Charlie (Seung Ho) Choi graduated from Azusa Pacific University in 2022 with an MS in Applied Statistics and Analytics. Today, he works as a biostatistician in the Clinical Trials Statistics and Data Management Center at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. The center is an academic research organization where Choi works with NeuroNEXT, a clinical trials network that “conducts studies of treatments for neurological diseases, and the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), a global study that aims to understand biological markers in Parkinson’s disease to inform the development of new treatments.” Though Choi has journeyed deep into a thriving career in applied statistics over the last few years, his career path began at APU.
Choi’s undergraduate years were spent at a “large secular institution” where he studied biomedical sciences and public health. In fact, Choi didn’t even know what a biostatistician was until after completing his bachelor’s and looking for his next step. This led him to APU. “I chose to pursue the MS in applied statistics (with a concentration in biostatistics), as this allowed me to tie together my undergraduate interests with my newfound passion for statistics,” said Choi. “At some point while I was taking statistics classes during my undergraduate degree, I had an ‘aha’ moment where I recognized the value of bringing together statistics and biomedical research/health sciences to form my career.” This “aha” moment was possible because the MS program gave Choi “the opportunity to develop my statistical skills and apply them to various datasets and research questions of interest” that ultimately reflected his biomedical and health science foundations.
As Choi progressed through his master’s and began working full time, the importance of combining statistics with biomedical and health sciences became even more pronounced. Between his first and second years in the program, Choi was awarded the Richter Fellowship, an opportunity that allowed him to apply the skills he was honing in the classroom to real-life data. In the last couple of years, Choi has been involved in research published in peer-reviewed journals such as The Lancet Neurology, Volume 22, Issue 5 and Public Health in Practice, Volume 5 and presented at conferences.
The program has also influenced his day-to-day work at the center.
“I help develop reports of various kinds and contribute to analyses for these studies which are presented internally and often disseminated in the literature,” he said. “The coding skills and statistical knowledge I use on a daily basis come from my coursework and research experiences at APU. When I first started the program, I had never used SAS and my statistical knowledge was limited to a few introductory courses I’d taken in undergrad. The courses I took in my first year (e.g., probability/mathematical statistics, programming, regression) provided me with a foundational knowledge that I was able to build on in the second year. The small class sizes allowed me to grow close with my peers, and more importantly, I was able to connect with the professors, particularly program director Soeun Kim. She was responsive to any questions I had (in relation to coursework as well as career trajectory), and was instrumental as my faculty mentor for the Richter Fellowship and culminating project. In sum, the tight-knit program at APU provided me with the necessary skills to kickstart my career as a biostatistician.”
Choi hopes to continue to learn and grow in his career. “I see my day-to-day work as part of a bigger picture to help advance the biomedical and clinical research field,” said Choi, “to serve those whom God has called us to serve—those who are sick and suffering from various diseases—using the skills I have been given.”
Finally, Choi offers some words of wisdom for current and incoming APU students as they begin their own career journeys: “Apply the skills you are learning to real-life data as much as you can. The scientific community is becoming more ‘open’ day by day—many journals are requiring that authors make their data publicly available, along with a similar push from government entities. Some research initiatives (such as PPMI) are built on the idea of getting data out to researchers as soon as possible. Using this data to try to replicate others’ findings, or to find an answer to a question you are interested in, can go a long way (in your learning and in being able to discuss your experience with future employers). And, though cliché, connect with your classmates and professors. I found it invaluable to connect with the other students in my year, and professors are also an indispensable resource—and it is important to keep in mind that we will not always have their expertise at hand.”
