Research Data Scientist

GEMINI (www.geminimedicine.ca) is a unique big data platform in the Canadian healthcare landscape using advanced methods and analytics to extract and standardize data captured in hospital electronic health records. GEMINI currently holds data on all medical and ICU inpatients from 35+ ON hospitals, linking structured administrative data to detailed clinical data extracted from electronic health record systems. GEMINI data are stored on a high performance computing environment and are used by a large community of clinicians, scientists, and students for observational research, quality improvement, and artificial intelligence applications. GEMINI is a platform for Ontario hospitals to accelerate research and quality improvement, leading to excellent hospital care.

The GEMINI Research Team is currently looking for aResearch Data Scientist.This is a full-time one-year position integrated within the GEMINI Research Team, working closely with a dynamic team of Scientific Advisors and Clinician-Researchers.

The Research Data Scientist will provide expertise to research projects in a broad range of clinical areas. Often in tandem with a Scientific Advisor and Clinician-Researcher, the Research Data Scientist will participate in shaping study designs and analysis plans, implementing the analyses in R, and working iteratively with collaborators to generate research-ready results. The Research Data Scientist should have a strong working knowledge of applied biostatistics and/or clinical epidemiology and have advanced statistical programming skills. The Research Data Scientist will support a variety of strategically important work streams as needed.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that people in underrepresented communities are less likely to apply to jobs when they don’t meet every single qualification. We are dedicated to building an inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, we still welcome you to apply.

Duties/Responsibilities

Due to variable nature of position, this list is to be used as a guide only.

Data analyses, statistical modeling and machine learning (50%)

Carry out data analyses to address defined research questions or project objectives.

Apply common statistical modelling and machine learning methods to support inferential and predictive analyses, including regression modeling, survival analysis, time series analysis, causal inference methods, supervised and unsupervised learning.

Understand specific assumptions and interpretations of different statistical models, and identify approaches that appropriately align with the research objectives and data structure.

Develop and validate prediction tools based on a strong working understanding of overfitting, data leakage, model evaluation, transportability, and model comparison.

Familiarity with traditional natural language processing methods to unstructured text data, (bag-of-words, topic modeling, embedding) and more modern methods (e.g., large language models).

Synthesize and interpret results, maintain reproducible and well-structured code, prepare clear analytic outputs for review, including graphs, tables, written interpretations, for incorporation into reports/presentations/manuscripts.

Maintain well-documented and reproducible analytic workflows, including clear documentation of analytic decisions, model details, code annotation and script iterations using appropriate commenting and version control, such as Git.

Data exploration, preparation and visualization (30%)

Ensure adequate quality control by setting standards, monitor results and institute appropriate steps for data cleaning, consistency checks and other data quality control measures prior to analysis.

Pre-process data to prepare for analysis. This includes cleaning and merging data from multiple sources, as well as understanding overall data quality.

Perform exploratory and descriptive analysis to characterize study populations and assess data suitability for planned analyses.

Validate output tables, listings or figures generated to ensure accuracy and reliability of analyses.

Design and develop dashboard and reports with interactive visualizations using libraries such as Highcharts, Plotly, etc.

Produce high quality ad hoc and standardized reports (HTML/PDF/Microsoft Word), customized per project, tailored to different end users (e.g. clinicians, senior management and hospital executives).

Develop robust, reproducible functions to support consistent variable derivation across projects.

Develop efficient programs, algorithms or systems to reduce programing time of standardized data analyses and reports.

Maintain data documentation, physical and logical storage of scripts, records and master archive lists.

Develop project analytic plans outlining key components of analytical approaches (10%)

Work closely with researchers to establish coding techniques, structure of dataset for studies and develop sound analytical plans.

Work closely with members of Research Team and Data Team to scope feasibility and troubleshoot potential known issues.

Provide on-demand methodological and analytic consultation for ad hoc requests, and recommend appropriate data science approaches to meet researchers’ needs.

Meet regularly with the project team to provide updates on project status and present results.

Understand data requirements based on stated project goals.

Integrate with the other Data Scientists at GEMINI to develop multi-disciplinary analytic approaches, and assist in best practices and process development. This includes participation in a large shared codebase.

Communication and dissemination of results (10%)

Write data reports containing the results of analyses

Prepare presentations and manuscripts for different audiences

Provide recommendations for analytical approaches

Provide recommendations based on results of analyses and project objectives

Construct elegant visualizations and dashboards to communicate findings/output

Communicate methodological limitations, uncertainties, and code/data issues to senior staff in a transparent and constructive manner

Performs Cross Functional and Other Duties as Assigned and/or Requested

All staff are expected to carry out their assigned duties and responsibilities in a manner which prioritizes patient and employee safety, and confidentiality. Key accountabilities in this regard include:

Strict compliance with patient/employee confidentiality practices and policies.

Strict compliance with patient/employee safety practices and standards.

Appropriate identification, reporting and response to patient/employee confidentiality breaches in accordance with established policies and procedures.

Appropriate identification, reporting and response to patient/employee safety risks and incidents/events in accordance with established policies and procedures.

Qualifications:

Master’s degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, statistics, mathematics, computer science, or a related quantitative field.

At least 1 year of professional data science experience OR demonstrable equivalent combination of at least 2 years of work experience and specialized training.

Expert level programming with R (preferred), and/or Python, with working knowledge of SQL.

Demonstrated experience conducting statistical analyses in applied health research settings.

Demonstrated ability to critically appraise proposed analysis plans and evaluate their consistency with the proposed research question.

Understanding of study design principles and interpretation of observational data.

Experience working with large healthcare datasets within database or high performance computing environmentsand familiarity with reproducible research practices, is preferred.

Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to work independently and effectively collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.

Unity Health Toronto is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive organization. We strive to provide a recruitment process that is barrier-free and in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Ontario Human Rights Code. We understand that you may require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process. When you are contacted, please inform the Talent Acquisition Specialist and we will work with you to meet your accommodation needs. We want to emphasize that all accommodation requests are handled with the utmost confidentiality, respecting your privacy and dignity.