Women's Speaker Series: JoAnne Coleman, CMC Statistician

Little Flower welcomed JoAnne Coleman as the latest speaker in our Women’s Speaker Series. Ms. Coleman received her bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Westchester University, and her master's degree in applied statistics from Villanova University. JoAnne has made a career in STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

During her time with us, JoAnne gave us a great insight on her professional journey in STEM. Out of college, she worked for the company GSK, where she was assigned roles in various departments. GSK is a company that focuses on finding treatments for diseases. She also built up a team of 10. After 30 years at GSK, JoAnne, took her expertise to Spark Therapeutics. Spark is a branch of the CHOP research group, which is now owned by a larger pharmaceutical company. The mission of Spark is to challenge the inevitability of rare, inherited genes using gene therapy. Their passion is especially based around curing diseases. As a CMC statistician, Ms. Coleman explained to us how she uses variability to measure risk on behalf of both medical patients and Spark. To do this, JoAnne emphasized the importance of collaboration, as she works alongside both scientists and manufacturers every day. Our students also gained a great deal of advice from this presentation. For example, Ms. Coleman explained the importance of persevering through challenging times. She even spoke of a time early in her career when she needed to get through a difficult experience that challenged her confidence, stating that “every day will not be perfect, but you will recover.” JoAnne also emphasized having an open mind and taking advantage of opportunities as they come. In college, she thought she wanted to work in chemistry, only to find herself working as a statistician. While it can be difficult for women to work in male-dominated fields, she explained to us that through hard work and dedication, you will prove your worth every day. These are lesions that will take our students far as they progress in their educational and professional journeys. We greatly appreciate JoAnne for taking time to speak with us.