experience.qmd

---
title: "Experience"
---

## Education

#### PhD, Cognitive Psychology, University of Basel

I obtained a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the [University of Basel](https://www.unibas.ch/de.html) in Basel, Switzerland and the [Max Planck Institute for Human Development](https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/en) in Berlin, Germany within the [Center for Adaptive Rationality](https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/research/research-centers/adaptive-rationality) lead by [Dr. Ralph Hertwig](https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/person/ralph-hertwig/57631). The focus of my PhD research was on adaptive decision making rules in individuals and groups. See [Phillips, Hertwig, Kareev & Avrahami, 2014](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027714001164) for an example publication from my PhD.

#### Masters, Quantitative Psychology, Ohio University

Prior to my PhD, I obtained a Masters in Psychology at [Ohio University](https://www.ohio.edu/) at the department of Social Judgment and Behavioral Decision making under [Dr. Claudia Gonzalez-Vallejo](https://www.ohio.edu/cas/gonzalez). The focus of my Master's thesis was on the role of experiences and expert advice on decisions.

#### Bachelors, Mathematics, Grinnell College

I obtained BA in Mathematics from [Grinnell College](https://www.grinnell.edu/). My undergraduate coursework focused on probability and statistics and behavioral decision making.

## Experience

### Academia

#### Pre-Doctoral Researcher, Ohio University

As a pre-doctoral researcher at Ohio University, I taught multiple university courses in statistics and research methods for psychology undergraduate students.

#### Pre-Doctoral Researcher, University of Basel

As a pre-doctoral researcher at the University of Basel, I taught undergraduate and masters level seminars in research methods.

#### Researcher, University of Konstanz

::: {.callout-tip}
## Publishing an e-book on statistical programming with R

I converted my teaching materials on statistical programming with R into a free e-book "YaRrr! The Pirate's Guide to R" that is still used by students and researchers around the world
:::

Following the completion of my PhD, I completed a research position at at the [University of Konstanz](https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/) in Konstanz, Germany in the department of Social Psychology and Decision Sciences lead by [Dr. Wolfgang Gaissmaier](https://spds.uni-konstanz.de/en/prof-wolfgang-gaissmaier). There I taught Bachelors, Masters, and PhD-level courses in statistical programming with R, and decision making. I ultimately translated my statistical programming teaching materials into a free e-book "YaRrr! The Pirate's Guide to R". The book was, and still is, used by many students and researchers around the world to learn statistical programming with R. The book is still available at [https://bookdown.org/ndphillips/YaRrr/]().

In addition to teaching 

#### Researcher, University of Basel

I also completed a post-doctoral research position at the [University of Basel](https://www.unibas.ch/de.html) in the department of [Economic Psychology](https://psychologie.unibas.ch/en/faculty/centers/economic-psychology/) lead by [Dr. Joerg Rieskamp](https://psychologie.unibas.ch/en/persons/joerg-rieskamp/).

### Industry

Here is a selection of my work experience. See my [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanieldphillips/) page for a more detailed history.

### CTO & Co-Founder, Plinth Analytics

::: {.callout-tip}
## From $0 to $1M in 1.5 years of bootstrapped development

In just 1.5 years, we went from two people with an idea to a team of 5 and $1M in revenue across multiple pharma and healthtech clients.
:::


Most recently, I was the CTO and Co-Founder of [Plinth Analytics](https://www.plinth.co), a company that helps healthcare organizations make better decisions with messy healthcare data. In this role, I led the development of our data science platform and worked with our customers to understand their needs and deliver solutions that helped reduce costs and generate new use-cases for EHR, claims and genomic data.



I am currently a Quantitative Scientist at [Flatiron Health](https://www.flatiron.com), where I work on real-world data science problems in oncology.

