A Q&A with PJ Allen, Director of Data Science
Cornerstone AI is publishing a series of Q&As with team members to provide more information and context on their role at Cornerstone AI, as well as their professional background. This is the second post of the series. Visit our blog to see previous posts in the series.
Your background is in biostatistics and data science - can you tell me a little about why you chose to go into that field in the first place?
I wanted to understand how the brain works, and how sometimes it doesn’t work in our favor in the case of mental illness. That led me to study neuroscience, and I quickly found myself in a research setting. I worked in a couple of different labs which is where I became fascinated by working with data — everything from collecting it, cleaning it, visualizing it, to analyzing it. There was a certain kind of power in working with data that I was drawn to. I had a lot of questions, too, about the statistical methods that we were using. Lucky for me, NYU had just launched their Masters in Data Science program, and I jumped on it. It was an exciting time to enter the field and that excitement has only grown. The hype is real!
You worked with Medidata for many years before coming to Cornerstone AI - was there anything in particular that compelled you to make this change?
I saw firsthand how messy data slows down innovation, and I was frustrated by that. You have all this data, all this potential, but it takes months of work just to get it into shape for analysis. Over time, it becomes easy to accept that maybe that’s just how it has to be. But Cornerstone was boldly challenging that idea. I was excited by the premise that this problem could be solved in a generalized, repeatable way. I also knew that Mike and Andrew cared deeply about the problem and were committed to creatively, elegantly, and thoroughly solving it… and moving fast. They’re also great leaders and collaborators, and I wanted to be a part of what they were building at Cornerstone.
On a day-to-day basis, what does your work look like? What drives you to continue the work each day?
I spend a lot of time coding or reviewing code to add new features to the platform, which makes me happy. But it’s a little bit of everything: backend development, project management, customer success... I love getting to work on an idea from its inception, through its development, all the way through to putting it in the hands of a customer, and doing that in a matter of days or weeks.
I also spend time thinking about the varied experiences that our customers have with this messy data problem and how Cornerstone can best help them. That gives me a lot of energy and is the main driver for me. I see teams struggling with this problem and can relate to that struggle.
I’m separately but equally driven by my teammates at Cornerstone. We have an amazing team – amazingly talented, committed, and supportive. When you’ve got the right team dynamics, it feels like anything is possible.
What does the future hold for Cornerstone AI?
A lot of data cleaning (happy us) and a lot of unblocked data science teams (happy them).
And in the near term, we’re headed to Seattle for our next quarterly meetup! Being a fully remote team, it’s so energizing to get everyone together once a quarter.
What are you most proud of in your professional and/or personal life?
I’m really proud of, and grateful for, the relationships and community that I have… The new colleagues that have become friends, the leaders or bosses that have become mentors. I’m proud to do what I do with the people that I do it with. This is especially true now as a (proud) new mom – time is precious, and I’m grateful that I get to spend some of mine solving challenging problems with an awesome team that I enjoy working with.
What are you passionate about outside of work?
Lately, parenthood… which, for me, involves a lot of singing (Raffi is my favorite), reading (everything by Julia Donaldson), and ironically, embracing the mess. Data needs to be clean — the nursery, less so.