Policies

Short Biography

Meghana Avula is the Director of Global Technology for the department of  Global Pediatric Medicine.

In her role she will capture requirements; define, plan and coordinate the execution of the technical projects; administer the project management solution; help with the overall planning and design of the services required to achieve department goals; and lead the design and implementation of the dashboard, reporting and analytical platforms and solutions.

Short Biography

Yichen Chen, PhD, MSc, is a Senior Biostatistician, Global Analytics for the department of Global Pediatric Medicine. She earned her Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of Florida in 2019 and M.Sc. in statistics in China in 2014.

While a student at Florida, she worked as a statistician and graduate assistant at the Children’s Oncology Group Statistics and Data Center (COG SDC) for 3.5 years. Under the supervision of senior statisticians, she supported clinical trials on acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Her job responsibilities included monitoring the ongoing studies on study accrual, data collection and toxicity, and generating regular study reports to study committee, data safety monitoring committee and institutional review board. In addition, Yichen served as a resource to senior statisticians in data analyses, ad-hoc analysis, protocol amendments, abstracts and presentations at conferences and manuscript preparation.

In her spare time, Yichen enjoys reading, playing music, swimming, cycling and fitness dancing.

Short Biography

Wendy Archibald is an administrative specialist in Global Pediatric Medicine.

Wendy has been with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital since 2005, serving in Human Resources and Information Services. She’s originally from Louisiana and lived in many states in the southern U.S. until moving to the Memphis area in 1997. Wendy currently lives in Brighton, Tennessee, with her husband, David, their dog Miss Ruby and cat Poppy, both shelter rescues. They have five adult children, four of whom have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military (U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force).

In her spare time, Wendy is an artist. She draws, paints and creates things from cut paper, incorporating fine glitter whenever possible. Other favorite activities include gardening and home decorating.

Short Biography

Sherri Blackburn is a Senior Business Analyst 1 in the Department of Global Pediatric Medicine.

Sherri is a native Memphian, who has had the fortunate opportunity to be educated and to expand her professional career within her hometown of Memphis.  She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Christian Brothers University in Information Systems Management. She has over 20 years of leadership, systems and business analysis experience, working for industry leaders to deliver IT solutions that maximize stakeholder value.

Prior to joining St. Jude, Sherri served as Lead IT Analyst at Smith and Nephew within its Global Quality and Compliance Department. Her previous experience also includes time as an IT Senior Product Manager within the Supply Chain division at Williams-Sonoma, a contractor role as an IT Business Analyst with ALSAC, an IT Logistics Senior Business Analyst at Medtronic and a Senior Production & Process Manager for Discover Financial Services. 

She considers the opportunity to work for St. Jude to be one of the most rewarding and meaningful endeavors of her career, including the opportunity to contribute to the development of new technology and solutions that bring value to the staff and patients of St. Jude and its partner institutions.

During her spare time, Sherri loves to travel but remains very busy caring for her three rumbustious Fur Babies (dogs) and taking them on long walks. Sherri stretches her time by participating in local charities, including Race for the Cure, FedEx St. Jude golf tournament and Juvenile Diabetes.