YODA 2025 Mentors

Jing Huang (LinkedIn)

Bio: Jing Huang received her B.A. in Statistics and Probability from Peking University and her Ph.D.in Statistics and M.S. in Epidemiology from Stanford University. She has been working in the biomedical field for over 20 years and her research interest focuses on statistical methodologies in clinical trial design, genomic analysis, and machine learning. She is currently the Chief Data & AI Officer at CareDx, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNA)- The Transplant Company™. She is responsible for advancing CareDx’s efforts to integrate data science methods and AI into its customer facing products to enhance patient care, and its internal business operations to achieve improved efficiency and scalability. Jing has co-authored more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals with over ten thousand citations and is co-inventor of over 20 patent filings. Besides her daily work, she actively promotes data science through many of her volunteer activities: She is the founding president of DahShu, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission of promoting research and education in data science. She is currently the chapter representative of American Statistical Association San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (SFASA). In 2023, Jing was elected as lifetime Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2023 to recognize her outstanding contributions to the medical research community in the field of statistics; for numerous statistical innovations in genomic tests; and for exemplary leadership and community service to the profession.

Motivation: to help the next generation data scientists/statisticians etc. all mentioned above are important skills critical in my career, I just realized that too late. I want to be a mentor now so the next generation (mentees) don't repeat my preventable mistake!

Whedy Wang (Linkedin)

Bio: Whedy has over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including directing biometrics efforts in more than ten NDA and sNDA submissions, three advisory committee meetings and multiple EX-US submissions, all leading to successful approvals. Whedy is currently VP of Biometrics & Digital Science at Alector, a biotech company that is on a mission to slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and to one day prevent their occurrence. Prior to joining Alector, she held several senior positions including Vice President of Biometrics and Data Science at Theravance Biopharma, VP of Biometrics at Gilead Sciences Palo Alto (formerly CV Therapeutics), Senior Vice President of Bioinformatics at Orexigen, and Executive Director of Biometrics at Affymax.

What you hope to get out of this experience: I was lucky to have people who were kind enough to offer their advice and guidance throughout my career. I would like to repay their kindness by paying it forward. I also have a fair share of set backs so I know some encouraging words and attentive listening could go a long way.

Fun fact: I love Snoopy and dream about retiring by the beach.

Chito Hernandez (LinkedIn)

Bio:

Coach, Mentor, Life Science Executive

Chito Hernandez is a life science executive and PhD statistician who has led multiple organizations throughout his career. He is currently Group Vice President of Data Science at BioMarin, a world leading biotechnology company focused on rare diseases. In addition, Chito is the Founder of FocusQ, an executive consulting firm that he established in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before his current roles, Chito held Vice President positions at Elan Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy R&D. He has also made noteworthy contributions to the development of several drugs, eight of which have received regulatory approvals, with seven of them being the first in their class.

Chito serves as mentor and coach, providing tailored guidance and support to a diverse group of individuals, including executives, as they navigate their leadership journeys and strive to achieve both personal and professional aspirations. Through his coaching, he empowers these leaders to create more meaningful and impactful work that aligns with their values and goals.

Motivation: Over time, I have grown to value soft skills like communication, collaboration, and leadership —- Skills crucial for success often under represented in the training of quantitative professionals. My desire is to actively participate in the training of our next generation of quantitative leaders.

Merrill Birkner (Linkedin)

Bio: Merrill Birkner is the Vice President of Portfolio Strategy and Analytics at Gilead Sciences. She is responsible for supporting portfolio productivity and strategy through portfolio-level analyses, insights, tools, and recommendations for the achievement of corporate goals, pipeline planning, and decision‐making. Prior to Gilead, Merrill led the Portfolio Management, Operations, and Alliance Management functions at 23andMe, where she was responsible for portfolio & program management, alliance management, commercial assessments, and the operations of the Therapeutics organization. Prior to 23andMe, Merrill spent over a decade at Genentech where she had roles across the development and commercial organizations. Merrill began her career as a biostatistician in Genentech’s Product Development organization. She expanded her business expertise with leadership roles in the company’s commercial organization, portfolio planning, and business operations.

Merrill received her Ph.D. in Biostatistics and an M.P.H. in Epidemiology & Biostatistics from U.C. Berkeley. Her undergraduate studies were at the University of Maryland, College Park where she received a B.S. in Biology.

What you hope to get out of this experience: Help mentor in the areas of leadership, career development, networking, communication

Ning Leng (LinkedIn)

Bio: I was trained as a statistician and my PhD research was around statistical genomics. After graduation I stayed in academia for two years. I joined Genentech in 2016 as a statistician, working on both clinical trial conduct and biomarker development. In 2021 I moved to my current team which focusing on data science software and innovation. I have quite broad interests spanned across statistics topics and software innovation. And I am very passionate about bringing the community together via conferences and cross industry collaborations.

