Data literacy is becoming increasingly recognized as a valuable skill in today's workforce. We all interact with data on a daily basis, and organizations are now realizing the tremendous benefits of having a workforce that is well-versed in data, from interacting with dashboards to data analysis and data science. But, it all starts with data literacy.  In this episode, we speak with Valerie Logan, CEO and Founder of The Data Lodge. Valerie is committed to data literacy, she believes that in today's digital society, data literacy is a life skill. With advisory services, bootcamps, a resource library and community services at The Data Lodge, Valerie is certifying the world’s first Data Literacy Program Leads and pioneering the path forward in cracking the data culture code. Valerie is also known for helping popularize the term "Data Literacy." In this episode, she shares insights on what a successful data literacy journey looks like, best practices for evangelizing data literacy programs, how to avoid siloed efforts between departments and much more. Valerie sheds light on the difficulties organizations face when trying to prioritize data literacy and data culture. She suggests that this is because humans are still at the center of organizations, and changing their behaviour is a challenge. She also talks about what data literacy means, and how the definition adapts to use cases.  Valerie offers guidance on how to secure executive buy-in for data upskilling programs, explaining that finding a sponsor for the program is the first step. She also talks about the importance of extending buy-in to people who are less directly involved with data and upskilling, emphasizing how the program will help strategic objectives.

Valerie also provides insights on the hallmarks of an effective pilot program for data literacy, suggesting that organizations go where there's already interest and that a good pilot is one where before and after effects can be measured. She also shares tips on how organizations can ensure that their data literacy program helps them achieve their strategic business goals.

Throughout the episode, Valerie outlines the benefit and scope data literacy can have on an organization, with one of the most pertinent pieces of wisdom being a warning to organisations that risk ignoring upskilling and investing in data.

Links mentioned in the show: RADAR 2023: Building an Enterprise Data Strategy that Puts People FirstThe Data LodgeThe State of Data Literacy in 2023What is Data Maturity and Why Does it Matter?

Building machine learning systems with high predictive accuracy is inherently hard, and embedding these systems into great product experiences is doubly so. To build truly great machine learning products that reach millions of users, organizations need to marry great data science expertise, with strong attention to user experience, design thinking, and a deep consideration for the impacts of your prediction on users and stakeholders. So how do you do that? Today’s guest is Sam Stone, Director of Product Management, Pricing & Data at Opendoor, a real-estate technology company that leverages machine learning to streamline the home buying and selling process. Sam played an integral part in developing AI/ML products related to home pricing including the Opendoor Valuation Model (OVM), market liquidity forecasting, portfolio optimization, and resale decision tooling. Prior to Opendoor, he was a co-founder and product manager at Ansaro, a SaaS startup using data science and machine learning to help companies improve hiring decisions. Sam holds degrees in Math and International Relations from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard. Throughout the episode, we spoke about his principles for great ML product design, how to think about data collection for these types of products, how to package outputs from a model within a slick user interface, what interpretability means in the eyes of customers, how to be proactive about monitoring failure points, and much more.

Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. It plays a vital role in ensuring TV, radio and telecoms work as they should. With vast swathes of information from a wide range of sources, data plays a huge role in the way Ofcom operates - in this episode, we learn the key drivers of Ofcom’s data strategy.  Richard Davis is the Chief Data Officer at Ofcom, responsible for enabling data and analytics capabilities across the organisation. Prior to Ofcom, Richard worked as a Quantitative Analyst as well as being the former Head of Analytics and Innovation at LLoyds Bank, proving he has a wealth of experience across a variety of data roles.  After joining Ofcom in 2022, Richard describes his experience of joining Ofcom, his ambition to bring in new processes, and how he leverages the community of data professionals. Richard also shares his advice for a new data leader, which includes understanding the pain points of the team, making insights more efficient, and keeping data teams aligned with the business's needs. He also elaborates on the key components of the data strategy at Ofcom, including aligning to good data, good people, and good decisions.

Also discussed is the importance of cultural change in an organization and how to upskill data experts and train non-data specialists in data literacy, the difference between technical experts and people managers, and how organizations can enable people to grow to become technical leaders. Finally, Richard emphasizes the importance of evidence-based regulation, and how data literacy supports effective output. Richard provides excellent insight into the world of regulatory data, the challenges faced by Ofcom, and the solutions they can implement to overcome them.

