Sivakumar Ramakrishnan, Govt Director at Vita International Sciences, brings a singular perspective to the intersection of statistical programming, AI, and healthcare innovation. On this interview, he delves into the evolution of his profession, management rules, and the transformative function of synthetic intelligence within the life sciences sector. Ramakrishnan shares how his staff navigates the steadiness between trade requirements and customised options, and the crucial expertise future leaders should domesticate in an ever-evolving panorama. Learn on to find his insights on accelerating the supply of life-changing therapeutics.
What impressed you to pursue a profession on the intersection of statistical programming and innovation, and the way has your imaginative and prescient advanced?
From my early days in SAS programming, I shortly realized that statistical programming is greater than only a technical self-discipline. Its capacity to rework uncooked knowledge into actionable insights, drive crucial choices in healthcare, and finally enhance affected person outcomes actually impressed me.
Over time, my imaginative and prescient expanded from a purely technical focus to a broader perspective encompassing management, technique, and influence. I got here to see statistical programming as a crucial bridge connecting science, expertise, and sensible outcomes – one which calls for seamless collaboration and a dedication to innovation all through the drug improvement lifecycle. This evolution naturally led me to focus on three key pillars: nurturing high-performing, numerous groups; embracing rising applied sciences to reinforce effectivity; and retaining patient-centered targets on the coronary heart of each initiative.
Finally, my aim has been to assist form the longer term the place healthcare is extra exact, environment friendly, and accessible. By combining strong technical experience with an empathetic, forward-thinking method, I attempt to make an enduring influence on the healthcare trade and the lives it touches. With developments in synthetic intelligence and machine studying, the longer term is vibrant for accelerating the supply of transformative therapeutics to those that want them most.
As a frontrunner of a world staff, what rules information your method to fostering innovation and delivering impactful options?
As a frontrunner of a world staff, I anchor my method in a transparent imaginative and prescient and inclusive collaboration. By aligning our modern efforts with organizational targets, buyer wants, and broader international well being targets, we deal with real-world challenges with measurable influence. At VGS, I attempt to domesticate a tradition the place every particular person feels valued, understands their function, and is empowered to contribute distinctive concepts.
Recognizing that change is fixed, adaptability and steady studying are very important. I encourage and encourage my staff to undertake rising applied sciences, experiment freely in a trust-based setting, and be taught from each successes and failures. Over the previous 4 years, I’ve constructed groups from the bottom up, instilling a way of possession that sparks creativity and uncovers transformative options.
I firmly consider that mentorship and development drive the supply of modern outcomes. By fostering curiosity, providing skilled improvement alternatives, and nurturing expertise, we keep a motivated and high-performing workforce. These rules type the muse of my management method, enabling us to constantly push boundaries and ship lasting, significant outcomes.
How do you see the function of AI and automation reworking statistical programming within the life sciences, and what challenges accompany this shift?
Automation in statistical programming has a protracted historical past, leveraging conventional high-level programming languages and software program. At VGS, we have now regularly enhanced code maintainability, reusability, and different greatest practices by means of these automated approaches.
Now, synthetic intelligence (AI) is creating a major influence, providing each hope and novel potentialities. Most within the trade agree that AI is right here to remain and can simplify our work and drive effectivity. Nevertheless, we view it as a complementary software relatively than a substitute. Our focus is on “Augmented AI”, the place people and AI collaborate seamlessly to attain transformational influence and effectivity, with AI designed to reinforce, not change, human intelligence.
Furthermore, the extremely regulated nature of the pharmaceutical trade necessitates warning when counting on AI. Considerations akin to “bias”, “hallucination”,” traceability”, “Privateness”, and “moral issues” stay crucial. As we combine AI, vigilance is important to make sure its use is each accountable and compliant, placing the correct steadiness between innovation and accountability.
What methods do you utilize to steadiness trade requirements with custom-made options for numerous stakeholders?
Personalized options needn’t stray from trade requirements. Our stakeholders vary from massive pharmaceutical corporations to medium-sized biotech corporations and small startups – every with distinct necessities. From a sourcing perspective, we tailor our method to suit these various wants. Some stakeholders could solely want help in a selected biometric space, whereas others would possibly require an end-to-end answer. Moreover, pressing useful resource calls for can come up, and we deal with these promptly by means of our in depth recruitment community and inside pipeline.
We additionally provide technical options that adhere to regulatory pointers whereas permitting for personalization within the intermediate processes and help supplied. For example, we are able to develop customized programming for scientific and statistical functions to ship specialised experiences providing deeper insights. These experiences function a beneficial complement to the usual regulatory requirement, making certain stakeholders profit from each compliance and adaptability. Finally, we strike a steadiness between standardization and customization, making certain we obtain one of the best of each worlds: effectivity with out compromising on particular wants.
How has your involvement with the Forbes Know-how Council and the AI Frontier Community influenced your work at Vita International Sciences?
