Women in Data Science: Laura Biven, Ph.D.

Laura Biven, Ph.D.
Data Science Technical Lead
Office of Data Science Strategy

Bringing together diverse groups of professionals:

I am responsible for strategic planning, coordination, and oversight in cloud computing, platform interoperability, and artificial intelligence and for bringing together the computer science and biomedical communities. I lead trans-NIH working groups and am a team lead within the Office of Data Science Strategy. Most of what I do involves bringing together diverse groups of professionals to build programs and establish priorities. Remember that people who are further along in their careers often really enjoy helping younger people. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, or mentorship, or a letter of recommendation.

Computing across multiple datasets:

Being able to compute across multiple datasets is a key component of data science. For controlled access data, however, this can be a laborious task. The NIH Research Authorization Service that has been developed over the past year allows researchers to access multiple controlled access datasets through a single sign-on and represents a critical step to building seamless data science ecosystem.

Fulfilling a life-long dream:

After being bumped from a trans-Atlantic flight, I was given a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the world. I used it to fulfill a life-long dream of visiting China; I visited three cities on my own in winter 2004.

Dr. Biven holds a Ph.D. in applied mathematics. She was featured in a lecture Dr. Susan Gregurick, ODSS director, delivered in March 2021 titled "Women Leading the Way: Stories of the Women (and Men) Making an Impact on Data Science at NIH."

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