As our spotlight series continues, I’m thrilled to introduce our Director of Advanced Analytics, Andrew Breza!
For nearly a decade, Andrew has contributed his vast knowledge of data science to inform strategy and drive powerful outcomes. His management of intricate data science projects, advanced data analysis, and advertising contracts have proven extremely valuable to the BulletinHealthcare team and clients alike.
Check out Andrew’s interview below!
Can you start by telling us about your role as Director, Advanced Analytics?
Andrew: As the Director of Advanced Analytics at Cision Insights, I manage our data science and data engineering efforts. Put simply, we take data from a variety of sources, transform it, and feed it into our many data-driven business systems.
How did you get into the healthcare analytics vertical? What ventures did you have prior to working with the BulletinHealthcare team?
Andrew: I’ve always been interested in using data to drive decision making. My favorite area of study in grad school was the quantitative analysis of public policy. After graduating with my Master of Public Administration degree in 2013, I joined Bulletin, where I was lead analyst for the Secretary of Health & Human Services’ daily briefing. I stayed up all night and published the Secretary’s briefing for her team at 6am. I made the jump to management (and the day shift) in 2014 and rose through the ranks before starting my current job in 2021.
How is working in pharma different from working in other verticals?
Andrew: I enjoy the pharma industry because it’s no-nonsense. If a company wants to market a drug to HCPs, it needs to prove that it’s better than what’s currently available to an extremely knowledgeable audience.
What aspects of your position do you most enjoy?
Andrew: I love taking an idea for a data product and seeing it through the development process, starting with a sketch and ending up with something the whole company uses.
In your opinion, what sets BulletinHealthcare’s targeting offerings apart from other HCP publishers?
Andrew: I don’t know if you’ve ever read the children’s story The Little Red Hen. It features, well, a little red hen, and she sees things that need doing and no one else is taking care of them, so she says, “Oh very well, I’ll do it myself.” I think of BulletinHealthcare’s offerings along those lines. We saw a real need that no one was filling, so we built our own patented publishing software, our own ad server, and our own data management platform. As a result, we can do things that nobody else can do.
What new challenges are you seeing in 2023? What is BulletinHealthcare’s response to these challenges?
Andrew: Increasing concerns over data privacy have given us a surprising advantage. We don’t rely on cookie matching or anything that violates privacy laws for our business, and the fact that we built our own software makes it easier for us to adapt to a changing regulatory and technical environment than companies that rely on third-party services. Any time you see a company fighting commonsense legislation like CCPA or making you jump through hoops to exercise your rights, you should be suspicious.
Can you tell our readers more about BulletinHealthcare’s latest competitive offerings?
Andrew: We have exciting plans for new offerings that we intend to roll out over 2023 and 2024. I’m sure they’ll be covered here in due time.
Are there any new industry buzzwords or acronyms you’ve recently added to your vocabulary?
Andrew: So many. The world of machine learning is constantly changing, with a new acronym from an Arxiv paper taking geek Twitter by storm one week only to be forgotten when someone publishes a slightly better approach the next.
What do you consider your greatest professional achievement during your time at Cision Insights and why?
Andrew: Banishing Excel from many of our workflows. When I started here, people shared routine reports by emailing spreadsheets to each other every week. Many of those emails went unopened. While I can’t say we never open Excel, I managed to replace the old ad hoc approach to understanding the business with automated data pipelines and interactive dashboards.
What are your interests outside of work?
Andrew: My favorite activities these days involve playing with my 2.5-year-old daughter. Taking her to my favorite places and seeing them for the first time through her eyes is truly magical. I’m blessed to live in beautiful Washington, DC with my wife, daughter, and two cats.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Andrew: Go Nats!
Have a question of your own for Andrew? Email advertise@bulletinhealthcare.com.
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