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Grant Runyan
Director, Biostatistics at SDC (Statistics & Data Corporation)
Professional Background
Grant Runyan is a highly skilled statistician and biostatistics expert with over two decades of extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. He currently serves as the Director of Biostatistics at SDC (Statistics & Data Corporation), where he has been instrumental since February 2020. SDC is renowned for providing strategic scientific consulting and clinical data services, including biostatistics, data management, and interactive response technology (IRT) to various pharmaceutical, biologic, and medical device companies. With a keen focus on the central nervous system (CNS) therapeutic area, Grant has contributed significantly to projects addressing critical health conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Lewy Body Dementia, schizophrenia, and pain related to Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) and fibromyalgia (FM).
Career Path
Prior to his current role, Grant demonstrated his adeptness in biostatistics through several high-impact positions. From September 2018 to November 2019, he was the Director of Biostatistics at Aptinyx Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to pioneering novel therapies for complex disorders of the brain and nervous system. In this capacity, Grant was responsible for ensuring the statistical integrity of outputs, overseeing biostatistics operations, and maintaining quality, data integrity, and overall efficiency in statistical processes.
Earlier in his career, from October 2017 to September 2018, Grant contributed his expertise as a statistician at Pentara Corporation, a notable contract research organization (CRO) specializing in the design and efficacy analysis of clinical studies related to Alzheimer’s Disease. His experience at Pentara further solidified his skill set in addressing neurological disorders and their treatment pathways.
Grant’s foundation in the field was laid at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he served as a Manager in Statistics starting in 2006. He successfully handled numerous oncology projects and played a pivotal role in leading an Analytical Science team that responded to regulatory inquiries regarding ACTOS (pioglitazone). Following the merger with TAP Pharmaceuticals, Grant transitioned into a technical role, participating in co-development projects with Affymax and Zinfandel Pharmaceuticals, focusing on treatments for anemia due to chronic renal failure and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) related to Alzheimer's Disease.
Before his tenure at Takeda, Grant worked with Quintiles (now QuintilesIMS), where he held various positions as Randomization Team Lead, Manager, and later as Associate Director. His critical contributions included serving as the Lead Statistician for a series of global asthma studies, culminating in a successful U.S. FDA New Drug Application (NDA) submission. Additionally, Grant's early career began at Hoechst Marion Roussel, where he was a statistician involved in an anemia FDA Biologics License Application (BLA) submission program, orchestrating multiple Phase II and III studies.
Education and Achievements
Grant Runyan's educational background showcases his commitment to academic excellence and a solid foundation in statistics and engineering. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, complemented by additional majors in Statistics and Mathematics from Iowa State University. This diverse academic background equipped him with the analytical skills necessary to excel in his field.
Grant further advanced his education by obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Statistics from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 1998. His doctoral studies allowed him to deepen his knowledge and expertise in statistical methods, which have been indispensable assets throughout his career.
Throughout his career, Grant has received accolades for his innovative methodologies and contributions to significant clinical studies. His efforts have played a crucial role in advancing treatments for diseases that profoundly impact lives and have garnered recognition within the scientific community.
Notable Achievements
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Leadership in CNS Therapeutics: As a Director of Biostatistics, Grant has successfully led statistical operations on various clinical trials related to central nervous system diseases, demonstrating his capacity to handle complex datasets and contribute to meaningful therapeutic advancements.
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Pivotal Roles in Drug Development: His expertise in biostatistics has been vital in overseeing the statistical integrity of clinical programs, ensuring they meet regulatory standards and contribute successfully to the development of life-changing therapies.
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Successful FDA Submissions: Grant's statistical analyses have been critical in securing regulatory approvals for drugs, thus facilitating the launch of therapies that address unmet medical needs.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
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Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.