From Accra to Roanoke, Emmanuel Nartey’s path has been guided by a simple instinct: say yes, learn fast, and help people solve real problems with data.

“I have always been excited about learning,” he said. “If something sparks my interest, I dig in and figure out how to be useful.”

Nartey joined CBHDS as a Research Scientist in May 2024 after earning his Ph.D. in Statistics and Analytics at Central Michigan University. Before that, he studied Mathematics at the University of Ghana and completed a Master’s in Applied Statistics, experiences that layered theory, programming, and problem-solving across academic and industry settings.

“I thought I might become a number theorist,” he said with a laugh. “Then big data kept showing up on my radar. I wanted to see how statistics could answer questions that matter.” 

Those questions came quickly. During graduate school, Nartey completed multiple internships that took him beyond clean homework datasets and into cloud environments, data pipelines, and team roadmaps.

“It was a shift from classroom projects to querying databases, building pipelines, and presenting to leadership,” he said. “I learned technical design, but just as important were organization, time management, and communicating with nontechnical teammates.”

That blend of skills came together when he joined a statistical consulting center in the final years of his Ph.D. program, where he discovered a love for tackling new problems, learning the domain, and partnering with others to find practical answers through collaboration and team science. The same rhythm fuels his work at CBHDS today.

“One of the first projects I said yes to was the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System,” he said. “It is public, but managing the data is challenging. I leaned on my data engineering experience to aggregate it so students and collaborators could actually use it.” 

That groundwork has already paid off. Two capstone teams for the Computational Modeling and Data Analytics program at Virginia Tech have used the FAERS resource to explore how signals of concern are detected and communicated. Another collaboration grew with the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, where the team examined reports of taste and smell disturbances associated with GLP-1 medications. Findings from this collaboration have been presented at national meetings, with manuscripts under review.

“Coming in with an open mind and being willing to learn on the fly has led to meaningful projects,” he said. “I see a lot of opportunities ahead in pharmacovigilance.”

Around CBHDS, you are also likely to find Nartey teaching, mentoring, and pitching in on community efforts. He has supported R troubleshooting and modeling questions during CBHDS Zoom Drop-in Hours and helped lead a CUBE workshop for students at Virginia Tech’s Uplifting Black Men Conference.

“Mentoring is important to me,” he said. “Sometimes students message me from Ghana or here in the U.S. I try to share what I have learned about internships, graduate school, and communicating your skills.” 

His advice for students and early-career researchers is straightforward.

“Make the most of the opportunity in front of you,” he said. “If networking does not come naturally, study people from afar. Watch their paths. Everything can be learned. Volunteer on a research project. Build skills where you are, and those experiences will open doors.”

At CBHDS, that mindset translates into steady, collaborative progress. Whether he is shaping messy data into usable resources, guiding students through an analysis, or exploring new domains with clinical partners, Nartey keeps his focus on impact.

“I say yes to opportunities, then I learn what I need to be helpful,” he said. “That is the fun part.”