Hello and welcome to page! My name is Matt Salzano and I am a trained scientist with about a decade of experience in conducting research and an educational background in physiology and kinesiology. I have led and executed 10+ studies, gaining experience in all phases of research: design and implementation, troubleshooting, data collection, data and statistical analyses, and communication. I have also presented my work in podium and poster formats at 10+ conferences, and have even won awards for my work on two occaisons.

Through my research, I found my passion was in writing code to clean, consolidate, and manipulate data into its final form, and subsequently running the necessary statistical analyses to learn from the data. I have enjoyed teaching myself about predictive modeling and machine learning techniques, and I am eager to expand my knowledge of the data science field. I also pride myself on my ability to create effective presentations and publications to communicate findings.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with girlfriend, my family, and my dog Moose. I also like to spend my time in the kitchen honing my skills and experimenting with new recipes. Although I like to watch most sports, I am an avid soccer and college football fan.

Download my resumé (link currently broken).

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Research Background

Currently, I am an associate statistical programmer for Pfizer - a role I transitioned to after completing an internship with Pfizer during the summer of 2022. As a programmer, I am leveraging my skills in R in order to develop code to QC biomarker TLFs (typically produced in SAS) from clinical trial data. I have also fulfilled requests to deliver analysis-ready datasets and anonymize clinical trial data for external researchers. As an intern, I worked to extract drug efficacy metadata from clinical trial SAPs, CSRs, and LoTs. My experience at Pfizer in my two roles has been invaluable to introducing me to the world of pharmaceutical research.

Prior to my first step into industry, I was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Kinesiology under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Hamill. At UMass, I worked with an industry partner to perform footwear and running research. One of my two main projects was to use motion capture and force analysis to evaluate running biomechanics between prototype running shoes in order to inform on future designs. My second main project was to use data analysis and data science techniques to build a predictive model of runner satisfaction in footwear from its mechanical properties. It was this latter project where I developed a passion for data science. I also ran the statistical analyses for a study quantifying injuries during trail running.

Before my postdoc, I was a doctoral student of Dr. Jonas Rubenson at Penn State University. At Penn State, I worked on a NIH R21 grant in collaboration with scientists that had backgrounds in biomechanics, physiology, engineering, and anthropology. The purpose of the grant was to study musculoskeletal adaptations to loading history during growth using an avian bipedal model. We were interested in studying if exercise performed during childhood and adolescent years affected the structure of the musculoskeletal system, thereby influencing an adult’s locomotor performance. Specifically, I studied how high-acceleration training during growth affected muscle architecture and bone morphology, as well as how reduced loading (i.e. induced muscle paralysis via botox injections) influenced muscle moment arms. I also assisted our postdoc in the lab, Dr. Suzanne Cox, in the development of a soft exosuit (for guineafowl) in order to study neuromuscular adaptation to their use. Outside of research, I was a lead teaching assistant for 2 sections per semester for various anatomy labs. I taught an introductory cadaver-based anatomy lab for 6 semesters, an advanced cadaver-based anatomy lab for 1 semester, and an introductory anatomy & physiology lab for 1 semester.

My graduate school experience started with getting my master’s degree in kinesiology at East Carolina University, under the direction of Dr. Zac Domire. My work at ECU focused on the effects of muscle stiffness on health and injury. My thesis project investigated a possible link between muscle stiffness and sarcopenia (i.e. muscle wasting in old age), with the theory that stiffer muscles impair the cellular response to exercise that promotes muscle growth or maintenance. I also worked with the track & field team at ECU to probe if hamstring strains could be predicted using ultrasound elastography, where areas of potential injury would show drastically different stiffness values than other areas. My teaching experience started at ECU, where I taught 3 sections per semester of a lecture-based functional anatomy class.