In this latest edition of our Career Perspectives series, we had the privilege of speaking with Jan Priel, Principal Innovative Statistics Consultant, Strategic Consulting. In this interview, Jan takes us through his professional journey applying his mathematics expertise to pressing medical and public health issues, across various indications and stages of drug development.

Can you give us a little background on your career and your professional journey so far? What made you choose a career as a biostatistician, or within the pharmaceutical industry in general?

After earning my PhD in mathematics, I searched for a field where I could not only continue to work with interesting quantitative methods but also apply them to real-world problems. I was drawn to biostatistics and evidence-based medicine because they let me do exactly that — applying mathematical techniques to pressing medical and public health issues, and ultimately, improving patient outcomes. Topics such as experimental design, statistical modeling, causal inference, and decision theory have natural and important applications in drug development, and it was very exciting for me to join a field like that.

As a Principal Innovative Statistics Consultant, your role is likely to involve a range of tasks and responsibilities. Could you walk me through a typical day or week for you?

In Cytel’s Strategic Consulting group, we typically help clients tackle complex challenges in trial design, data analysis, and decision-making. My work often involves diving into methodological aspects, whether it’s reading research papers and regulatory guidelines, developing statistical designs for trials, programming virtual trial simulations, performing statistical modeling of data from a clinical trial or an external database, or conducting meta-analyses.

Collaboration is a big part of my role as well. I regularly meet with colleagues to discuss how to approach a current issue for a client and often have meetings with clients to present results and make recommendations.

What do you like best about your role?

I really enjoy the wide variety in my work. My role gives me the chance to work across different indications and stages of drug development, which means every project comes with new challenges and opportunities to expand my expertise and apply innovative approaches. The dynamic nature of this environment keeps things exciting and intellectually stimulating. On top of that, being part of the Strategic Consulting group allows me to recommend and apply innovative methodologies that aim to enhance traditional approaches to trial design and data analysis.

Cytel’s strategic consulting business consists of a team of experts to help sponsors optimize the speed, savings, and probability of success of their clinical trials. As part of the team, what are your specific areas of expertise?

My main area of expertise is applying Bayesian approaches to trial designs and statistical modeling. In many of my projects, I use Bayesian models to understand the risks and benefits of a new treatment and to quantify the underlying uncertainties. This can involve borrowing information from historical data or between groups or calculating predictive possibilities of success of a future trial. From a pragmatic perspective, I find Bayesian approaches particularly useful for these tasks, especially if the sample size is moderate or small. In adaptive trials, we often apply Bayesian approaches that help guide trial adaptations such as early stopping, dose selection, population enrichment or sample size re-estimation.

What do you think is the future of Bayesian adaptive trial designs or Bayesian methodologies in clinical trials in general?

Bayesian designs are already used quite frequently in early-phase trials, basket trials, platform trials, rare disease studies, pediatric trials, and medical device trials. They improve interpretability, offer great flexibility, and provide an efficient way to use information. The use of these methods seems to be growing, and I don’t see any strong reasons for that trend to reverse — though, I generally prefer to avoid making predictions about the future.

As a consultant, you work closely with our clients to support their success. Can you describe what that collaboration looks like? How do you approach working with our clients?

My approach is highly interactive and tailored to each client’s specific needs. The first step is always to gain a deep understanding of the project’s challenges and objectives, which involves in-depth discussions and a thorough analysis of the situation. Every project is customized to its unique context, incorporating existing knowledge of the indication and related biology, new treatment, standard of care, and market landscape. This ensures a strategic, well-informed approach that aligns with the client’s goals and maximizes the probability of success.

What qualities and skills (soft/technical) do you believe are essential for someone to succeed in a strategic consultant role at Cytel?

I believe it’s important in this field to have a balance of technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and strong communication. It’s key to be able to think critically about the data and the questions being asked, to understand the problem at hand, question assumptions, and ensure results are communicated in a clear and useful way.

Finally, what are your main interests outside of work?

Outside of work, I have a strong interest in statistical methods and modeling. I enjoy reading research papers on new developments in statistics, even if they are not directly related to my projects. I’m intrigued by emerging methodologies and how they might be applied in different contexts.

Thank you, Jan, for sharing your experience!

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