Data Scientist

The CDC Foundation helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) save and improve lives by unleashing the power of collaboration between CDC, philanthropies, corporations, organizations and individuals to protect the health, safety and security of America and the world. The CDC Foundation is the go-to nonprofit authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners and private-sector resources to support CDC’s critical health protection mission. Since 1995, the CDC Foundation has raised over$1.9billion and launched more than1,300programsimpacting a variety of health threats from chronic disease conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer, to infectious diseases like rotavirus and HIV, to emergency responses, including COVID-19 and Ebola. The CDC Foundation managed hundreds of programs in the United States and in more than90countries last year. Visit for more information.

Job Highlights

Location: Remote, must be based in the United States

Salary Range: $92,700-$134,275 per year, plus benefits. Individual salary offers will be based on experience and qualifications unique to each candidate.

Position Type: Grant funded, limited-term opportunity

Position End Date: June 30, 2025

Overview

The Data Scientist will play a crucial role in advancing the CDC Foundation's mission by leveraging data to inform strategic decisions and initiatives in a public health organization. This role is aligned to the Workforce Acceleration Initiative (WAI). WAI is a federally funded CDC Foundation program with the goal of helping the nation’s public health agencies by providing them with the technology and data experts they need to accelerate their information system improvements.

Working within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Public Health Administration (PHA), the Data Scientist will serve as a key Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) specification and integration subject matter expert. The incumbent serving in this role will represent MDHHS PHA business area FHIR needs and solution design requirements to the State of Michigan’s (SOM) centralized information technology (IT) owner. The incumbent will represent MDHHS PHA business areas in collaboration with SOM’s centralized IT owner and with the state health information exchange (HIE) entity (MiHIN) in the creation and execution of FHIR adoption-enabling artifacts, such as an MDHHS PHA-wide FHIR adoption roadmap, maturity modeling with benchmarking, and development of a FHIR adoption playbook informing MDHHS PHA business areas on specific FHIR-adoption paths that are based in best practice and responsive to SOM’s technology architecture and policy constraints. The incumbent will serve as a lead representing MDHHS PHA in national FHIR communities of practice and other workgroups. Actual work projects will be adjusted to time constraints of the position end-date.

The Data Scientist will be hired by the CDC Foundation and assigned to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Administration. This position is eligible for a fully remote work arrangement for U.S. based candidates.

• Work across MDHHS PHA business areas to synthesize and communicate key FHIR solution requirements in support of public health data modernization efforts.
• Represent MDHHS PHA business areas to SOM centralized IT owner in the promotion of FHIR solution design and development.
• Serve as key MDHHS PHA point of contact for all FHIR work including representation to SOM centralized IT owner and to national FHIR communities of practice and workgroups.
• Lead MDHHS PHA’s FHIR adoption planning efforts leading to long-term, sustainable adoption plans.
• Serve as trusted advisor to MDHHS PHA business areas on FHIR adoption best practices.
• Serve as thought leader to SOM centralized IT owner on FHIR solution design and development for public health use.
• Represent MDHHS PHA business areas to MiHIN for FHIR-based solution design planning and implementation.
• Analyze diverse datasets related to public health issues to inform opportunities for FHIR adoption, such as FHIR-based common data models, ontologies, and/or FHIR façades.
• Create and present data-driven insights in a clear and understandable manner to facilitate informed decision-making.
• Collaborate with MDHHS PHA and its partners to understand their data needs and objectives.
• Provide data-driven support and guidance to inform public health policies and initiatives.
• Stay abreast of emerging trends, technologies, and methodologies in data science and analytics.
• Explore innovative approaches to address complex public health challenges and improve data analysis capabilities.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Data Science, Statistics, Epidemiology, Health Informatics, or another related field. Master’s or PhD in related field preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional or equivalent experience
• Expertise in FHIR specifications, USCDI and USCDI+, HIE, and other semantic and transport standards and technologies supporting public health practice.
• Ability to lead development of maturity models, technology roadmaps, benchmarks, and best practice playbooks supporting technology adoption.
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to interpret complex datasets and derive meaningful insights.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to convey technical concepts to non-technical partners effectively.
• Flexibility to adapt to evolving project requirements and priorities.
• Outstanding interpersonal and teamwork skills; collegial; energetic; and able to develop productive relationships with colleagues, partners, and partners.
• Demonstrated ability to work well independently and within teams
• Experience working in a virtual environment with remote partners and teams
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python or R strongly preferred.
• Experience with data manipulation and analysis tools (e.g., SQL, Pandas, NumPy) strongly preferred.
• Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) strongly preferred.
• Experience in developing and implementing educational or training materials in support of building sustainable technological capabilities.

Special Notes

This role is involved in a dynamic public health program. As such, roles and responsibilities are subject to change as situations evolve. Roles and responsibilities listed above may be expanded upon or updated to match priorities and needs, once written approval is received by the CDC Foundation in order to best support the public health programming.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, mental or physical disabilities, veteran status, and all other characteristics protected by law.

We comply with all applicable laws including E.O. 11246 and the Vietnam Era Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 governing employment practices and do not discriminate on the basis of any unlawful criteria in accordance with 41 C.F.R. §§ 60-300.5(a)(12) and 60-741.5(a)(7). As a federal government contractor, we take affirmative action on behalf of protected veterans.

The CDC Foundation is a smoke-free environment.

Relocation expenses are not included.