1. CTO, Co-Founder, [Plinth Analytics](https://www.plinth.co)
    - The thrill of a lifetime with my co-founder and friend  [Kieran Mace](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieranmace/), along with  rockstar data scientists [Nicole Mirea](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimirea/), [Parker Barnes](https://www.linkedin.com/in/parker-barnes/) |
1. Quantitative Scientist, [Flatiron Health](https://www.flatiron.com)
    - Best culture and teams I've ever been a part of. Grateful to people like [Olivier Humblet](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ohumblet/), [Caleb Jordan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-jordan-92797565/), [Daniel Obeng](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-obeng-8a0b932/), [Conal Scanlon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/conalscanlon/), [John Zielinksi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-zielinski/) (and so many more) for teaching and supporting me during my time there.|
1. Real World Data Scientist, [Roche](https://www.roche.com)
    - Where I learned how real world science is done by teams and what a great manager looks like (thank you [Robert Walls](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-walls-4406731/))
1. Postdoctoral Researcher, [University of Basel](https://www.unibas.ch)
1. Postdoctoral Researcher, [University of Konstanz](https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/)
    - Developing [FFTrees](https://github.com/ndphillips/FFTrees) with [Hansjoerg Neth](https://www.spds.uni-konstanz.de/en/hans-neth) and [Wolfgang Gaissmaier](https://www.spds.uni-konstanz.de/en/node/1240) was a turning point for the rest of my career
1. Pre-Doctoral Researcher, [Max Planck Institute for Human Development](https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/en)
    - Paradise for decision-making research thanks to [Gerd Gigerenzer](https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/staff/gerd-gigerenzer), [Ralph Hertwig](https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/staff/ralph-hertwig) and where I discovered a love of R with my fellow PhD student [Dirk Wulff](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirk-wulff-723a7772/)|

## Presentations and Videos

Here are some presentations and recordings of me speaking at various conferences, as well as some teaching course materials.

<p><a href="https://posit.co/resources/videos/flatironkitchen-how-we-overhauled-a-frankensteinian-sql-workflow-with-the-tidyverse/?wvideo=7mp0kqqdte"><img src="https://embed-ssl.wistia.com/deliveries/11d7a43ff9a4bcaa41f76c93736f718d.jpg?image_play_button_size=2x&amp;image_crop_resized=960x540&amp;image_play_button=1&amp;image_play_button_color=4287c7e0" width="400" height="225" style="width: 400px; height: 225px;"></a></p><p><a href="https://posit.co/resources/videos/flatironkitchen-how-we-overhauled-a-frankensteinian-sql-workflow-with-the-tidyverse/?wvideo=7mp0kqqdte"></a></p>

- [FlatironKitchen: How we overhauled a Frankensteinian SQL workflow with the Tidyverse](https://posit.co/resources/videos/flatironkitchen-how-we-overhauled-a-frankensteinian-sql-workflow-with-the-tidyverse/)| RStudio Conf (2019)|
- [FFTrees: An R package to create, visualise and use fast and frugal decision trees](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/events/user-international-r-user-conferences-user-international-r-user-2017-conference/fftrees-r-package-to-create-visualise-use-fast-frugal-decision-trees)  useR! (2017)|
- [Using R to Derive Robust Insights from Real-World Health Care Data](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok4ARePys_E&ab_channel=RinPharma) | [R/Pharma](https://rinpharma.com/) (2022) |
- [TStat R Lecture #7: Loops in R](https://youtu.be/p7bJjOJoXLI) | Introduction to R Programming course at the University of Konstanz (see all course videos [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9tt3I41HFS8-A8V82yicRIl0uSb9mwEU))|

## Publications

Here are the two publications I'm most proud of, see all of them at [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ThWbpDQAAAAJ&hl=en)


- [FFTrees: A toolbox to create, visualize, and evaluate fast-and-frugal decision trees](https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=ThWbpDQAAAAJ&citation_for_view=ThWbpDQAAAAJ:9vf0nzSNQJEC), Phillips, N.D., Neth, H., Woike, J.K., Gaissmaier, W., Judgment and Decision Making
- [Rivals in the dark: How competition influences search in decisions under uncertainty](https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=ThWbpDQAAAAJ&citation_for_view=ThWbpDQAAAAJ:2osOgNQ5qMEC) | ND Phillips, R Hertwig, Y Kareev, J Avrahami | Cognition | |

## Open Source Projects

Most of my projects are proprietary, but here are some open source projects that I contribute to

![](https://github.com/ndphillips/FFTrees/raw/master/man/figures/README-example-heart-plot-1.png)

- [FFTrees](https://github.com/ndphillips/FFTrees), A toolbox to create, visualize, and evaluate fast-and-frugal decision trees 
- [yarrr](https://github.com/ndphillips/yarrr), A package for creating pirate plots in R