Motivation: I attended YODA program as a mentee during earlier years of my career and found it tremendously helpful. What I learned the most from this community are how to "own your career" by being proactive and open-minded and the importance of communicating effectively

Ruixiao Lu (Linkedin)

Bio: Ruixiao Lu, Ph.D. is a recognized leader in the biotech/biopharma industry. She has held functional leadership positions overseeing Biostatistics, Statistical Programming and Clinical Data Management. Currently, she is VP, Head of Biostatistics & Statistical Programming, at Alumis Inc, a precision medicine biotech focusing on autoimmune diseases. Before Alumis, she was VP, Head of Statistics, Clinical Data Management & Data Science overseeing the end-to-end analytical teams, at Quantum Leap Healthcare, the trial sponsor of the I-SPY2 breast cancer trial and I-SPY COVID trial, which are among the first platform trials in clinical research for targeted therapies. Before then, she worked at Genomic Health (acquired by Exact Sciences), with increasing responsibilities leading product development and medical affairs programs, and in the end as the functional head for the statistics and programming. She also contributed to business development due diligence and provided strategic input to product lifecycle management throughout her career.

Ruixiao is dedicated to promoting statistics and data sciences in various non-profit organizations, such as ASA, BBSW and DahShu. At BBSW, she is a co-founder, the President-Elect 2024 and served as the Secretary to the Board (2020- 2023). She was Treasurer and Executive Committee Member of the Board of Directors at ASA (2020-2023), and was elected Vice Chair of District 6, COCGB (2020- 2022) at ASA. She co-founded and co-chairs the Partnership for Clinical Research and Statistics (PCRS) at ASA, which focuses on building partnerships and programs with clinical organizations such as AACR and ASCO. In July 2023, she co-organized and co-chaired the FDA-AACR-ASA workshop on overall survival in oncology drug development which attracted almost 4,000 attendees. She is a co-founder and Board member of DahShu since 2015. 

Ruixiao is elected as a Fellow of ASA in 2024 to recognize her leadership in precision medicine, and vision and commitment to foster the influence and excellence of statistics. Ruixiao received her Ph.D. in Statistics with emphasis on Biostatistics from University of California, Davis, and her bachelor's degree in Statistics from Peking University in Beijing, China.

Motivation: I have received tremendous benefit from several great mentors throughout my career. I'd like to pay it forward and contribute to BBSW YODA project. Critical skills include but are not limited to: leadership (and what it means), networking, innovation, career options, time management etc.

Motivation: In the earlier years of my career development, I benefited from the knowledge, insight and support from my managers and colleagues who were more senior than me in the day-to-day interaction and collaboration. I was encouraged and challenged to take on responsibilities that I would not have sought by myself otherwise because of my introversion nature. These assignments stretched me to overcome discomfort, build confidence, develop and practice various skills to deal with work dynamics, and own my development. Sharing my experience and lessons learned with the younger generations has been my passion since I became a people manager as a way of giving back to the community and honoring the people who supported me along my journey.

Ron received his Ph.D. in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics and M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University. He received his bachelor's degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he double-majored in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering.

Motivation: Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to have had mentors and managers who provided valuable advice and guidance to me, and I feel a deep responsibility to pay that forward. Networking and collaboration have been fundamental to the growth of my career.

Judy Li (linkedin)

Bio: Dr. Judy Li, PhD, is the Head of Hematology Strategy Late Oncology Statistics at AstraZeneca, where she provides leadership and expertise in hematology oncology statistics. With a keen focus on strategic planning, technical oversight, functional development, and operational guidance, Dr. Li plays a pivotal role in propelling the field of hematology statistics forward. Throughout her career, Dr. Li has held senior leadership positions in both the biopharmaceutical and biotech sectors, making significant contributions at organizations including Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Prior to her industry tenure, she garnered extensive experience at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a master statistical reviewer and supervisory mathematical statistician. An esteemed member of the American Statistical Association (ASA) Biopharmaceutical Section Executive Board, Dr. Li is also the co-founder of the ASA Biopharmaceutical Section Safety Working Group and has chaired the 2019 Regulatory Industry Statistics Workshop. She is the editor of book Quantitative Methodologies and Process for Safety Monitoring and Ongoing Benefit Risk Evaluation. Her remarkable contributions have been acknowledged with the FDA Office of Chief Scientist Intramural Grant Award for two consecutive years. Dr. Li received her PhD in Statistics from the University of California, Riverside and expecting her Executive MBA degree in Healthcare Management, entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Wharton Business School University of Pennsylvania. Her unwavering dedication to advancing innovative statistical methodologies in the healthcare arena underscores her commitment to enhancing patient outcomes and furthering scientific understanding.

Motivation: women in leadership, diversity, inclusiveness, innovation, personal branding