What is your role and what does your work focus on? 

I am appointed as Associate Professor in Biostatistics. My role will focus on providing training and tools to better understand health data and its various application in medicine and public health. My work will also focus on novel applications of statistical methods and developing new methods depending on the research questions and data.

Where did you work before joining CMPH? 

I worked at the University of Adelaide for twelve years before joining CMPH. Prior to that, I was at the Queensland University of Technology for two years.

What journey brought you to this point in your career? 

I was always intrigued by Chemistry and Mathematics. I was selected to join a prestigious degree with double majors, in mathematics, and economics. It is here that I was introduced to Statistics. Mathematics was fun but learning Statistics allowed me to see its application in all branches of science to real-life problems which excited me to dwell deeper into the subject. Over the years I saw that Statistics is closer to patterns in nature and philosophy. I had the opportunity to apply my knowledge of statistics to the National Family Health Survey data collected by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India. Maternal and child mortality was a major issue and there was emergent need to address at public health level. However, the main challenge of this project was that people were not willing to give their blood samples to test for anaemia which led to missing data. This made me think about the presence of missing data and its impact on decision-making. This led me to pursuing my PhD in missing data at Canterbury University, NZ.  The allure of missing data then led me to investigate novel applications of statistical methods to address bias in data and causal inference. In my Postdoc, I examined decision-making under uncertainty in infectious diseases in Humans, animals, and plants.

These diverse experiences and applications have led me to develop novel methods and applications that are critical for handling uncertainty, mediation analysis, and missing data.

My work has been inspired by the statement, “Research Saves Lives”, written on Christchurch Hospital NZ.  My journey has made me realise that for a clear reproducible science, one needs to conduct ethical data analysis. It is important to maintain transparency in sharing data and code used in the analysis with other researchers, where possible. I encourage and teach my colleagues and students to put their code and data in open repositories.

What is something you love most about your work? 

My work in statistics has evolved with society and its needs. I value being part of a branch of science which offers so many opportunities to constantly learn new things. Helping colleagues and students find solutions to their questions/project has also been a very satisfying aspect of my career.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023?

I am very excited to meeting wider community of Flinders Medical school and making new synergistic collaborations, publishing new research, and sharing my knowledge with all.

How do you like to relax or spend your spare time?    

I love reading, nature walks, photography, cooking, and catching on new documentary series and biographies.