Painting the Bigger Picture with Statistical Analysis
Part storyteller, part architect, part statistician.
For Ann Kan, MS, her role as a senior statistical analyst at the Northwestern University Data & Analysis Coordinating Center (NUDACC) allows her to blend a skillset that optimally supports multisite clinical research.
“I wish people understood how creative this work can be,” says Kan. “While my role is quantitative in nature, it constantly involves solving new problems that require unique approaches and fresh thinking.”
NUDACC serves to integrate all components of the research study lifecycle for multicenter clinical trials and observational studies, partnering with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine investigators, Northwestern Medicine’s partner institutions, and external clinical centers across the nation in interdisciplinary study leadership.
I’m not just working on the same thing day in and day out, or even from month to month. I’m grateful that my work is active across a diverse range of fields.”
For new studies, Kan helps with study design by building databases and drafting documents such as statistical analysis plans. During enrollment and data collection, she shifts her focus to maintenance tasks such as managing data pipelines and generating data summary reports for funders and monitoring boards. Once studies have completed data collection, she collaborates with investigators and other statisticians to analyze data and disseminate results.
It’s all essential to the research study lifecycle, ensuring that all accumulated data and findings remain rigorous and maintain their integrity.
“I get to contribute to and learn from research in so many different clinical areas,” says Kan, who also supports efforts at Northwestern’s Biostatistics Collaboration Center (BCC). “I’m not just working on the same thing day in and day out, or even from month to month. I’m grateful that my work is active across a diverse range of fields.”
Before joining Northwestern, Kan worked in biotech making biologics for clinical trial participants. After realizing she was interested in the more quantitative aspect of research, she enrolled in Northwestern’s Master of Science in Biostatistics program, during which time she interned at the BCC. Shortly after graduation she accepted a full-time position as a statistical analyst with NUDACC and the BCC, both of which are supported by the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
Today, I fill my free time with exploring new restaurants, singing karaoke, listening to Dungeons & Dragons podcasts, and caring for between one and five foster cats at a time.”
“One aspect of my job is to develop and regularly run data quality reports, but in large, multisite studies, it can be difficult to keep track of each data point,” says Kan. “For our regulatory team, I created a workflow that merges historical notes and documentation with current data, making it easier to track issues over time.”
The work has helped to ensure that NUDACC data and regulatory operations stay efficient to maximize efforts.
Having grown up in Mississippi and Tennessee, Kan still remembers the excitement of moving to Chicago. Today, she fills her free time with exploring new restaurants, singing karaoke, listening to Dungeons & Dragons podcasts, and caring for between one and five foster cats at a time. Between foster litters, she takes advantage of her empty nest to travel.
“On a recent trip to China, I met some of my extended family for the first time, which was a meaningful opportunity to connect,” she says. “Even though we grew up thousands of miles apart, we were all around the same age, so it was a blast discovering how much we had in common — and a fun way to put my rusty Cantonese to use.”
Written by Roger Anderson
