2025 BSSC Keynote Speakers

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Chief Strategy Officer at Abivax

Topic: Pursuing a Broader Role as A Statistician.

Dr. David Zhang is Chief Strategy Officer at Abivax. Prior to joining Abivax, Dr. Zhang was Senior VicePresident, Head of Biometrics and Data Management at Alumis. As part of the founding management team at Alumis, he served as Chief Information Officer responsible for building up capabilities in Biometrics, IT, Facilities and Investor Relations during the early days of the company. Before joining Alumis, Dr. Zhang was Vice President of biometrics, data science and digital health at MyoKardia where he built the advanced analytics capabilities from the ground up to enable the successful completion of critical phase 3 study design, data readouts and New Drug Application submission of Mavacamten (CAMZYOS) until its acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020. Prior to MyoKardia, Dr. Zhang spent 15 years atRoche/Genentech with increasing responsibilities leading and building biostatistics and strategic innovation functions. He began his pharmaceutical industry career at Eli Lilly andAbbott Laboratories after receiving his Ph.D. in biostatistics with a minor in genetics fromUCLA and completing post-doctoral research at Columbia University.In addition to his day job, Dr. Zhang serves on the Advisory Council of BBSW, an organization he was a founding member of and served as its President in 2022.

Senior Vice President, Research & Development at Travere Therapeutics

Topic: GLP-1 Agonists – An Overnight Success.

Dr. William Rote has served as senior vice president of research and development for Travere Therapeutics since February 2017. He is responsible for discovery and translational research, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, biometrics, medical writing and technical operations including chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC).Prior to joining Travere Therapeutics, Dr. Rote led clinical development at Ardea Biosciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca. In this role, he was responsible for leading all aspects of clinical trial execution and analysis, including clinical operations, data management, and biostatistics. Prior to his role at Ardea, Dr. Rote held numerous positions of increasing responsibility at Amylin, including vice president and site head for R&D. He earned both his doctorate in pharmacology and bachelor’s in pre-medicine from Pennsylvania State University, and received postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan.

Chief Medical Officer at Alzheon

Topic: Development of New Medicines for Alzheimer's Disease.

Dr. Susan Abushakra is the Chief Medical Officer of Alzheon Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing oral anti-amyloid agents for Alzheimer’s disease. She is the Principal Investigator of a Phase 3clinical trial supported by a $52-Million grant from the National Institute of Aging to evaluate ALZ-801 inAD subjects with the APOE4/4 genotype. Dr. Abushakra previously held leadership roles in clinical development at Elan, Allergan and Eisai, and in global regulatory affairs at Wyeth, with a major focus on Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Susan was also a co-founder and CMO of privately held Bonti Inc. (a botulinum-toxin company) until its acquisition by Allergan in 2018. Susan is a board-certified neurologist having completed her residency and neuromuscular fellowship training at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Executive Director
[American Statistical Association]

We are honored to welcome Ronald L. Wasserstein, Executive Director of the American Statistical Association (ASA), as a special guest speaker at the 2025 BBSC. With a distinguished career dedicated to advancing the role of statistics in science and society, Ron has been a pivotal figure in promoting ethical statistical practices, innovative methodologies, and meaningful collaboration across diverse fields.

Topic: Moving to a World Beyond p<0.05

Abstract: For nearly a hundred years, the concept of “statistical significance” has been fundamental to statistics and to science. And for nearly that long, it has been controversial and misused as well. In a completely non-technical (and generally humorous) way, ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein will explain this controversy, and say why he and others have called for an end to the use of statistical significance as means of determining the worth of scientific results. He will talk about why this change is so hard for the scientific community to make, but why it is good for science and for statistics and will point to alternate approaches