The concept of literate programming, or the idea of programming in a document, was first introduced in 1984 by Donald Knuth. And as of today, notebooks are now the defacto tool for doing data science work. So as the data tooling space continues to evolve at breakneck speed, what are the possible directions the data science notebook can take?  In this episode of DataFramed, we talk with Dr. Jodie Burchell, Data Science Developer Advocate at JetBrains, to find out how data science notebooks evolved into what they are today, what her predictions are for the future of notebooks and data science, and how generative AI will impact data teams going forward.  Jodie completed a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a postdoc in biostatistics before transitioning into data science. She has since worked for 7 years as a data scientist, developing products ranging from recommendation systems to audience profiling. She is also a prolific content creator in the data science community. Throughout the episode, Jodie discusses the evolution of data science notebooks over the last few years, noting how the move to remote-based notebooks has allowed for the seamless development of more complex models straight from the notebook environment. Jodie and Adel’s conversation also covers tooling challenges that have led to modern IDEs and notebooks, with Jodie highlighting the importance of good database tooling and visibility. She shares how data science notebooks have evolved to help democratize data for the wider organization, the tradeoffs between engineering-led approaches to tooling compared to data science approaches, what generative AI means for the data profession, her predictions for data science, and more. Tune in to this episode to learn more about the evolution of data science notebooks and the challenges and opportunities facing the data science community today. Links to mentioned in the show: DataCamp Workspace: An-in Browser Notebook IDEJetBrains' DataloreNick Cave on ChatGPT song lyrics imitating his styleGitHub Copilot  More on the topic: The Past, Present, And Future of The Data Science NotebookHow to Use Jupyter Notebooks: The Ultimate Guide

In 2023, businesses are relying more heavily on data science and analytics teams than ever before. However, simply having a team of talented individuals is not enough to guarantee success.  In the last of our RADAR 2023 sessions, Vijay Yadav and Vanessa Gonzalez will outline the keys to building high-impact data teams in 2023. They will discuss what are the hallmarks of a high-performing data team, the importance of diversity of background and skillset needed to build impactful data teams, setting up career pathways for data scientists, and more. Vijay Yadav is a highly respected data and analytics thought leader with over 20 years of experience in data product development, data engineering, and advanced analytics. As Director of Quantitative Sciences - Digital, Data, and Analytics at Merck, he leads data & analytics teams in creating AI/ML-driven data products to drive digital transformation. Vijay has held numerous leadership positions at various companies and is known for his ability to lead global teams to achieve high-impact results.  Vanessa Gonzalez is the Sr. Director of Data Science and Innovation at Businessolver where she leads the Computational Linguistics, Machine Learning Engineering, Data Science, BI Analytics, and BI Engineering teams. She is experienced in leading data transformations, performing analytical and management functions that contribute to the goals and growth objectives of organizations and divisions.  Listen in as Vanessa and Vijay share how to enable data teams to flourish in an ever-evolving data landscape. 

Data leaders play a critical role in driving innovation and growth in various industries, and this is particularly true in highly regulated industries such as aviation. In such industries, data leaders face unique challenges and opportunities, working to balance the need for innovation with strict regulatory requirements. This week’s guest is Derek Cedillo, who has 27 years of experience working in Data and Analytics at GE Aerospace. Derek currently works as a Senior Manager for GE Aerospace’s Remote Monitoring and Diagnostics division, having previously worked as the Senior Director for Data Science and Analytics. In the episode, Derek shares the key components to successfully managing a Data Science program within a large and highly regulated organization. He also shares his insights on how to standardize data science planning across various projects and how to get a Data Scientists to think and work in an agile manner. We hear about ideal data team structures, how to approach hiring, and what skills to look for in new hires.  The conversation also touches on what responsibility Data Leaders have within organizations, championing data-driven decisions and strategy, as well as the complexity Data Leaders face in highly regulated industries. When it comes to solving problems that provide value for the business, engagement and transparency are key aspects. Derek shares how to ensure that expectations are met through clear and frank conversations with executives that try to align expectations between management and Data Science teams. 

Finally, you'll learn about validation frameworks, best practices for teams in less regulated industries, what trends to look out for in 2023 and how ChatGPT is changing how executives define their expectations from Data Science teams. 