By my membership at these esteemed communities, I’ve benefited from a broad community of trade innovators and thought leaders who share transformative concepts throughout a number of expertise domains. This publicity has helped me leverage trade traits and incorporate forward-thinking methods into Vita International Sciences’ operations. For example, articles, discussions, and collaborations inside these teams have knowledgeable my method to adopting new processes and instruments. Moreover, these connections have created alternatives for mutually helpful partnerships with stakeholders, permitting us to combine rising options into our biometrics workflows and leverage greatest practices in expertise adoption and alter administration.
Who’re a number of the people who’ve considerably influenced your profession and your management type?
I’ve had the privilege of studying from numerous individuals all through my journey. My philosophy is to behave as a “mirror,” absorbing classes from everybody I encounter and embracing the constructive qualities they provide. Nevertheless, one key affect in my present function is my boss, Tim Southwick – the President and Founding father of VGS. Our weekly interactions have revealed his unwavering composure, whatever the scenario. This stoic demeanor is one thing I attempt to emulate. He additionally shares invaluable insights, akin to an early piece of knowledge: “We’re solely nearly as good as our final deliverable.” This resonates with me deeply and is a precept I usually reiterate to my staff at VGS. It retains us grounded, prevents complacency, and motivates us to constantly ship the very best stage of service to our purchasers and sufferers.
What steps do you’re taking to make sure that innovation aligns with the overarching aim of accelerating the supply of transformative therapeutics?
I make use of a structured method guided by strategic alignment, collaboration, and adaptableness. It begins with a transparent roadmap centered on enhancing effectivity, shortening timelines, and enhancing affected person outcomes. By involving key stakeholders- starting from biostatistics and knowledge administration to statistical programming and regulatory groups – we guarantee improvements deal with real-world challenges and mix seamlessly into current workflows.
Interdisciplinary groups additional enrich this course of by providing numerous views, leading to complete end-to-end options. Repeatedly assessing rising applied sciences, methodologies, and instruments helps determine high-impact alternatives that may speed up improvement whereas sustaining compliance and scalability.
To make sure consistency and reliability, I promote well-defined SOPs, strong high quality checks, and governance frameworks. We observe metrics – akin to timelines, price effectivity, and deliverable success charges – and fine-tune our methods based mostly on measurable outcomes. A tradition of adaptability and steady enchancment is fostered by means of prototyping, piloting new applied sciences, and incorporating classes discovered the place it is smart.
Clear communication across the imaginative and prescient and function of every innovation initiative underscores its contribution to delivering transformative therapeutics. On the identical time, investments in upskilling and inspiring curiosity hold groups aggressive and forward-thinking. By integrating these parts, each initiative stays aligned with organizational targets and helps ship life-changing therapies to our stakeholders and sufferers in want.
In your opinion, what are essentially the most crucial expertise future leaders in statistical programming and analytics ought to domesticate?
Future leaders in statistical programming and analytics want a mix of technical experience, area data, strategic considering, and interpersonal expertise to achieve the evolving healthcare panorama. They have to keep forward of rising applied sciences and methodologies, stay proficient in a number of programming languages, and excel at knowledge visualization and storytelling to successfully talk insights.
Nevertheless, instruments and technical prowess are solely a method to an finish. True management requires the power to craft a transparent imaginative and prescient, determine alternatives, and align initiatives with these alternatives. Adaptability, staff constructing, collaboration, and steady studying are additionally very important. By embracing these qualities, leaders can evolve with the sector and leverage expertise to attain strategic targets.
How do you envision the function of statistical programming evolving inside the broader context of world well being and precision drugs?
Statistical programming has skilled exceptional development in collaboration and data sharing lately. That is largely as a result of rise of open-source technologies- significantly R and Python- in scientific programming, in addition to the fast improvement of latest statistical methodologies and machine studying libraries. Moreover, international information-sharing initiatives have fostered sooner innovation and broader entry to crucial data. As these traits proceed, statistical programming will play an more and more pivotal function in advancing international well being and precision drugs.
What motivates you personally to push the boundaries of contemporary drugs by means of your work?
At VGS, we’re pushed by a profound sense of function and the understanding that our efforts instantly contribute to enhancing lives on a world scale. The life sciences trade carries the immense accountability of tackling a few of humanity’s most pressing well being challenges, and being a part of this mission conjures up each me and your entire staff at VGS every single day.
On the core of my motivation is the idea that behind each dataset and evaluation is a affected person hoping for higher outcomes. Every topic quantity represents a person with a singular life story and a journey towards therapeutic. This angle fuels my dedication to leveraging statistical programming and innovation to speed up the event of life-saving therapies. It’s this data that pushes me and my staff to interrupt boundaries and pursue transformative options that make an actual distinction in individuals’s lives.
All through my time at VGS, I’ve had the privilege of main statistical programming efforts for a variety of impactful therapies, which have achieved regulatory approval, and several other different therapies fast-tracked for FDA assessment, amongst many others. Reflecting on the outcomes of our work – therapies that remodel and save lives – fills me with a profound sense of gratification that’s unmatched by some other endeavor.
