AC1

Your profile seems to be a strong one, except that you have not mentioned your GRE and TOEFL/IETLS scores. With decent GRE scores with Quant scores >=165  I believe that you can apply directly to a PhD program in the US. Since you are interested in applied statistics, biostats, bayesian modelling etc. I would suggest that you can go through the biostats departments in usnews and go through the faculty research interests. Now for international students, biostats programs can be very competitive and would be wise to apply to only some top 15 biostats programs. Also I believe that you can leverage your internship at the pharma firm to tailor your SOP and probably get a letter of recommendation from some colleague at the organization. You can consider schools in the range of Pittsburgh, Florida etc. 

I was in the stats department at TAMU as an undergrad. I can't answer much regarding technical details like coursework, placements, etc., but I can talk about most other things. The department seems pretty social, with lots of events that anyone can attend. The professors seem accessible through things like that, even big names like Carroll. I once asked a professor about their qualifying exams and they said that they virtually never use them to kick people out. Its seems like the stakes are pretty low and you only have to worry if you've been a terrible student.
The stats department shares a building with the math department, so it was extremely easy to take graduate math coursework and talk to math professors. I would assume that the same would hold for grad students. The CS department doesn't seem to be as close, but it was still super easy to access.
Not sure if location is important to you, but it is kinda in the middle of nowhere. That being said, it isn't some tiny village. The population is almost 300,000, so you'll still have a lot of options when it comes to food and entertainment. It gets both very hot (43 Celsius) and very cold (-13 Celsius).
They gave me all the tools needed to get into elite PhD programs. I imagine a PhD student in the department would be similarly well-suited for the job market. Let me know if you have any question you think I can answer!

Can only comment as a fellow applicant but ... according to one junior faculty at Berkeley they said, it's a good, well-rounded department to consider.  Unlike some of the top ranked schools, he commented that it's a good place to do applied research as well. 
After reviewing the faculty research interests website,  I agree with his view on this.  It just seems like a well-rounded, cool department (from a research perspective). 

Just wanted to give a quick shoutout to @bayessays for being around and giving solid input/advice to a lot of people on here.

Hi,
I am not an expert in graduate school admission process, but I do not think that your background in medicine and low grades should matter that much. You need to be more specific about the math courses that you have taken. For example if you have taken or plan to take advanced analysis and proof based linear algebra courses or not and how you have or how you fare. Also courses like mathematical statistics, inference etc on your transcript would be looked at during the admission process.
I would say that you could really use your unusual background in medicine and your interest in biostats to build a strong SOP. Also you would need to sit for your GRE and TOEFL and have decent scores in them. Publication in a decent peer reviewed journal is definitely a plus and also how strong your recommendation letters are and are from whom. With all this being said, I understand that your application will not depend solely on your GPA but the entire package of GPA, GRE, TOEFL, SOP, Recommendation letters, Research experience and most importantly how much aligned you are to the research interests of the faculty members of the department you are applying to.

Basically, I think your experience is outstanding enough. And your LOR might appeal compelling among the applicants. I'm not an experienced expert of grad school admissions, but, I'm sure that you will not be automatically rejected just for your GRE scores. Though I think you can grab better choices if you get more than 165 for Q. But you know what? Quite many schools are waiving submission of GRE scores for applicants these days, so why not apply? Let's give it a shot!!

Hi! Any news from UNC Biostatistics? I have not heard back anything informative from them only the generic, "Applications are still under review and hope to be completed soon".