SAS® History: My first introduction to SAS® was in 1996 whilst studying for my masters in biometry at Reading University in the UK. We covered the basics of a few of the statistical procedures. It wasn’t until 2001 when I came to Vancouver that I needed to develop my SAS skills further. Working as a biostatistician for a biotech company, using SAS 8.2, I taught myself the basics of data manipulation and was put in the position of managing an extremely proficient and advanced SAS programmer – I learnt tons! Now working for the BC Cancer Agency, still teaching myself, I’m still learning tons. SAS is vast and powerful, and I love it.

In 2006 I attended my first SAS users group meeting, where a plea was put out for volunteers to start the Vancouver SAS User Group Executive. At the bottom of my evaluation form I scrawled something along the lines of, “I’m not an advanced SAS user but if you’re really desperate I’ll help out how I can.” The next thing I knew, I had “the phone call,” and two years later I find myself President of the Vancouver SAS User Group Executive. It has been extremely rewarding being a part of this team. SAS used to be a tool to me, something that enabled me to do my work. These days it is also a network of people, and I’ve met some great, knowledgeable and fun people through this role. I attended my first SAS Global Forum this year in San Antonio, where the presidents from each of the Canadian SAS user executives came together and discussed communication and networking strategies. I have seen the Vancouver SAS User Group grow from approximately 30-40 to 60-70 attendees. I hope it continues to grow, and I hope to continue to contribute and help improve the networking opportunities for the Vancouver users, to further knowledge transfer, and of course, to keep improving my own SAS knowledge.

About my hobbies and on my spare time (when I’m not programming in SAS)... I’m an outdoor, adventurous person and I love the ocean and the mountains. I moved to Vancouver from England for this outdoor life and I have not been disappointed, although I do miss my family, who are all still in the UK. Getting away sailing is a perfect way for me to spend a weekend. I also enjoy skiing, tennis and softball, but my loves are backpacking, photography, red wine and Indian food, which I try to combine into one activity as often as possible. If only I could make a living doing it! Backpacking has been the main influence of my photography, concentrating on landscapes. This year I produced a British Columbia 2008 calendar that was printed and given out as a gift to the attendees of the annual BC Surgical Oncology Network Conference. My love for Indian food stems from my dad being born in Goa, India, and the excellent teaching by his mum to my mum on how to cook the perfect curry.

One thing every SAS programmer should know: Through my journey of learning SAS one of the many things I remember that made my life easier was learning the RETAIN statement. The RETAIN statement is quite a powerful and flexible tool and is useful for “remembering” information from a previous observation. I have attached an old SUGI paper that I found useful, and I hope it will help a number of you too.

I look forward to meeting more SAS users.