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CAREER G UIDE
Age: 42
Title: Biostatistician
What do you hate most about
Employer: USDA
your profession?
Agricultural Research
What I dislike most about the statistical profession
Service
is the degree of mistrust and suspicion investigators
Alma Mater: University
from other fields hold for statistics. I believe this sim-
of Louisiana at Lafayette
ply results from a lack of understanding of statistics
and the bad press to which statistics is sometimes
subjected.
What is the best career advice you
were given?
The best career advice I was given actually came
from my brother, who is an electrical engineer. He
told me to never sell myself short and to view a job
What are your research interests?
interview as a two-way street. That is, I should inter-
The research I do involves statistical and epidemio-
view the prospective employer as much as he/she is
logic approaches to identify relationships among
interviewing me.
dietary, physiological, genetic, and behavioral char-
acteristics that may be associated with overweight or
What is one web site/blog you
obesity in humans.
can’t go a day without visiting?
This is going to sound so nerdy, but one web site I
Name a statistician you admire and
cannot go a day without visiting is the SAS docu-
tell us why.
mentation web site that contains documentation
The name of a statistician that I admire is Don
for all their procedures. I am constantly learning
Mercante, who is the director of the biostatistics
(or relearning) the theory behind statistical meth-
program at the LSUHSC School of Public Health in
ods simply by reading the documentation provided
New Orleans. While Don is not a ‘famous’ statisti-
to correctly use these procedures. It’s such a great
cian, he helped me out tremendously when I started
resource for me.
my first job as a statistician. I knew I could always
go to Don for help with a statistical issue, or even a
What is something your friends would be
professional issue. He was (is) truly a great mentor—
surprised to learn about you?
always giving good advice and making time for you,
Something my friends might be surprised to learn
no matter how busy he happens to be.
about me is that mathematics did not always come

easily to me. In fact, it was often the subject I strug-
What do you love most about
gled with the most in high school and college.
your profession?
What I love most about the statistical profession is
the wide variety of scientific disciplines to which
I am exposed. My first love was biology, so I truly
enjoy seeing the relevance of statistics in biological
fields, especially nutrition and medicine.
48 AMSTAT NEWS SEPTEMBER 2008
SEPTEMBER AMSTAT FINAL.indd 48 8/20/08 2:27:05 PM
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