Links to mentioned in the show: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal The Harvard Data Science Review Podcast

Relevant Links from DataCamp: Article: Storytelling for More Impactful Data Science Course: Data Communication Concepts Course: Data-Driven Decision-Making for Business

Oftentimes, Kaggle competitions are looked at as an excellent way for data scientists to sharpen their machine learning skills and become technically excellent. This begs the question, what are the hallmarks of high-performing Kaggle competitors? What makes a Kaggle Grand Master? Today’s guest, Jean-Francois Puget PhD, distinguished engineer at NVIDIA, has achieved this impressive feat three times.  Throughout the episode, Richie and Jean-Francois discuss his background and how he became a Kaggle Grandmaster. He shares his scientific approach to machine learning and how he uses this to consistently achieve high results in Kaggle competitions. Jean-Francois also discusses how NVIDIA employs nine Kaggle Grandmasters and how they use Kaggle experiments to breed innovation in solving their machine learning challenges. He expands on the toolkit he employs in solving Kaggle competitions, and how he has achieved 50X improvements in efficiencies using tools like RAPIDS.  Richie and Jean-Francois also delve into the difference between competitive data science on Kaggle and machine learning work in a real-world setting. They deep dive into the challenges of real-world machine learning, and how to resolve the ambiguities of using machine learning in production that data scientists don’t encounter in Kaggle competitions.

Studies have shown that companies lacking in racial diversity also have a corresponding lack in their ability to innovate as a whole, which makes it important for any organization to prioritize an inclusive workplace culture and welcome more women and underrepresented groups in data. This is why Nikiska Alcindor's work is so vital to the future of the data science industry. Nikisha is the President and Founder of the STEM Educational Institute (SEI), a nonprofit corporation that equips underrepresented high school students with the technological skills needed to build generational wealth and be effective in the workforce.  Nikisha is a strategic management leader with expertise in organizational change, investing, and fundraising. She is a  recipient of the 2021 Dean Huss Teaching Award, a board member of the Upper Manhatten Empowerment Zone, and has taught a master class at Columbia Business School as well as several guest lectures at Columbia University. Throughout the episode, we discuss SEI’s three-pillar approach to education,  the rising importance of STEM-based careers, why financial literacy is crucial to a student’s success, SEI’s partnership with DataCamp, contextualizing educational and upskilling programs to your organization’s specific population, how data leaders can positively communicate upskilling initiatives, and much more.

The most common application for data science is to solve problems within your own organization, and as professionals become more data literate, they rely less and less on others to solve their problems and unlock professional growth and career advancement. But in the world of consulting, data science is used to solve other people’s problems, which adds an additional layer of complexity since consultants aren’t always given all of the tools they need to do the job right. Enter Pratik Agrawal, a Partner at Kearney Analytics leading the automotive and industrial transportation sector. In this episode, we are taking a look at how data science is applied in the consulting industry and what skills are critical to be a successful data science consultant.  As a software engineer and data scientist with over a decade of experience in the consulting world at companies like Boston Consulting Group and IRI, Pratik has a deep understanding of how to navigate the industry and how data science can be leveraged in it, as well as expertise in digital transformation projects and strategy. Throughout the episode, we discuss common problems that consultants encounter, the skills needed to be successful as a consultant, the different approaches to analytics in consulting versus in an organization, how to handle context switching when juggling multiple projects, what makes consulting feel exciting and challenging, and much more.

One of the toughest parts of any data project is experimentation, not just because you need to choose the right testing method to confirm the project’s effectiveness, but because you also need to make sure you are testing the right hypothesis and measuring the right KPIs to ensure you receive accurate results. One of the most effective methods for data experimentation is A/B testing, and Anjali Mehra, Senior Director of Product Analytics, Data Science, Experimentation, and Instrumentation at DocuSign, is no stranger to how A/B testing can impact multiple parts of any organization. Throughout her career, she has also worked in marketing analytics and customer analytics at companies like Shutterfly, Wayfair, and Constant Contact. Throughout the episode, we discuss DocuSign’s analytics goals, how A/B testing works, how to gamify data experimentation, how A/B testing helps with new initiative validation, examples of A/B testing with data projects, how organizations can get started with data experimentation, and much more.

