Over 16 years’ biomedical analytics experience.
With a clinical and academic research background in biology, and experience across statistics, machine learning and natural language processing, James leads many of VISFO’s in-house R&D programs, as well as external collaborations with novel and complex requirements.
What’s the most rewarding part of your role?
The most rewarding aspect of this role is the diverse nature of the work and the opportunity to consistently rise to new client challenges. This variety ensures continuous learning and engagement.
What’s a project you’re particularly proud of, and why?
It is challenging to pinpoint a single project, as advancements in both internal and external technology lead to each new endeavour surpassing the last. This constant evolution means that every project offers fresh opportunities for innovation and improvement, making the most recent achievements often the most gratifying. We recently completed an interactive demo demonstrating how a geospatial RAG enhanced clinical trial search strategy can identify the most relevant trials for patients based on their specific needs and clinical history.
What’s one thing you bring to a team that people might not see on paper?
I tend to contribute an overall increase in the average height in any team.
If you had to explain what you do to a 10-year-old, how would you describe it?
A data scientist is like a detective, they gather as much information (numbers and facts) as possible to solve puzzles. The information, or data as we call it, is typically vast no human could possibly read and understand everything available. But we can use computers to sift, sort and link the data to find patterns and relationships that can simplify tasks or guide smarter choices.
What’s your go-to approach when solving a difficult problem?
My primary approach to solving a complex problem is to break it down into the simplest most manageable components.
What would we find you doing outside of work?
Outside of work, my time is dedicated to family activities, cooking, cycling, and playing the guitar.
If your role had a tagline, what would it be?
If there’s data, we can do something with it!