Staff Spotlight: Meet Nicole Avila, a versatile project administrator of the biostatistics and data science summer program at USC

Nicole Avila is a project administrator who’s been working at USC since 2013. She joined the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC to provide administrative support to the divisions of biostatistics and environmental health. Since then, she has served in various programmatic roles working on several grants. “Being involved with biostatistics or epidemiology was not something that I came to USC thinking I would ever do,” says Avila. “I am proud of my growth and expansion of knowledge throughout my time here and the work that I have done over the years.” Read about her time in our department.

What are your main responsibilities?
I transitioned from administrative support to project specialist in 2016 when I was hired to the statistical genomics IMAGE P01 Program Project Grant and the environmental genomics T32 training grant. In 2019, I became the coordinator of the LA’s Biostatistics and Data Science Summer Training R25 grant, and today I work on all three projects.

What is the focus of each project?
The IMAGE P01 grant involves integrated methods of analysis for genomic epidemiology—which is the application of statistical methods to cancer data. The T32 focuses on environmental genomics, incorporating both the divisions of environmental health and biostatistics. It’s a training grant for pre-doctoral and postdoctoral scholars in our programs including, but not limited to biostatistics and epidemiology. The third project is LA’s BeST @USC which offers training for undergraduate and post-bachelors students.

What has been your experience on LA’s BeST?
The program started in 2019 initially as a three-year grant. Students from across the country come to USC to conduct research for six weeks with public health leaders, work on real data sets, and learn about biostatistics and data science. We fit a lot into the program between the course itself and the extracurriculars around USC and Los Angeles.

Since its launch, the program has grown in the sense that we are starting to see what the LA’s BeST alumni have gone on to do after graduating with their bachelor’s degree. The majority are in the field of biostatistics or a related field, with many going on to graduate school. We’ve also seen more students applying to- and joining our USC master’s and PhD education programs. It’s awesome to see them come back—they will specifically come and find me and share that “you’re one of the reasons that I wanted to come back here!” and that just melts my heart and validates all our hard work! It all confirms that putting my best self forward is paying off and I really appreciate that.

Who is LA’s BeST @ USC designed for?
The program demonstrates to students how biostatistics and data science can be applied to their educational future and professional careers. From my conversations with the program directors Kim Siegmund, PhD, and Juan Pablo Lewinger, PhD, there is a mix of applicants. Some students are still deciding what careers they would like to pursue and may not have heard of biostatistics or aren’t sure exactly what data science is, but they have a STEM background, so we help them build on their knowledge to use in these fields. Then some students are familiar with the fields and have been seeking out similar opportunities to help them pursue their goals.

We try to look for students from underprivileged or under resourced backgrounds who might not have been given the opportunities otherwise to pursue or develop these set of skills. We guide them through their exploration and really show them how it is that they can excel in this field. We provide an opportunity for all students to learn more and see exactly how they can use these tools and skillsets to further their career or education.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?
The people here— my biostats faculty and colleagues. I especially enjoy working with my T32 trainees and the LA’s BeST students. Because I’m a USC alum, and I was born and raised in LA, it has become important to me to make sure that their experiences are memorable and reflect the deep love I have for USC and LA (Fight On forever!) This is something that drives me every year in my job. It’s been the best thing working with them. My career goals aren’t only defined by the job itself but by creating memories.

Who do you work the closest with?
My boss—Jim Gauderman, PhD. I’ve been working with him since I started at USC. I’m so grateful for getting to work with him, building the relationship over the years, and him always having my back. He appreciates me and all my work, and I know I can be honest and open with him. Aileen Goforth is a fantastic administrator and has only been here a little over a year, but we quickly became like family. We are so lucky that she’s here. I’m really close with the IT guys, George Martinez, Ryan Wilkerson, and Ronnie Taylor. Especially Ryan and George— and I have to add Monique Franklin, too. They’ve been here longer than I have, but we’re some of the veterans of the department now. I can always count on them, and we’ve become great friends.

What are you proudest about your time here?
I’m proud of my growth and that I have come to a point where I am one of the senior members in the department in terms of the knowledge I’ve collected and what I have done over the years. But I would have to say that LA’s BeST has been the most rewarding— seeing the students apply to our education programs and share with me how happy they are to have joined LA’s BeST makes me extremely proud to be a part of that.