In 2022, we saw significant developments in the field of data. From the emergence of generative AI to the growth of low-code data tools and AI assistants—these advancements signal an upcoming paradigm shift, where data-powered tools and machine learning systems will radically transform workflows across various professions. 2022 also saw digital transformation remain a major theme for organizations across industries as they sought to embrace new ways of working, reaching customers, and providing value. As 2023’s looming economic uncertainty puts pressure on organizations to maximize ROI from their investments, digital and data transformation will continue to be one of the key levers by which organizations can cut costs and scale value for their stakeholders. So we’ve invited DataCamp’s co-founders, CEO Jonathan Cornelissen and COO Martijn Theuwissen to break down the top data trends they are seeing in the data space today, as well as their predictions for the future of the data industry. Jonathan Cornelissen is the CEO and co-founder of DataCamp. As the CEO of DataCamp, he helped grow DataCamp to upskill over 10M+ learners and 2800+ teams and enterprise clients. He is interested in everything related to data science, education and entrepreneurship. He holds a PhD in financial econometrics, and was the original author of an R package for quantitative finance.

Martijn Theuwissen is the COO and co-founder of DataCamp. As the COO of DataCamp, he helps DataCamp’s enterprise clients on their data and digital transformation strategies, enabling them to make the most of DataCamp for Business’s offering, and helping them transform how their workforce uses data. 

The insurance industry thrives on data from utilizing data and analytics to determine policy rates for customers to working with relevant partners in the industry to improve their products and services, data is embedded in everything that insurance companies do.

But insurance companies also have a number of hurdles to overcome, whether it’s transitioning legacy data into new processes and technology, balancing new projects and models with ever-changing regulatory standards, and balancing the ethical considerations of how to best utilize data without resulting in unintended consequences for the end user.

That’s why we’ve brought Rob Reynolds onto the show. Rob is the VP and Chief Data & Analytics Officer at W. R. Berkley, a multinational insurance holding company specializing in property and casualty insurance. Rob brings over two decades of experience in Data Science, IT, and technology leadership, with a particular expertise in building departments and establishing highly functioning teams, especially in highly dynamic environments.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how insurance companies utilize data, the most important skills for anyone looking for data science jobs in the insurance industry, why the need for thoughtful criticism is growing in data science, and how an expertise in communication will put you ahead of the pack.

2022 was an incredible year for Generative AI. From text generation models like GPT-3 to the rising popularity of AI image generation tools, generative AI has rapidly evolved over the last few years in both its popularity and its use cases.

Martin Musiol joins the show this week to explore the business use cases of generative AI, and how it will continue to impact the way the society interacts with data. Martin is a Data Science Manager at IBM, as well as Co-Founder and an instructor at Generative AI, teaching people to develop their own AI that generates images, videos, music, text and other data. Martin has also been a keynote speaker at various events, such as Codemotion Milan. Having discovered his passion for AI in 2012, Martin has turned that passion into his expertise, becoming a thought leader in AI and machine learning space.

In this episode, we talk about the state of generative AI today, privacy and intellectual property concerns, the strongest use cases for generative AI, what the future holds, and much more.

To become a data-driven organization, it takes a major shift in mindset and culture, investments in technology and infrastructure, skills transformation, and clearly evangelizing the usefulness of using data to drive better decision-making.

With all of these levers to scale, many organizations get stuck early in their data transformation journey, not knowing what to prioritize and how. In this episode, Ganes Kesari joins the show to share the frameworks and processes that organizations can follow to become data-driven, measure their data maturity, and win stakeholder support across the organization.

Ganes is Co-Founder and Chief Decision Scientist at Gramener, which helps companies make data-driven decisions through powerful data stories and analytics. He is an expert in data, analytics, organizational strategy, and hands-on execution. Throughout his 20-year career, Ganes has become an internationally-renowned speaker and has been published in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and has become a thought leader in Data Science.

Throughout the episode, we talk about how organizations can scale their data maturity, how to build an effective data science roadmap, how to successfully navigate the skills and people components of data maturity, and much more.

Python has dominated data science programming for the last few years, but there’s another rising star programming language seeing increased adoption and popularity—Julia.

As the fourth most popular programming language, many data teams and practitioners are turning their attention toward understanding Julia and seeing how it could benefit individual careers, business operations, and drive increased value across organizations.

Zacharias Voulgaris, PhD joins the show to talk about his experience with the Julia programming language and his perspective on the future of Julia’s widespread adoption. Zacharias is the author of Julia for Data Science. As a Data Science consultant and mentor with 10 years of international experience that includes the role of Chief Science Officer at three startups, Zacharias is an expert in data science, analytics, artificial intelligence, and information systems.

In this episode, we discuss the strengths of Julia, how data scientists can get started using Julia, how team members and leaders alike can transition to Julia, why companies are secretive about adopting Julia, the interoperability of Julia with Python and other popular programming languages, and much more.

