Key skills
As well as their statistical qualifications, statisticians need to have good communication skills. They must interpret the results of statistical analyses and explain to non-statisticians, such as the medical team, what the results mean in layman’s terms.
Statisticians are often called upon to give input to decision-making. Their logical thinking and understanding of the whole clinical trial from data collection to analysis results is very valuable.
Statistical programmers
Statisticians and programmers work very closely together. In fact, in some companies these are not two separate jobs. Both need to be proficient in programming languages such as R and SAS.