Data Scientist

This opening is for individuals who love working with data and want to use their data science skills to help BMC and VA researchers conduct high-impact research that expands our understanding of human health and improves healthcare outcomes for underserved populations. You will join a strong, collegial, diverse, and talented team of computer scientists, statisticians, and clinicians at the BMC in collaboration with the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center at the Veterans Administration Boston.

Data Scientist, Hematology/Oncology

Location: Boston, MA

Schedule: 40 hours per week

About BMC

At Boston Medical Center (BMC), our diverse staff works together for one goal — to provide exceptional and equitable care to improve the health of the people of Boston. Our bold vision to transform health care is powered by our respect for our patients and our commitment to ensure everyone who comes through our doors has a positive experience.

As one of the top places to work in health care, we know that providing exceptional care for patients begins with caring for our staff. That’s why you’ll find a supportive work environment at BMC, with rich opportunities throughout your career for training, development, and growth and where you’ll have the tools you need to take charge of your own practice environment.

There’s never been a better or more exciting time to join our BMC community and help us continue to carry out our mission of delivering exceptional and equitable care to all.

Position Summary

Our health system is undergoing major transformation as payment models align toward accountable care arrangements that reward higher quality, more efficient care delivery. At the core of this transformation is our ability to work with data to understand who our patients are, identify who needs special intervention, and target clinical programs that will drive better health outcomes for our patients.

The VA has the largest integrated medical records database in the United States, with comprehensive clinical information on over 22 million patients (2 trillion+ rows, 22,000+ columns of data), including large amounts of both structured and unstructured data. The VA also has large databases of genomic and imaging data. Working with our group at the VA offers the opportunity to execute high-impact projects with large-scale real-world healthcare data that is unavailable at most other institutions.

The Data Scientist will play a key role on this collaborative team, leading analyses that will guide strategy, investigate performance drivers, and shape the future of our health system. This role is an opportunity to apply cutting edge data science techniques to healthcare data to improve the quality and efficiency of the health care system. This role is ideal for data scientists who have built a superior technical and analytic foundation, and who are looking to grow capabilities in strategic thinking, project management, stakeholder management, and presenting.

Key Project

Artificial intelligence/machine learning-based risk prediction modeling guiding individualized interventions to improve outcomes for underserved patients with multiple myeloma. In this project, we seek to integrate social determinants of health into an AI/ML-based predictive model of a composite outcome that measures disparities in care to enable more precise risk stratification among patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma compared to existing models. The proposed work is a key step toward this goal because it will enable us to accurately identify patients at the highest risk of suboptimal treatment so that we can employ interventions that promote healthcare equity. Our long-term goal is to reduce health disparities and improve outcomes in multiple myeloma care through targeted interventions for at-risk individuals.

Job Responsibilities

• Use advanced data analysis methods (from machine learning, artificial intelligence, applied statistics, etc.) to assist in building predictive models of healthcare outcomes and collaborate across the health system to ensure that assumptions and methodologies are consistent.
• Develop models to assess the impact of clinical or service interventions on key outcomes (e.g., utilization, medical outcomes) by key populations. Understand health system data sources and support the data architecture team to ensure that data is clean, normalized, and accurate.
• Extract, clean, and validate data in preparation for analysis, starting from raw data in a large relational database. Carry out exploratory analysis and data visualization and summarize analysis results.
• Collaborate with a range of researchers, including clinicians, computer scientists, and statisticians to design and execute analyses. Assist in developing improved data science methodology in relation to healthcare data.

Other Responsibilities

• Assist in publishing papers on our findings, systems, and methodology.
• Mentor, train, and onboard new analysts to the team.
• Establish credibility and trust in data integrity and accuracy across internal and external stakeholders.
• Manage multiple analyses simultaneously while meeting key deadlines and deliverables, and prioritizing time and resources. Identify and elevate key obstacles for intervention that may jeopardize timelines.

Qualifications

Job Requirements

• Undergraduate or graduate degree in a relevant field (computer science, statistics, informatics, physics, computational biology, etc.).
• Proficiency in programming with R and/or Python to carry out data analysis in large and complex datasets.
• Experience working with relational databases using SQL or willingness to learn.
• Ability to move projects forward independently with moderate support.
• Ability to work effectively in multi-disciplinary teams.
• Passion for advancing healthcare research through creative use of data.
• Strong communication and collaborative research skills required.
• Experience using version control and reproducible research (git, knitr, etc.) is preferred.
• Experience with electronic medical record data or clinical databases preferred.

Job Benefits

• Competitive pay.
• Tuition reimbursement and tuition remission programs.
• Highly subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance options.
• Collaborative Team: Become an integral part of our dynamic team of dedicated researchers and scientists united by a shared commitment to making significant contributions in our field.
• Professional Development: Access a wealth of ongoing training and development opportunities that will not only enhance your skills but also expand your knowledge base.
• Pioneering Research: Engage in groundbreaking research projects that are driving the forefront of biomedical science.

About The Department

As the primary teaching hospital for Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and BU schools of public health and dentistry, intellectual rigor shapes our inquiries. Our research is led by a belief that skin color, zip code, and financial circumstances shouldn’t dictate health.

Boston Medical Center is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. If you need accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an e-mail to or call 617-638-8582 to let us know the nature of your request.