Department: Biostatistics

Todd Coffey graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in statistics from Brigham Young University in 2000, received an M.S. in biostatistics from the University of Michigan in 2002 and earned a Ph.D. in biostatistics from VCU in 2005. His dissertation research was in the area of the design and simultaneous analysis of multiple endpoints that have nonlinear dose-response curves. Coffey received a number of merit-based accolades during his academic career, including recognition as a NIEHS T-32 Trainee, the VCU Award of Excellence and the Karl Peace Award for Excellence and Scholarship. He also was awarded numerous scholarships including the prestigious Karl G. Maeser Scholarship and the Biopharmaceutical Applied Statistics Scholarship. Since receiving his Ph.D. degree, Coffey has been the lead nonclinical biostatistician for three organizations in the biotechnology industry. While working with endocrine scientists in the research group at Amylin Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, Calif., Coffey helped elucidate the anti-obesity effects of novel peptides used in combination. The discovery of synergistic effects resulted in numerous publications and subsequent clinical trials that achieved proof-of-concept of peptide combination therapy for obesity.

Notably, Coffey was a co-inventor with two other scientists on a U.S. patent (pending) describing synergistic weight loss with peptide combinations. As the lead biostatistician at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center in Portland, Ore., Coffey helped discover novel approaches for immunotherapy to treat a variety of cancers and designed clinical trials to take these discoveries from bench to bedside. He also received an appointment as an affiliate research instructor with Oregon Health and Science University’s Department of Surgery.

Coffey is currently the lead biostatistician for the development group at Seattle Genetics. He contributed to the approval of a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate to treat Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and developed the statistical control strategy to monitor the commercial manufacturing process. Coffey is also the acting biostatistician on a committee sponsored by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists that is developing standards for evaluating ligand binding assays for biosimilars.

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