What is your role at Norstella?
I lead strategic client engagements where NorstellaLinQ’s real-world data (RWD) assets are central to the solution. I collaborate closely with leaders across life sciences and pharma, spanning commercial, market access, medical affairs, and HEOR functions, to understand their priorities and ensure our data and services deliver meaningful value while positioning us as a trusted thought partner.
Tell us about your real-world data expertise.
I’m an epidemiologist by training, with a PhD in epidemiology and a research background grounded in real-world data, specifically claims data, which was the focus of my dissertation. Over the course of my career, I’ve held roles across contract research organizations, consultancies, and direct data vendors, including and beyond Norstella. My experience spans analytical, research, and consulting positions leveraging open and closed claims, lab data, structured and unstructured EMR, patient-reported outcomes, and registries, giving me a well-rounded perspective on the practical and strategic application of RWD across the life sciences landscape.
What’s been one of the most rewarding or exciting projects that you’ve been a part of and why?
One of the most rewarding projects I’ve been part of involved supporting a biotech company preparing to launch their first therapy, targeting a rare condition so underrecognized that it hadn’t yet been quantified in the literature or clinical practice. There was no diagnosis code, and no clear understanding of how many patients were truly out there. Working cross-functionally with experts across Norstella, we leveraged our NLP and AI capabilities to extract insights from unstructured EMR data, enabling us to identify patients, quantify the disease burden, and generate a first-of-its-kind view of this population in the U.S. That work became foundational to the client’s value proposition, featured in their press releases, conference presentations, and payer/provider engagement materials. Since then, we’ve expanded the collaboration to deepen our understanding of the patient journey, economic burden, and care patterns. It’s been incredibly fulfilling to help a company go from having virtually no data to building a robust, evidence-based story that supports their product launch and showcases its potential to meaningfully improve patient lives.
What does a day in the life of a real-world data analyst look like at Norstella?
Anyone at Norstella working with our RWD knows that no two days are the same. The nature of RWD is inherently complex, often challenging and unpredictable, which makes the work stimulating and rewarding. Each day brings new questions about the data we have, the story we’re trying to tell, and how to connect the dots in a way that delivers meaningful, accurate, and actionable value to our clients. Much of this work involves close collaboration with clients, asking thoughtful questions to deeply understand what they’re trying to achieve (even when they may not be entirely sure themselves), aligning on the path forward, and ultimately working to exceed expectations. That means rolling up our sleeves for deep analytical work, troubleshooting data issues, rigorously pressure-testing our outputs, and delivering results through insights decks, dashboards, research studies, or raw data, whatever format best supports their goals. Most importantly, we strive to act as true thought partners, helping our clients make sense of complex data and crafting a story that drives impact.
What types of problems does real-world data help pharma solve?
When clients come to us for RWD, it’s because they’re looking to answer questions that can’t be fully addressed through controlled settings like clinical trials, surveys, or day-to-day clinical experience. RWD gives them the ability to zoom out and see the broader, more complex reality of what’s happening in real-world practice.
Clients use NorstellaLinQ data to inform a wide range of strategic decisions. Examples include clinical trials (how do we identify patients and investigators best suited for our trials?); market access (who is getting our drug, who isn’t, and what barriers are preventing access?); HCP targeting (which providers are prescribing our treatment, and where do we need to educate or engage?); medical affairs (how do we deliver the right message to the right audiences to communicate clinical benefit?); and HEOR (what is the true burden of disease, and how does our product demonstrate value in terms of outcomes, safety, and cost-effectiveness?). At its core, RWD enables our clients to bridge the gap between strategy and reality across a drug’s life cycle.
When you’re not analyzing data, what do you like to do?
I have my boating license and generally love spending time on the water, on just about any floating device, whether it’s a boat, kayak, or paddleboard. I’m a shameless regular at a 95-degree HIIT class (you’ll find me there six or seven days a week). On the weekends, I love exploring NYC’s restaurant scene, trying to never repeat a spot and keeping a running, ranked list of each place I visit.
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