Recap: 2025 Biostatistics Symposium of Southern California (BSSC)
Nicole (Xiaoyun) Li (BeOne Medicines), Larry Shen (Pharmapace, Inc.), Gajanan Bhat (TORL BioTherapeutics), Lindsay Younis (Children’s Oncology Group), Thomas Lin, Jihao Zhou (BlossomHill Therapeutics, Inc.), Olga Korosteleva (California State University, Long Beach), Cathy Cai (Pharmapace, Inc.)
Highlights
2025 Biostatistics Symposium of Southern California (BSSC) is the inaugural symposium and a landmark event that brought together 250 participants, 28 sponsors, and a powerful lineup of speakers, panelists, and presenters.
Keynotes & Presentations: The symposium featured eight keynote speakers and panelists representing diverse roles in life science development, all centered around the theme: “Transforming Life Sciences through Data Analytics, Innovation & Collaboration.” A total of 56 invited presentations were delivered across three distinct tracks—Clinical and Statistics, Data Science and Analytics, and Academic Research—alongside 16 poster presentations from students and postdoctoral researchers. A dedicated panel discussion on career opportunities for graduates further enriched the program. Together, these sessions highlighted cutting-edge research and fostered meaningful collaboration between industry and academia, while also empowering the next generation of biostatisticians.
Community Engagement and Impact: The symposium was a collaborative effort supported by three ASA chapters in Southern California: the Orange County and Long Beach Chapter, the San Diego Chapter, and the Southern California Chapter. This joint initiative fostered a unified biostatistics community across the region, expanding engagement beyond individual chapters. It also strengthened interdisciplinary connections among industry leaders, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, students, and early-career professionals, promoting collaboration and advancing the field of biostatistics.
The inaugural Biostatistics Symposium of Southern California (BSSC) took place on February 21–22, 2025, at the Renaissance Newport Beach Hotel in Newport Beach, CA.
This two-day statistics symposium with the theme “Transforming Life Sciences through Data Analytics, Innovation & Collaboration” made a significant milestone with 250 attendees.
The morning of Day 1 featured three insightful keynote presentations:
Dr. Susan Abushakra, Chief Medical Officer at Alzheon, presented on the Development of New Medicines for Alzheimer’s Disease. She shared the scientific journey behind advancing treatments for Alzheimer’s, highlighting the challenges, emerging opportunities, and the essential collaboration between clinicians and statisticians in driving innovation.
Dr. Joycelynne Palmer, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Biostatistics at City of Hope National Medical Center, presented on The Changing Landscape of Early-Phase Cell and Immunotherapy Clinical Trials in Oncology. She provided an in-depth overview of evolving approaches in early-phase oncology trials and offered valuable insights into how statisticians can play a pivotal role in shaping drug development strategies.
Allen Keel, Senior Director of Innovation & Advanced Technology at Edwards Lifesciences, presented on Needs-Driven Innovation: What Drives New Product Categories. He shared real-world examples of how identifying unmet needs can lead to the creation of entirely new product categories in the medical device industry, highlighting the critical intersection of innovation, collaboration, and patient-focused design.
Following the keynote speaker session, BSSC Director Dr. Gajanan Bhat led an engaging Q&A and panel discussion on Technological Advancements and Productivity in Drug/Device Development. The session featured a distinguished panel of experts, including Dr. Susan Abushakra, Dr. Peter Chang, Allen Keel, Dr. Joycelynne Palmer, and Adrian Hsing, with Dr. Bhat serving as the moderator.
In the afternoon, the symposium broke into three well-attended parallel tracks: Clinical and Statistics, Data Science and Analytics, and Academic Research. Each track featured a series of insightful invited presentations, sparking lively discussions and knowledge sharing among attendees.
The first day of the symposium concluded with a beautiful reception held in the courtyard of the Renaissance Hotel, set against the backdrop of a stunning sunset. Guests enjoyed delicious food, lively music, and great company, making for a perfect end to an inspiring and productive day.
The morning of Day 2 of the symposium kicked off with three compelling keynote speakers.
