampton University, and completed her doctoral training in biostatistics at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Much of Bellamy’s research centers on evaluating the efficacy of interventions in longitudinal behavioral modification trials, including cluster- and group-randomized trials. She is particularly interested in applying this methodology to address health disparities for a variety of clinical and behavioral outcomes, including HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, and health-promoting behaviors. 

Dr. Bellamy was PI of the Fostering Diversity in Biostatistics Workshop at the ENAR a federally funded initiative aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in graduate training and professional careers in biostatistics and the precursor to the FEBW. In 2016, she was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) a feature of the ASA for nearly 100 years, and under ASA bylaws, only one-third of one percent of the total association membership may be elected as fellows each year. In 2017, Bellamy served as the president of ENAR and has been a long-standing member of the organization since joining as a graduate student in 1997.