Postdoctoral Research Associate, Biomedical Informatics

The laboratory of Michael Hammer in the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona are seeking a Postdoctoral fellow for a full-time, one-three year fellowship in biomedical informatics or health informatics. The laboratory focuses on cutting-edge research at the intersection of pediatric rare disease and biomedical informatics. The project involves 1) data analysis involving an established longitudinal registry of patients with a rare pediatric epilepsy, 2) developing and applying statistical and analysis methods to medical, developmental, and genetic data for biomedical discovery, and 3) analysis aimed at precision health (early detection, classification, and prediction of future outcomes).

The Postdoctoral Fellow ("postdoc") will oversee the clinical and operational management of the International SCN8A Registry ("Registry") and its associated data, ensuring data quality and compliance with research protocols. The Registry is an online caregiver-reported database initiated in 2014 that tracks the natural history of a severe pediatric epilepsy syndrome with diverse clinical manifestations. Now with over 500 international participants, the Registry is the definitive resource for SCN8A research, having already resulted in over 15 peer-reviewed publications and serving as an exemplary model for the rare disease community. The comprehensive survey is accessible to participating families on REDCap and is structured into 15 modules capturing the medical, genetic, developmental, treatment and seizure history of each subject. It also features and an annual update and the collection of longitudinal data for individual patients. Registry Drives take place each year to recruit additional families and to remind those that have already participated to update their profiles.

The postdoc will work in collaboration with the Principal Investigator and oversee management of all Registry operations, including development of study procedures and protocols, managing and cleaning data, coordinating IRB activities, generating database reports, performing data analyses, and preparing manuscripts. The postdoc will also oversee production of infographics explaining the "science" to the lay person and discoveries emerging from caregiver-reported data at the level of the entire cohort, and visualization of individual patient profiles. Most will projects involve computational and statistical expertise (coding, data manipulation and visualization, machine learning protocols).

The postdoctoral fellow will curate and perform analyses of registry data and patient surveys, as well as heterogeneous datasets, which may include electronic health records, unstructured clinical notes. We are seeking candidates interested in methods to classify patients within a rare disease spectrum, predict patients at high risk for adverse outcomes, to identify treatment strategies that are best for different subgroups, and to implement evidence at the point of care to guide clinical decisions.

The BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona brings together world-class researchers and innovators from five core disciplines - agriculture, engineering, medicine, pharmacy and science - to collaborate for the purpose of solving today's most complex and critical problems, including:

• How to prevent, treat and ultimately cure diseases that affect millions of people worldwide
• How to address the growing environmental concerns threatening our planet
• How to ensure food security and nourish an expanding global population

This position is available immediately, schedule and geographic location are flexible, part-time or full-time

Outstanding U of A benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; U of A/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; access to U of A recreation and cultural activities; and more!

The University of Arizona has been recognized for our innovative work-life programs. For more information about working at the University of Arizona and relocations services, please click here.

• Becomes
  an active member of the lab that works independently in medical
  informatics research under the guidance of Michael Hammer.
• Designs,
  implements, and evaluates analytical methods and information systems that
  collect, manage, and analyze data relevant to describing disease spectrum,
  associations among disease features and genotype-phenotype correlations,
  and disease outcomes.
• Maintains REDCap database up-to-date and provide reports when requested.
• Evaluates and cleans data, create analytic datasets and keep appropriate records of all research activities.
• Stays current with the scientific literature, participate in scientific discussions with other members of the lab and department, and attend mandatory lab meetings.
• Works
  on multiple aspects of research projects to develop skills as an
  independent researcher.
• Supervise students collaborating in lab.
• Develop
  relevant social media content to provide condition awareness and
  recruitment.
• Produces
  multiple scientific abstracts, manuscripts, and research proposals as well
  as present at local Work-in-Progress sessions, national symposia, and
  international scientific conferences related to their research.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

• Ability to work in a highly collaborative environment.
• Ability to successfully interact with a various team members, including clinicians, researchers, IT staff, families, and scientist across domains.

• A
  terminal degree (e.g., PhD, DrPH, or MD) with a focus on biomedical
  science, epidemiology, information science, informatics, computer science,
  or pediatric research.
• Strong
  computational and quantitative capabilities, including ability to program
  in R, Python, etc., and to design and execute an analysis of heterogeneous
  medical, developmental and genetic data.
• Strong
  communication and collaboration skills required for working/coordinating
  with investigators, staff, supervisors, and project personnel across one
  or more systems.

• Experience with REDCap, registry data, health data, laboratory data, electronic health records, biomedical informatics standards.
• Working kowledge or direct experience in SCN8A-related disorders.
• Experience in machine learning or natural language processing.
• Database experience, preferably experience in SQL.