Robert Platt

Robert Platt is a Professor in the departments of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health at McGill University. He holds the Albert Boehringer I endowed chair in Pharmacoepidemiology. Since December 2016, Dr. Platt is the executive co-lead of the Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES); he has led the methods team of CNODES since its inception. In this role he has led a methods research and training program for CNODES, and has participated as senior methodologist in several CNODES studies. Dr. Platt received his PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Washington in 1996, and has been on faculty at McGill since then. His research interests are in statistical methods and applications for administrative-data pharmacoepidemiology, and in methods for causal inference from epidemiologic studies. His methodologic interests are in marginal structural models for analyses of large administrative-data cohorts, in particular with regard to specification and optimization of the propensity score and inverse probability weights.
 

Matthew Kowgier

Dr. Matthew Kowgier received his PhD from the University of Toronto, studying new methods for detecting DNA copy number variants from Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) arrays. He is currently a Biostatistician at Roche Canada, and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in the Biostatistics division.
 

Eric Hortop

Eric Hortop is a senior methodologist in the Household Survey Methods Division at Statistics Canada.  He works on combining data from different sources using probabilistic record linkage and on G-Link record linkage software, as well as on statistical confidentiality for the Research Data Centres Vetting Committee.  He also contributes to his workplace through being a Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada union steward and activist, and through involvement in workplace committees on wellness and LGBTQ2+ inclusion.  Last fall, he celebrated ten years since being hired through post-secondary recruitment by Statistics Canada.  His StatCan career has included work on the Canadian Health Measures Survey, cancer registry data and a variety of policing, courts and corrections surveys and record linkage projects.  His work includes analysis and development in SAS, writing specifications, policy and documentation, teaching, consulting, assessing client needs, advocating for sound methods and supervision.  He has been spotted singing in the Statistics Canada choir some seasons, playing lunchtime Scrabble, and writing and editing for the StatCan Young Professionals Echo newsletter.

Eric grew up in Notre Dame de Grâce and on a farm Ormstown, Quebec, and studied fine arts and communication studies in addition to mathematics and statistics at Dawson College and Concordia University in Montréal.  He spend time in student government, collegiate debating, drama clubs in addition to working as a co-op student at Statistics Canada and at Hexagram (a research-creation network based at Concordia and UQÀM). He also worked supplying programming help to several Montreal artists and as a teaching assistant.

He enjoys cooking, reading, practical bicycling and board games.  He spends much of his free time careening around with his children and partners.  He lives in Gatineau, Quebec.

Eric Cai

Eric Cai works as a Data Science Consultant at Environics Analytics, a marketing-analytics company in Toronto.  He previously worked as a statistician at the Bank of Montreal, the British Columbia Cancer Agency, the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and Predicum.  In his spare time, he writes a blog called The Chemical Statistician, posts video tutorials on statistics and chemistry on YouTube, and hosts a talk show on math, science, and economics called The Central Equilibrium.  He has written many advice articles on career development on his blog, the most popular article being “How to Find a Job in Statistics – Advice for Students and New Graduates”.  He earned his Master of Science degree in statistics from the University of Toronto, and he earned his Bachelor of Science degree with a major in chemistry and a minor in math from Simon Fraser University.
 

David Maybury

David Maybury received his BSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Western Ontario and his PhD in Physics from the University of Alberta. He was a postdoctoral fellow with the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, before joining Defence Research and Development Canada as an operational research scientist. Currently, David is with Public Services and Procurement Canada where he is helping to build their data science group. David is a passionate applied mathematician with a deep interest in stochastic phenomena, financial engineering, and statistical learning. His most recent projects include the application of data science to Royal Canadian Navy operations and decision making. In addition, David has modelled foreign exchange volatility to help National Defence assess financial risk during complex procurements. He was also the chair of the NATO System Analysis and Studies task group on real options analysis for military fleet replacement. David also teaches undergraduate astronomy at Carleton University.