Meet our Changemakers: James Roose

At Flatiron Health, we believe that every employee has the power to make a difference. That’s why we are proud to shine a spotlight on our changemakers, the individuals who are driving meaningful impact across our organization and beyond. From engineering to clinical operations to data science and beyond, our changemakers are innovating, collaborating, and pushing boundaries to improve and extend the lives of people with cancer. In this series, we will introduce you to some of the remarkable individuals who make Flatiron Health a great place to work and a force for good in healthcare.

Meet James Roose, Senior Quantitative Scientist at Flatiron Health. In this article, James shares his experiences, motivations, and day-to-day work. He also discusses how his work in Flatiron’s custom solutions and services business is making a significant impact on cancer research and care in the United States.

Standard Interview Questions

Q. Can you tell us a little about your background and journey to Flatiron? 

I have been interested in applying mathematics and statistics to healthcare and life science problems since I was in college. After completing my undergraduate degree in computational biology, I worked in consulting for a few years before returning to graduate school to study biostatistics. Graduate school opened my eyes to the possibilities and challenges of learning from data sources other than traditional randomized clinical trials, such as real-world data. I joined Flatiron in 2019 because I wanted to apply my training in biostatistics to oncology research and contribute to the use of real-world data and real-world evidence in drug development and I’ve been working towards this goal ever since.

Q. What is your current location, and what has been your experience working with your teammates in a remote or hybrid work environment?

I’m currently based in New York City and work from Flatiron HQ several days a week. I work across many projects at a time with different internal teams, as well as external life science partners and collaborators. Because of this, virtually all of my meetings and projects include a mix of office-based and remote participants. The technology solutions and working norms at Flatiron make this seamless and enable me to work from home when I need to. I was working at Flatiron in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic stress-tested our ability to work remotely all at once. Because of our technology support, culture and working norms, we were able to seamlessly switch to remote work, and the transition back to a hybrid flexibility model has been just as smooth.

Q. How does your work align with Flatiron's mission and what are the specific areas where it makes an impact?

In my role, I work with our life science partners to determine how real-world data and real-world evidence can support their research programs, internal decision-making, and regulatory processes. In this role I can directly witness how the real-world data and evidence that Flatiron generates influences drug development and commercialization, ultimately improving the therapies available to patients. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with external partners at the U.S. FDA and academic institutions across numerous projects. These projects aimed to strengthen the science of real-world data and evidence, investigate racial disparities in treatments and outcomes, and inform the decisions oncologists make in the clinic.

Q.Please provide an overview of the different positions within your team. How do they collectively contribute to your team’s success?

I am usually working across several studies and project teams at a time, but, for the most part, study teams are structured similarly across projects. I am usually the principal investigator, and another statistician or epidemiologist from the quantitative sciences team will work with me as a co-investigator to design and implement the study. We may also leverage a programmer to implement aspects of the study. Projects are overseen by a solutions manager, and engagements with the client are usually, in-part, managed by someone from our life science partnerships team. Clinical experts provide input and expertise as needed.

Q.What specific skills or expertise does your team value most in its members, and how do these qualities play a pivotal role in the team’s achievements?

Within the quantitative sciences team, we value both technical and non-technical skills. On the technical side, knowledge of research methods and study design, programming skills, and familiarity with healthcare data are essential. On the other hand, our work is inherently cross-functional, and we communicate directly with internal and external stakeholders, and often operate in ambiguous and evolving environments. As a result, non-technical skills like logical communication are equally important. Other members of the quantitative sciences team play a key role in translating our customers’ needs into new products. In those positions, a product-oriented mindset and collaboration with product managers and software engineers are  invaluable.

Q.Can you share an example of a particularly challenging project your team successfully tackled together? (To maintain confidentiality regarding Flatiron business, please provide a high-level response without disclosing sensitive information.)

Within the Custom Solutions and Services business, many of our most challenging projects are challenging because of the timelines. We work with and for life science partners who have their own internal and external deadlines driven by commercial needs, conference abstract deadlines, regulatory meetings, etc. Recently, we've been working to support several end-to-end studies on really short timelines. This experience has forced us to improve our processes, learn new ways of working together, and figure out where we can be most efficient to get things done on condensed timelines while still maintaining the high level of quality that our customers have come to expect. These improvements and flexibility in the way we work internally, the way we meet and communicate, and even the ways that we implement analyses in code reflect our commitment to meeting these challenges. 

Q. What role does cross-functional collaboration play in your day-to-day life? Provide examples.

Cross-functional collaboration is absolutely essential to my day-to-day work. I am not an oncologist, but my work requires an understanding of clinical concepts that can only come from direct engagement with my clinically-trained colleagues. For example, when we begin discussions with a life science partner about a new project, the customer often starts with a very specifically defined patient population or therapy of interest. Translating that level of specification to our data is a collaborative endeavor. In other cases, our partner may have a loosely defined idea for a research project, and it takes both methodological and clinical expertise to turn that into a protocol, statistical analysis plan, data model, and understand what can and cannot be implemented. 

Q: Can you share an example of how Flatiron supports employees in their career development and growth? How has this support benefited you in your own career journey?

Flatiron has given me numerous opportunities to take on new challenges and grow into them, with support from my team along the way. I’ve led or co-led several external research projects, and more recently, I have been the principal investigator on a number of research projects for our life science partners. Leading these projects has been instrumental in becoming a better scientist, and in developing skills in project management and client management, while simultaneously learning more about drug development and commercialization.

Q. What is a benefit that you have personally found valuable during your time at Flatiron, and how has it positively impacted your overall experience?

In my field, learning and staying up to date on methodologies and application areas is essential. Flatiron is very supportive of external learning and provides an annual allowance to support this. This is something I’ve leveraged to take short courses, online courses, and build up non-technical skills as well. 

Q. What is it about Flatiron culture that resonates with you the most? 

In my experience, the defining aspect of Flatiron’s culture is kindness. People at Flatiron genuinely care about helping one another. This is enshrined in our company’s simplest value: Be Kind.

Are you ready to be the next changemaker in cancer care? Head over to our LinkedIn page Flatiron Health, visit our careers page, or join our talent community to learn more.