Data Scientist Assistant I (Powers Lab )

at  Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of diverse individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your diversity of culture, thinking, learning, and leading is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

JOB SUMMARY:

Data Scientists perform detailed analyses of large bodies of heterogeneous data to discover new patterns and insights that impact patient health or augment human capabilities. Data Scientists have deep expertise in the methods used to analyze data and deep knowledge of data types, topics, and scientific challenges and approaches that will be used to help inform and define new products, experiences, and technologies. This position works in conjunction with Data Science and Informatics faculty to provide technical thought leadership and works closely with Informatics and IT teams to create data and intelligence-driven systems to solve complex client problems.

DEPARTMENT SUMMARY

The Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism has a rich tradition of clinical, investigative and training excellence. With over 70 faculty and staff members, the division participates in a wide range of clinical programs and clinical and basic science research. Training the next generation of physicians and scientists is one of our main missions and involves programs in Endocrinology and Obesity Medicine, as well as funded T32 and T35 training programs.

RESEARCH SUMMARY

https://www.powersbrissovaresearch.org/.
About the Powers & Brissova Research Group
Pancreatic islets are highly specialized mini organs that regulate blood glucose by secreting insulin, glucagon, and other hormones in response to physiologic stimuli such as glucose. A deficiency or a dysfunction of the insulin-producing β cells of the islet is critical to the development of all forms of diabetes.
The Powers & Brissova group is working to understand and reverse β cell and islet abnormalities and dysfunction in diabetes. In our projects, we are studying the pathogenesis of human diabetes by conducting, translating, and integrating studies about the human pancreas and islet biology.
Our research team of scientists, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, medical students, undergraduate students, and research assistants has interdisciplinary collaborations with cell biologists, developmental biologists, biomedical engineers, geneticists, and bioinformaticians at Vanderbilt and around the world (Philadelphia, Palo Alto, New York, Alberta, Gainesville, Worcester, Austin, Denver, Chicago, Melbourne, Miami, Dresden, and Bar Harbor). We are part of the NIH-funded Human Islet Research Network (HIRN), the Human Pancreas Analysis Program (HPAP), the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), and the Multicenter Assessment of the Pancreas in Type 1 Diabetes (MAP-T1D).
The Powers & Brissova Research Group is part of the Diabetes Center, the Department of Medicine, and the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt. Our research is supported by the NIH/NIDDK, the Veterans Affairs (VA) Research program, and The Helmsley Charitable Trust.
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CORE ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Organizational Impact: Delivers job responsibilities that impact own job area/team with some guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Uses existing procedures, research and analysis to solve standard job related problems that may require some judgement. Breadth of Knowledge: Requires subject matter knowledge within a professional area to meet job requirements. Team Interaction: Individually contributes to project/ work teams.
Core Capabilities :
Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Continuously improves own skills by identifying development opportunities.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Seeks to understand colleagues priorities, working styles and develops relationships across areas. - Communicates Effectively: Openly shares information with others and communicates in a clear and courteous manner. Delivering Excellent Services: - Serves Others with Compassion: Invests time to understand the problems, needs of others and how to provide excellent service. - Solves Complex Problems: Seeks to understand issues, solves routine problems, and raises proper concerns to supervisors in a timely manner. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Listens carefully to understand the issues and provides accurate information and support. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Checks work quality before delivery and asks relevant questions to meet quality standards.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Shows eagerness to learn new knowledge, technologies, tools or systems and displays willingness to go above and beyond. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Demonstrates basic knowledge of conditions that affect safety and reports unsafe conditions to the appropriate person or department. Managing Resources Effectively :- Demonstrates Accountability: Takes responsibility for completing assigned activities and thinks beyond standard approaches to provide high-quality work/service. - Stewards Organizational Resources: Displays understanding of how personal actions will impact departmental resources. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Uses accurate information and good decision making to consistently achieve results on time and without error. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Willingly proposes/accepts ideas or initiatives that will impact day-to-day operations by offering suggestions to enhance them.- Applies Technology: Absorbs new technology quickly; understands when to utilize the appropriate tools and procedures to ensure proper course of action. - Adapts to Change: Embraces changes by keeping an open mind to changing plans and incorporates change instructions into own area of work.

WORK EXPERIENCE :

Relevant Work Experience

EXPERIENCE LEVEL :

3 years

EDUCATION :

Master’s
Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. EOE/AA/Women/Minority/Vets/Disabled

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Participates in multidisciplinary teams to design, develop, and recommend new approaches for data-driven decision-making.
• Leads discovery processes on pioneering Artificial Intelligence (“AI")/Machine Learning (“ML”) based approaches to solve complex data problems across a variety of domains.
• Provides strategic direction regarding data science and AI in a specific area (e.g., cancer, surgery, planning services, marketing, healthcare delivery).
• Guides and educates data science teams to provide unbiased and accurate information, analysis, consultation, and recommendations to support strategic and operational data science initiatives.
• Develops analytics tools that can be used by other staff with non-technical expertise.
• In some positions, may work with enterprise executive leadership to advance digital strategy.
• Makes strategic recommendations on data collection, integration and retention requirements, incorporating business requirements and knowledge of best practices.
• Supports scientific projects under the supervision of a designated senior level data scientist or self-direction.
• Designs, develops, applies, and modifies scripts or software applications to support data management, extraction, and analysis.
• Provides consultative services and is responsible to gather, analyze, present findings to leadership.
  Our Academic Enterprise is one of the nation’s longest serving and most prestigious academic medical centers. Through its historic bond with Vanderbilt University and integral role in the School of Medicine, Vanderbilt Health cultivates distinguished research and educational programs to advance a clinical enterprise that provides compassionate and personalized care and support for millions of patients and family members each year.
  World-leading academic departments and comprehensive centers of excellence pursue scientific discoveries and transformational educational and clinical advances across the entire spectrum of health and disease.
  Aligning with Vanderbilt Health’s Strategic Directions , the Office of Research provides shared research resources, administrative expertise and professional guidance to enable the trans-disciplinary environment and highly collaborative culture that advances discovery and training for all the research faculty, trainees, students and staff.