Runjia Li, a PhD candidate in the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, , recently completed work for her dissertation, which focuses on developing doubly robust methods for estimating causal effects in survival data. Her research was motivated by her advisor’s work and explored real-world problems encountered through collaborations with critical care departments. Li is grateful to her advisor, Joyce Chang, for her unwavering support and guidance throughout her academic journey.
"Dr. Joyce Chang is very nice and supportive. She really respects what students think about and their future, helping us to grow and build our own research and career paths."
Li's role as a graduate student researcher provided valuable experience, helping her understand the needs and motivations of clinical medical perspectives. This work involved consulting, study design and statistical analysis for physicians at UPMC or in medical school, where she was able to solve real-world problems, learn to communicate with non- statisticians, and improve her writing skills.
This hands-on experience was further enriched by the mentorship of her supervisors, Chair and Professor Yan Ma, Balasubramani Goundappa, and Jong Jeong (who was a primary faculty member at the time) and her collaboration with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design team. Under their guidance, she developed skills in study design, grant writing, and conducting sensitivity analyses, especially when navigating limited information from collaborators. That work allowed her to apply biostatistical methods in real-world health care research, collaborate with biomedical researchers across fields, and gain a deeper understanding of how to integrate methodological approaches with practical applications in health care.
"I truly appreciate my advisor and our department for being very supportive of my internships," Li says of the three different experiential learning opportunities with the Mayo Clinic, Takeda and Eli Lilly.
At the Mayo Clinic, Li polished her R programming skills and became more familiar with clinical trial design and survival data analysis. "I hadn't started my dissertation yet at that time, and that internship was helpful in getting me familiar with the process of working on a research project." At her second internship with Takeda, she was able to publish a first author paper for the first time and learn about the pharmaceutical industry.
The third internship at Eli Lilly proved to be the most closely related to her dissertation work. "This internship made me get more familiar with some machine learning methods and topics that were helpful to my dissertation," she says. Li's hard work during this internship paid off and she was hired as a research advisor for Eli Lilly and started her job in November of 2024.
She is excited about the potential impact of her work. "I think [my new job] is also how I’ll contribute to the field of biostatistics in the long term," she says. "The methods can help with many real-world research problems, and I hope to make meaningful contributions to the pharmaceutical industry and beyond."
Li values the personal connections and support she has received during her PhD journey. "I think the experiences I had with my peers and mentors outside of academic work are actually the most important things that supported my PhD journey, especially at the beginning." She recalls how she and her peers would gather regularly to have potluck dinners play board games, and generally connect with each other, discussing coursework and beyond. "We started in 2020 during the pandemic so without those good friends, I would have felt very lonely and quite easily discouraged." These relationships have been crucial in helping Li navigate the challenges of her PhD program.
Outside of her academic life, Li enjoys spending time with her border collie, Cocoa, and has completed two half marathons.
Pitt Public Health wishes Li the best of luck in her career and trust that she is well-suited for her new role and beyond given her rich set of experiences while pursuing her PhD.
-Calvin Dziewulski