Careers

Description:

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington. Its mission is to monitor global health conditions and health systems, as well as to evaluate interventions, initiatives, and reforms. IHME carries out a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Costs and Cost Effectiveness; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. The aim is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base to make decisions that achieve better health.

IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which is cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.

IHME has an excellent opportunity for a Temporary Researcher to join our Neonatal and Child Health (NCH) research team. IHME researchers analyze and produce key estimates for their assigned research team and will assess all available quantitative data – including those on causes of death, epidemiology, and a range of determinants such as education and income – from surveys, vital registration, censuses, literature, registries, and administrative records. Using established modeling tools and through creation of novel code, researchers incorporate all relevant data to produce the most up-to-date and scientifically credible results.

You will be integrally involved in producing, critiquing, improving, and disseminating results. You already have a command of epidemiology, statistics, disease modeling, or related interests, and we will help you develop an understanding of our core research and methodology. Our researchers work with senior research leads and external collaborators and take part in the intellectual exchange about how to improve upon and disseminate the results.

You are expected to interact successfully with a wide range of partners and to describe complex concepts and materials concisely. Overall, Researchers are critical members of agile, dynamic research teams. This position is contingent on project funding availability.

Responsibilities:

• Develop a core understanding of methodology to produce neonatal and child health indicators and their related covariates and risks, the analytic strategy that accompanies them, and their components.

• Under the guidance of experienced scientist and/or faculty, carry out quantitative analyses and statistical modeling to produce results designated on a given timeline as part of collaborative research projects.

• Extract data from various sources and databases. Format, transform, review, and assess data sources to determine their relevance and utility for ongoing analysis. Understand key data sources and variations in these across and within countries.

• Develop and execute improvements to the analytic strategies and accompanying code that increase the relevance, quality, and use of results by external stakeholders while also improving code performance, diagnostics, and predictability or run-times.

• Review, assess, and improve results and methods.

• Consult with external collaborators and key stakeholders to resolve differences in competing sets of estimates, jointly understand and explain analytic approaches, and review and respond to recommendations for analytic modifications, new data, and ways of representing the results.

• Apply computational and statistical tools and algorithms for the preprocessing, analysis, and visualization of source data.

• Document code and analytic approaches systematically so that analyses can be replicated by other team members.

• Lead discussion in research meetings about results and analyses to vet, improve, and finalize results.

• Contribute to creation of presentations, manuscripts, and funding proposals. Co-author paper(s).

• Maintain scientific awareness and intellectual agility with data, methods, and analytic techniques.

• Other duties as assigned that fall within reasonable scope of research team.

Requirements:

Minimum

• Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, statistics, biostatistics, math, economics, quantitative social sciences, or related discipline plus 1 year related experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Demonstrated experience in population health methods or other applicable statistical analyses using large datasets, and ability to understand and explain the scientific underpinnings of those methods.

• Demonstrated research experience in neonatal and child health, related risk factors, and effects on population health, including proficiency with neonatal and child health disease registries, population health surveys, and related data sources.

• Proven experience in programming in R, including developing new code, troubleshooting existing code, adapting to new computing environment requirements, and effectively managing large datasets.

• Proven experience with generating static and dynamic data visualizations using Tableau, Shiny, or Plotly, including utilizing shape files for mapmaking.

• Demonstrated familiarity working with the Global Burden of Disease framework, including its conceptual basis, inputs, outputs, and metrics, and ability to apply that knowledge in generating new models to fit the framework and completing secondary analyses of GBD findings.

• Strong analytic, critical thinking, and quantitative skills.

• Ability to professionally and effectively communicate and work with other staff at all levels in order to achieve team goals for the analyses and related outputs.

• Results- and detail-oriented individual who can initiate and complete tasks under tight deadlines and changing priorities.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

• Ability to work both independently and in collaboration with a team.

• A long-term interest in a research scientist position contributing to the overall mission of our research.

Desired

• Experience coding with Python and Stata.

• Track record of success in co-authorship on scientific papers, presenting results, and representing research at conferences and other national and international meetings.

• Experience in clinical and public health aspects of neonatology, pregnancy complications, brain development, and early childhood intellectual development