Check out this month’s events: https://www.datacamp.com/data-driven-organizations-2022

Take the Introduction to Julia course for free!

https://www.datacamp.com/courses/introduction-to-julia

While securing the support of senior executives is a major hurdle of implementing a data transformation program, it’s often one of the earliest and easiest hurdles to overcome in comparison to the overall program itself. Leading a data transformation program requires thorough planning, organization-wide collaboration, careful execution, robust testing, and so much more.

Vanessa Gonzalez is the Senior Director of Data and Analytics for ML & AI at Transamerica. Vanessa has experience in data transformation, leadership, and strategic direction for Data Science and Data Governance teams, and is an experienced senior data manager.

Vanessa joins the show to share how she is helping to lead Transamerica’s Data Transformation program. In this episode, we discuss the biggest challenges Transamerica has faced throughout the process, the most important factors to making any large-scale transformation successful, how to collaborate with other departments, how Vanessa structures her team, the key skills data scientists need to be successful, and much more.

Check out this month’s events: https://www.datacamp.com/data-driven-organizations-2022

We have had many guests on the show to discuss how different industries leverage data science to transform the way they do business, but arguably one of the most important applications of data science is in space research and technology.

Justin Fletcher joins the show to talk about how the US Space Force is using deep learning with telescope data to monitor satellites, potentially lethal space debris, and identify and prevent catastrophic collisions. Justin is responsible for artificial intelligence and autonomy technology development within the Space Domain Awareness Delta of the United States Space Force Space Systems Command. With over a decade of experience spanning space domain awareness, high performance computing, and air combat effectiveness, Justin is a recognized leader in defense applications of artificial intelligence and autonomy.

In this episode, we talk about how the US Space Force utilizes deep learning, how the US Space Force publishes its research and data to find high-quality peer review, the must-have skills aspiring practitioners need in order to pursue a career in Defense, and much more.

Data Literacy may be an important skill for everyone to have, but the level of need is always unique to each individual. Some may need advanced technical skills in machine learning algorithms, while others may just need to be able to understand the basics. Regardless of where anyone sits on the skills spectrum, the data community can help accelerate their careers.

There’s no one who knows that better than Kate Strachnyi. Kate is the Founder and Community Manager at DATAcated, a company that is focused on bringing data professionals together and helping data companies reach their target audience through effective content strategies.

Kate has created courses on data storytelling, dashboard and visualization best practices, and she is also the author of several books on data science, including a children’s book about data literacy. Through her professional accomplishments and her content efforts online, Kate has not only built a massive online following, she has also established herself as a leader in the data space.

In this episode, we talk about best practices in data visualization, the importance of technical skills and soft skills for data professionals, how to build a personal brand and overcome Imposter Syndrome, how data literacy can make or break organizations, and much more.

This episode of DataFramed is a part of DataCamp’s Data Literacy Month, where we raise awareness for Data Literacy throughout the month of September through webinars, workshops, and resources featuring thought leaders and subject matter experts that can help you build your data literacy, as well as your organization’s. For more information, visit: https://www.datacamp.com/data-literacy-month/for-teams

Many times, data scientists can fall into the trap of resume-driven development. As in, learning the shiniest, most advanced technique available to them in an attempt to solve a business problem. However, this is not what a learning mindset should look like for data teams.

As it turns out, taking a step back and focusing on the fundamentals and step-by-step iteration can be the key to growing as a data scientist, because when data teams develop a strong understanding of the problems and solutions lying underneath the surface, they will be able to wield their tools with complete mastery.

Ella Hilal joins the show to share why operating from an always-learning mindset will open up the path to a true mastery and innovation for data teams. Ella is the VP of Data Science and Engineering for Commercial and Service Lines at Shopify, a global commerce leader that helps businesses of all size grow, market, and manage their retail operations. Recognized as a leading woman in Data science, Internet of things and Machine Learning, Ella has over 15 years of experience spanning multiple countries, and is an advocate for responsible innovation, women in tech, and STEM.

In this episode, we talk about the biggest mistakes data scientists make when solving business problems, how to create cohesion between data teams and the broader organization, how to be an effective data leader that prioritizes their team’s growth, and how developing an always-learning mindset based on iteration, experimentation, and deep understanding of the problems needing to be solved can accelerate the growth of data teams.

Machine learning models are often thought to be mainly utilized by large tech companies that run large and powerful models to accomplish a wide array of tasks. However, machine learning models are finding an increasing presence in edge devices such as smart watches.