Dr. Bill Rote, Senior Vice President of Research & Development at Travere Therapeutics, who delivered an insightful presentation on GLP-1 Agonists. He took the audience through the fascinating journey of these groundbreaking therapies, highlighting their rapid development and transformative impact on the treatment of chronic conditions.
Dr. David Zhang, Chief Strategy Officer at Abivax, took the stage next with his keynote on “Pursuing a Broader Role as a Statistician.” He shared his personal career journey, highlighting how he evolved beyond the traditional role of a statistician to take on broader strategic responsibilities in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Ronald L. Wasserstein, Executive Director of ASA, gave an engaging presentation on moving beyond p<0.05. He discussed the long-standing issues with using statistical significance as a measure of scientific worth and why he advocates for its end. With humor and clarity, he explained the challenges of making this shift and the benefits of adopting alternative approaches in science and statistics.
The rest of Day 2 featured presentations across the three parallel tracks, culminating in the Student/Postdoc Poster Competition in Biostatistics. The competition showcased exceptional talent from across Southern California. Sixteen posters were displayed at the event, prepared by undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. students representing the University of California, Los Angeles; California State University, San Bernardino; University of Southern California; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, San Diego; Chapman University; and University of California, Riverside.
Top honors went to Ami Sheth (University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D.) for Best Visualization with their project on "Sparse Bayesian Multidimensional Scaling(s)," Josephine Kaminaga (University of California, Santa Barbara, BS) for Best Statistical Analysis with "The Geometry of Survival: Variable Selection in Radius-Specific Cox Models," and Srisai Saavarni Chilukuri (University of California, Riverside, BS) for Best Insight with "Neuropsychiatric Symptoms Across Levels of Cognition in Alzheimer’s Disease in Down Syndrome Alzheimer’s Disease and Late-Life Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease."
Honorable Mentions recognized Anthony Gutierrez and Liam Daly (California State University, San Bernardino), Daniel Rud (University of Southern California), Emily Tian (University of California, Santa Barbara), Kevin Li (University of California, San Diego/Stanford University), Philip Yeung (University of California, San Diego/University of Kansas), and Yudi Mu (University of California, Riverside) for their outstanding contributions.
Awards were presented during the lunch break on the second day of the symposium, followed by a poster presentation session. The event celebrated the next generation of biostatisticians and data scientists and was very well received by all participants.
For the full event agenda, visit the BSSC website: biostatsymposium.org
The Organizing Committee of BSSC 2025 played a crucial role in organizing the symposium and made it possible. The leaders of the Organizing Committee included Chair of the Organizing Committee, Larry Shen, PhD, pStat; Co-Chairs of Clinical and Statistics Committee, Xinping Cui and Jin Zhou, co-chairs of Data Science and Analytics Committee, Weining Shen and Wei Cheng; Co-chairs of Academic Committee, Esra Kurum and Eric Kawaguchi; Co-chairs for Facilities Support Committee, Xingyu Gao and Kim Phan; Co-chair for Registration Committee, Lindsay Younis and Francis Lai; Co-chairs for Budget Committee, Pamela Hsu and Nicole Li; Co-chair of Sponsorship and Outreach Committee, Larry Shen and Gajanan Bhat.
Last, we deeply appreciate our generous sponsors. We had a total of 28 sponsors that made the event a great success! Our Diamond and Founding Sponsors-- Pharmapace, Inc. and Q2BI, were invaluable to the event’s success. Our Gold Sponsors -- Abbvie, Edwards Life Sciences, SAS, Travere, ASA Orange County and Long Beach Chapter, and ClinChoice, made tremendous contribution to the symposium. We also acknowledge our Silver Sponsors --- ClinData Insight, Redbock, the Lotus Group, BeiGene, Amgen, and Alector, Silver-Bronze sponsors --- ASA and ASA BIOP section; Bronze Sponsors ---UCLA Biostatistics Department, UC Riverside, Phastar, Precision for Medicine, Emanate Biostats, Neurocrine Biosciences, UC San Diego, ASA San Diego Chapter, Clymb Clinical, Acadia, BBSW, and ASA Southern California Chapter.
BSSC 2025 is the inaugural symposium in Southern California. The largest biostatistics event in Southern California was a great success and we look forward to continuing this landmark event annually moving forward. Thank you again for your continued support and for making the event successful.