ABOUT CRITICAL PATH INSTITUTE (C-Path)

Critical Path Institute (C-Path) is a nonprofit engaged in the creation of partnerships and innovative processes that improve human health by reducing the time, cost, and risk in developing and approving new therapies. For over ten years, we have partnered with industry and academic experts to advance technologies across the spectrum of medical product development from research to regulatory approval. As a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering collaboration and promoting data sharing in the precompetitive space, C-Path has been at the forefront of numerous advances designed to get new treatments to patients quicker. Our continuing success is made possible by a combination of public and private support from those who share our vision to accelerate a path to a healthier world.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Data Collaboration Center (DCC) of Critical Path Institute (C-Path) is looking for an Associate Director of Data Science to help manage our DCC Program. C-Path is an independent nonprofit, public-private partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created under the auspices of the FDA's Critical Path Initiative program in 2005. Our mission is to be catalyst for innovation that accelerates the path to a healthier world. The ideal candidate is an experienced data scientist who enjoys strategic thinking and project management as much as data science and is interested in a leadership position. The DCC serves the full C-Path organization with data management and curation services, infrastructure development, and data science services. Key activities of the Data Science Team are the planning and development of cutting-edge data curation workflows for clinical, registry, and real-world data; providing requirements and testing support for our data platform team; database, ontology, and knowledge graph development; and data analytics services for C-Path consortia. C-Path continues to work with traditional structured data such as clinical trials and patient registries, but is expanding into electronic health records, digital device data, other data types which may include imaging and genomic data.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

This position currently does not supervise personnel but may in the future.

CORE DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

The Associate Director will work closely with the Executive Director of Data Science in all aspect of Data Science Team leadership while conducting data science related to FAIR data processes. Because the core responsibilities of the DCC are data management and infrastructure, our data science work revolves around maximizing the value of data contributed to and reused by C-Path, while protecting patient privacy. The exact data science activities of this position will be determined based on the skills and experience of the person hired but will at a minimum include developing standards- and ontology-based data management workflows in R and Python. During the first year of employment, the primary focus will be the development of our Rare Disease Cures Accelerators Data and Analytics Platform (RDCA-DAP), but the Associate Director will become more involved in other C-Path project over time. Other duties include attending and/or organizing project or team specific meetings; contributing to monthly, quarterly, and annual reports; contributing to funding proposals; supervising and mentoring Data Science Team members; and promoting Data Science activities such as RDCA-DAP both internally and at national and international meeting. Some travel will be required. Applications from individuals from under-represented groups in STEM are especially encouraged, and professional development will be provided for the right candidate.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Required:

• Excellent written and spoken communication and presentation skills
• Data science skills including data management, statistics, and data analysis
• Knowledge of data standards and models, ideally in health care (e.g., OMOP, SNOMED, LOINC, CDISC)
• Familiarity with cloud data hosting and computational infrastructure (e.g., Azure, AWS)
• Highly organized and flexible, willing to grow professionally and learn new skills
• Comfortable in at least one coding language, preferably Python or R
• Comfortable using online collaboration tools (e.g., Teams, Slack, Miro, Monday.com)
• Strong interdisciplinary collaboration skills
• Commitment to open science and data sharing

Preferred:

• Personnel management and team leadership skills including scheduling, performance review, mentorship, and strategic planning
• OWL ontology development, curation, and use
• Knowledge of RDF and SPARQL and tools for working with them
• Relational database development and SQL
• Specialized skills in a specific big-data type such as EHR, imaging, genomics, digital device data

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Education:

• A Master's degree in a biological, computational, or medical discipline is required. A Ph.D. is preferred.

Required experience:

• At least five years data science experience with tasks such as data cleaning and processing, data management, statistical analysis, bioinformatics, AI/ML/NLP, data analysis, ontology development, or image processing
• Leadership, including, project leadership, thought leadership, and personnel leadership
• At least three years working with life-sciences related data, ideally clinical health care or research data

Preferred experience:

• Working with OMOP CDM, CDISC SDTM, or FHIR
• Community standards or community ontology development
• Familiarity with OBO Foundry and large public biomedical ontologies
• Publication of first-authored, peer-reviewed papers
• Proposal preparation (e.g., for NIH, FDA, DOE, NSF)

Critical Path Institute is an equal opportunity employer. Visit our website at www.c-path.org

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work only. They are not an exhaustive list of all required responsibilities, duties, and skills. Other duties ay be added, or this description amended at any time.

Covid-19

In accordance with the Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, C-Path has adopted a policy to comply with this requirement all C-Path employees must vaccinated to safeguard the health of our employees and their families; our customers and visitors; and the community at large from COVID-19.

Reasonable Accommodation:

Newly hired employees in need of an exemption from this policy due to a medical reason or because of a sincerely held religious belief must submit a completed request for accommodation form to the human resources department to begin the interactive accommodation process as soon as possible. Accommodations will be granted where they do not cause C-Path undue hardship or pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others. Please direct any questions regarding this policy to the human resources department.