ML engineers are learning how to compress models and fit them into smaller and smaller devices while retaining accuracy, effectiveness, and efficiency. The goal is to empower domain experts in any industry around the world to effectively use machine learning models without having to become experts in the field themselves.

Daniel Situnayake is the Founding TinyML Engineer and Head of Machine Learning at Edge Impulse, a leading development platform for embedded machine learning used by over 3,000 enterprises across more than 85,000 ML projects globally. Dan has over 10 years of experience as a software engineer, which includes companies like Google (where he worked on TensorFlow Lite) and Loopt, and co-founded Tiny Farms America’s first insect farming technology company. He wrote the book, "TinyML," and the forthcoming "AI at the Edge".

Daniel joins the show to talk about his work with EdgeML, the biggest challenges facing the field of embedded machine learning, the potential use cases of machine learning models in edge devices, and the best tips for aspiring machine learning engineers and data science practitioners to get started with embedded machine learning.

Many machine learning practitioners dedicate most of their attention to creating and deploying models that solve business problems. However, what happens post-deployment? And how should data teams go about monitoring models in production?

Hakim Elakhrass is the Co-Founder and CEO of NannyML, an open-source python library that allows users to estimate post-deployment model performance, detect data drift, and link data drift alerts back to model performance changes. Originally, Hakim started a machine learning consultancy with his NannyML co-founders, and the need for monitoring quickly arose, leading to the development of NannyML.

Hakim joins the show to discuss post-deployment data science, the real-world use cases for tools like NannyML, the potentially catastrophic effects of unmonitored models in production, the most important skills for modern data scientists to cultivate, and more.

One of the biggest challenges facing the adoption of machine learning and AI in Data Science is understanding, interpreting, and explaining models and their outcomes to produce higher certainty, accountability, and fairness.

Serg Masis is a Climate & Agronomic Data Scientist at Syngenta and the author of the book, Interpretable Machine Learning with Python. For the last two decades, Serg has been at the confluence of the internet, application development, and analytics. Serg is a true polymath. Before his current role, he co-founded a search engine startup incubated by Harvard Innovation Labs, was the proud owner of a Bubble Tea shop, and more.

Throughout the episode, Serg spoke about the different challenges affecting model interpretability in machine learning, how bias can produce harmful outcomes in machine learning systems, the different types of technical and non-technical solutions to tackling bias, the future of machine learning interpretability, and much more.

Anjali Samani, Director of Data Science & Data Intelligence at Salesforce, joins the show to discuss what it takes to become a mature data organization and how to build an impactful, diverse data team. As a data leader with over 15 years of experience, Anjali is an expert at assessing and deriving maximum value out of data, implementing long-term and short-term strategies that directly enable positive business outcomes, and how you can do the same.

You will learn the hallmarks of a mature data organization, how to measure ROI on data initiatives, how Salesforce implements its data science function, and how you can utilize strong relationships to develop trust with internal stakeholders and your data team.

While leading a mature data science function is a challenge in its own right, building one from scratch at an organization can be just as, if not even more, difficult. As a data leader, you need to balance short-term goals with a long-term vision, translate technical expertise into business value, and develop strong communication skills and an internalized understanding of a business's values and goals in order to earn trust with key stakeholders and build the right team.

Elettra Damaggio is no stranger to this process. Elettra is the Director for Global Data Science at StoneX, an institutional-grade financial services network that connects clients to the global markets ecosystem. Elettra has over 10 years of experience in machine learning, AI, and various roles within digital transformation and digital business growth.

In this episode, she shares how data leaders can balance short-term wins with long-term goals, how to earn trust with stakeholders, major challenges when launching a data science function, and advice she has for new and aspiring data practitioners.

In pharmaceuticals, wrong decisions can not only cost a company revenue, but they can also cost people their lives. With stakes so high, it’s vital that pharmaceutical companies have robust systems and processes in place to accurately gather, analyze, and interpret data and turn it into actionable steps to solving health issues.

Suman Giri is the Global Head of Data Science of the Human Health Division at Merck, a biopharmaceutical research company that works to develop innovative health solutions for both people and animals. Suman joins the show today to share how Merck is using data to improve organizational decision-making, medical research outcomes, and how data science is transforming the pharmaceutical industry at scale. He also shares some of the biggest challenges facing the industry right now and what new trends are on the horizon.