Staff Profile: Elizabeth Gray, BCC Biostatistician
Elizabeth Gray, MS, may well be a Renaissance woman moonlighting as a biostatistician.
Whether she’s harmonizing soprano melodies in old cathedral alcoves, navigating the high seas as a skilled sailor, communicating in semi-fluent Japanese, or baking the latest delectable goods for the office, Gray has proven herself to be a dynamic force at the Biostatistician Collaboration Center (BCC).
Gray’s passion for mathematical research was first ignited during a college statistics course. In 2013, she graduated from the University of Chicago with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and a Master’s in Statistics. She began her career in medical research at Northwestern in 2017 and has been working as a biostatistician for more than a decade.
“As a statistician, I support many stages of the research process: the planning and development of a research project or clinical trial, monitoring recruitment and data quality, and producing trial results. I can have one-off conversations with investigators seeking advice on any aspect of their research, or have years-long collaborations, and any length of time in between,” Gray says.
When I can help investigators understand my area of expertise, after getting to understand theirs through their work, it is incredibly satisfying.”
The BCC is unique in that it allows biostatisticians two distinct routes for managing new research projects – either by receiving funding through various investigator’s grants or addressing projects submitted from the BCC queue. Open to Northwestern members and funded by the Dean’s Office, the queue permits a one- to two-hour consultation with a biostatistician such as Gray.
“These projects may simply be a quick discussion, but many turn into longer-term projects. Depending on how many grants we are on, we can spend more or less time fielding these requests. I have a couple of long-term, years-long grant projects coming to an end, so am currently looking to take on some new grants, and in the meantime, field a lot of BCC queue projects.”
Gray’s day-to-day responsibilities vary depending on the frequency of scheduled investigator meetings and current project initiatives. She enjoys the flexibility allotted to her within the research enterprise.
“I start my day by looking over my tracked list of projects and schedule for the week and determining which things I need to work on and in what order. I often switch between projects every few hours, to get a fresh perspective. I spend a lot of my time coding, emailing with investigators, and working on REDCap databases.”
While Gray enjoys many aspects of her role, including the minutiae of coding and collaborative problem-solving, her favorite part of being a statistician is explaining her findings to investigators.
I love how Chicago is a major city, but has a real neighborhood feel wherever you end up. I live here with King while I volunteer at Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS). I am well-known around the BCC as a major pet lover, and King is a frequent presence on Zoom calls.”
“When I can help investigators understand my area of expertise, after getting to understand theirs through their work, it is incredibly satisfying. We are currently working on ways to better collaborate with each other, by sharing reproducible code and better communication between junior and senior analysts. We tend to work independently from each other, so finding better ways to share experiences and expertise with each other is an ongoing challenge.”
Though Gray grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, she often came to Chicago to visit family. She fostered a strong affinity for the city and envisioned herself living downtown post-graduation. Now residing in Logan Square with her cat, King, Gray “couldn’t see herself living anywhere else.
“I love how Chicago is a major city, but has a real neighborhood feel wherever you end up. I live here with King while I volunteer at Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS). I am well-known around the BCC as a major pet lover, and King is a frequent presence on Zoom calls.”
Gray’s commitment to diversifying her individual and career-related pursuits have allowed her to grow as a multifaceted leader who inspires others at the BCC.
The BCC is housed within the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute and provides biostatistics expertise in all aspects of research, including proposal development, study design, data management, statistical analysis and manuscript preparation.
NUCATS is supported in part by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Grant Number UL1TR001422. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Written by Alex Miranda
