USF College of Public Health (COPH) alumna Stephanie Volpe was recently named associate director of global epidemiology for real world evidence at the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZ) in Cambridge, England.

In this newly created role, Volpe is responsible for developing and leading global epidemiological studies and strategy across various products in the AZ biopharmaceuticals portfolio. She works closely with stakeholders across the global patient safety, regulatory, medical and research/development departments to create various studies to contribute to the strategic plans for epidemiology and real-world evidence. Her main area of focus is in oncology, specifically in gynecological, liver and lung cancers.

Volpe received her MPH in epidemiology from the COPH in 2016 after completing her undergraduate degree in biology at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., in 2013.

After her parents moved to Florida, Volpe started looking into graduate schools in-state and found the COPH. After taking a couple classes in epidemiology, she decided to enroll in the COPH’s MPH program.

“I thought it was a wonderful program. I really enjoyed all of my professors and my classes as a whole,” she said. “During my time, I was also able to do some work in malaria with Dr. Rays Jiang. She really was somebody who pushed me, believed in me and got me excited about infectious disease.”

After graduation, Volpe started working at Moffitt in cancer epidemiology as a research coordinator. Later she moved to Wavre, Belgium after accepting an opportunity with the British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in their Future Leaders Program for Vaccine Research and Development.

During the two-year talent development program, she was able to experience three rotations throughout the company in both vaccines and pharmaceuticals as clinical research development lead for herpes zoster, safety evaluation and risk management project manager and a cluster medical affairs coordinator in the Nordic market.

“The program itself was just an absolutely wonderful opportunity. There are not a lot of similar graduate programs and pharmaceutical programs out there, and it can be incredibly difficult to get into the industry. For anyone wishing to get into pharmaceuticals or test the waters, I would definitely recommend this program,” Volpe said.

Volpe completed the program in 2018 and accepted a permanent position with GSK as an epidemiology lead working on respiratory vaccines for older adults.

“After working with GSK during the program and afterward for the past five years, I decided to make the move into AZ because I really enjoyed my time at Moffitt and in cancer research,” she said. “Although I do have a drive for infectious disease, I thought it would be a great step to move into a role in cancer research to continue my development.”

As her role is new within AZ, she began utilizing not only more of her epidemiology skills, but also her biostatistics and public health knowledge.

“GSK already had a developed epidemiological program in place and a core team of epidemiologists who mainly focused on study development, but at AZ we’re a very new team and my role is now all encompassing. Not only focusing on epidemiology but also statistics, budget, vendor relationships, operational aspects, both internal and external governance and regulations, and project strategy,” Volpe said.

“I think this role uses more of my public health degree. I’m actually in a real-world setting and looking at what our drugs are doing, how our doctors are prescribing them, and whether the information we received from our clinical trials is really what we’re seeing in practice,” she said.

In the future, Volpe hopes to have the opportunity to become a strategy lead, whether it be in pharmaceuticals or vaccines.

“I love epidemiology as a whole and would like to continue moving forward in real-world, evidence- based research and be that strategic voice for a disease area, especially as a woman leader,” she said. “I started off my career with a leadership program and was an active voice in the women’s leadership initiative working toward equal opportunities during my time at GSK and I want to continue on this path.”

Alumni Fast Five:

What is your passion?

My passion is disease prevention and my practice is utilizing real world evidence and burden of disease studies to educate the population on the important of infectious disease prevention.

What did you dream of becoming when you were young?

A doctor.

Where would we find you on the weekend?

Anywhere outdoors. We’re hiking every weekend that we can.

What is the last book you read?

“Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader,” by Herminia Ibarra.

What’s your all-time favorite movie?

“Goodfellows.”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health