Introduce yourself and describe your work

My name is Yolanda Hagar. My background is in biostatistics, but more recently I have been calling myself a translational informatics scientist. My work and interests have always been about the use of mathematical tools and computational approaches to understand clinical and public health outcomes.

What do you consider to be your most important career achievement or discovery?

It would be difficult to characterize my career with any one single achievement. However, one thing I am proud of is my experience in bringing highly technical mathematical concepts into industry settings in such a way that seemingly complicated problems can be simplified.

How does your work impact people and the world around us?

My current job at SomaLogic is super cool. Our assay can be leveraged for many things, and my team develops machine-learning models that use proteomic data to predict health outcomes for patients. This provides clinical information to doctors and patients so that they can improve life trajectories.

What is a unique fact about your career/industry?

Biostatistics is not an isolated mathematical discipline, but is incredibly collaborative and involves all types of interdisciplinary researchers. I have worked with scientists from all kinds of backgrounds, ranging from cookstove engineers to cancer specialists.

What advice do you have for other women or nonbinary individuals considering this field?

The most important thing is to find great mentors. My PhD advisor had wonderful philosophies around mentorship and what kinds of growth can come from that and I am incredibly grateful for that. For women and gender minorities in STEM, this is a critical part of being successful.