Profile

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Laura Barker

    • About Me:

      I live just south of Cambridge. I love travelling, visiting as many different countries as I can, exploring local cultures, cuisines, and always trying a new adventure activity. When at home, I enjoy dancing and paddle-boarding.

    • My pronouns are:

      She/Her

    • My Work:

      I’m a medical statistician. We test new medicines to see if they are effective, and safe. As a statistician, I design and analyse clinical trials, and quantify risks

    • Read more

      I work for a pharmaceutical company. We develop new medicines. As a statistician, I design clinical trials to test, how safe the medicine is, and how well it works. I work in cancer treatments. The medicines I’ve worked on have been proven to slow down how quickly the cancer develops and spreads, and delay deaths, giving patients more quality time. We use statistics to decide:

      • How many patients we need in the trial
      • How do we measure if the medicine works: Should we look at deaths, or should we measure how quickly the tumour is growing, or how the patient feels?
      • What data we should collect
      • How we should analyse the data, and when?

    • My Typical Day:

      Several days a week, I commute to the Discovery Centre, a new state of the art facility, with labs and office space in Cambridge. My day is spent at my desk, or in meetings, but it’s nice to see into the labs to be reminded of the science. I can also work from home a couple of days a week

    • Read more

      There are many different projects statisticians are involved in so no two days are the same. I often have meetings with people from lots of different countries.

      There are three main areas of work:

      • Designing clinical trials
      • Monitoring ongoing clinical trials
      • Analysing clinical trials and submitting data and results to health authorities who approve the drug so it can be given to patients

    Candidate CV questions (extra)

    • Education:

      Newstead Wood School for Girls in Orpington, Kent.

    • Qualifications:

      GCSEs – Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Food Technology, ICT, Spanish, History, Dance

      AS levels – Critical Thinking & Physics

      A levels – Mathematics, Spanish & Chemistry

      MSCi Chemistry – 4 year integrated Masters degree in Chemistry at the University of Bristol with a year studying abroad at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

      Masters in Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

    • Work History:

      Patient Administration Assistant, UCL Hospital, London. (2008 – 2013)

      2 weeks work experience led to me being offered a role as an admin assistant, working Saturdays and holidays during sixth form, and returning during holidays when I was at University. Working on reception and in the patient admin office on a busy cancer ward.

      Receptionist, London Medical (2013)

      Working as a receptionist, and billing, in an outpatient clinic

      Program Administrator, Royal College of Physicians (2014-2015)

      Having graduated with a masters degree in Chemistry, and no clue what I wanted to in my career, I took a temporary contract doing admin before planning to travel. The team I worked in conducted national clinical audits, collecting and analysing data from hospitals across the UK. This sparked my interest in medical statistics, and led to me applying to do a Masters in Medical Statistics.

       

    • Current Job:

      I am an Associate Director of Statistics. I started at my current job straight after finishing my masters in medical statistics, as a Statistician in 2016, promoted to Senior Statistician in 2018, and Associate Director in 2021.

      I have spent most of my time working on “late phase” trials. These trials are larger, and the usually the final trial to demonstrate a medicine is effective, and safe, before it can be approved and given to patients. I have recently moved into “early phase”, these are the “first time in human” trials, and are mostly to see if a new medicine is safe, and to find the correct dose.

    • Employer:

      AstraZeneca

    • My Interview

      • What did you want to be after you left school?

        I had no idea, even after a 4 year Masters Degree in Chemistry, I still had no idea

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Occassionally

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        Working with animals

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        I listen to a bit of everything

        What's your favourite food?

        Thai food or a sunday roast!

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        To be happy, to be healthy, and to be able to travel

Questions answered by Laura

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