Associate Director of Biostatistics

Department
BSD MED - Infectious Diseases - Chicago Center HIV Elimination - Data Analysts Administration

About the Department
The Chicago Center of HIV Elimination, embedded within the University of Chicago's main campus in Hyde Park, is located in Chicago's HIV epicenter. Of the 20 neighborhoods in the city with high annual HIV diagnosis rates (greater than 40 per 100,000), 13 of them are no more than eight miles from the University of Chicago. This area includes 4 of the 6 communities with the highest annual diagnosis rates in the city (Washington Park, West Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing and South Shore). Our position within the hardest hit neighborhoods in Chicago provides unique opportunities to advance HIV testing and prevention interventions locally, providing tangible results to those most affected and to improve the lives of those living with and without HIV infection.


CCHE seeks to eliminate new HIV transmission events by using network science to target and integrate prevention as well as create structural and community-specific interventions.

Job Summary
The Associate Director of Biostatistics will be responsible for analyzing cutting-edge bio-behavioral health and network epidemiological data, developing collaborative relationships within and outside of CCHE, and managing analysts, contractors, and students. The candidate will assist with the implementation of protocols, development of strategic goals and support creating a diverse funding research portfolio. The position is under the direct supervision of Dr. Anna Hotton, Research Associate Professor.

CCHE works with black sexual and gender minorities living on the South side of Chicago. This candidate will actively pursue required knowledge and skills for professional development in regards to the aforementioned population.


This position is grant funded.

Responsibilities

• With the guidance of the Director of Biostatistics and Computational Modeling, help oversee budgeting, personnel management, and project management and develop and implement effective strategies, monitor progress, and make adjustments as necessary.
• Collaborate across teams and contribute to protocol development, analysis planning, interpretation of results, and preparation of regulatory submissions.
• Provide supervision, technical guidance and mentorship to junior and senior data analysts, statisticians, contractors/temp employees, and students.
• Work with CCHE investigators to identify appropriate statistical methods to address research hypotheses and conducting statistical analyses accordingly.
• Oversee the creation of analytic datasets by merging, cleaning, and coding data from multiple sources, including behavioral surveys, electronic health records, and public health surveillance.
• Document source code and data management and analysis procedures.
• Prepare tables and figures for manuscripts, abstracts, and other scientific publications.
• Develop statistical sections of data management plans, protocols, statistical analysis plans, and key specifications for statistical programming implementation.
• Contribute to the writing of statistical methods sections for manuscripts and other publications, with opportunities for authorship available.
• Present results of statistical analyses to researchers, colleagues, and funders, including formal presentations at conferences.
• Participate in regular meetings with CCHE research staff and data analysts to discuss proposed analyses, share code and analytic approaches, and discuss data and/or methodological challenges as they arise.
• Provide assistance with power calculations and proposed analytic strategies for new grant proposals.
• Provide critical methodological evaluation of newly proposed research designs and suggest design improvements and statistical analysis plans.
• Contribute to the growth of the Biostatistics team; participate in hiring and strategic planning decisions.
• Provide administrative support for data sharing protocols and regulatory approvals.
• Develop protocols for ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements for data collection, sharing, and analysis.
• Support staff development by facilitating workshops, trainings and continuing education activities.
• Work with CCHE leadership to identify new opportunities for collaboration within and outside the Center.
• Identify opportunities and contribute to proposals for funding support for the Biostatistics team.
• Collaborate with CCHE Research and Service teams to facilitate use of best practices for data collection, sharing, and analysis across the Center.
• Train new hires on protocols for data storage, management, and analysis.
• Complete time approval and administrative oversight in Workday.
• Improves development of training, tools, and process documentation.
• Leads implementation or modification of existing web-based bioinformatics tools.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Advanced degree in statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, public health or any other related quantitative discipline.

Experience:

• Experience with personnel management, project management and protocol development in an academic research setting.
• Experience maintaining and documenting source code for reproducibility of research.
• Experience in one or more of the following areas, including HIV/STI prevention research, epidemiologic study design, network analysis, public health surveillance, and/or clinical and social science research methods.
• Experience working with longitudinal data, network data, or other clustered data structures.
• Experience with manipulation of large databases and consolidation and synthesis of data from multiple sources.

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Applications, including but not limited to Outlook, Excel, Access and Word.
• Proficiency with one or more statistical analysis software packages, such as SAS, Stata, or R for data management and statistical analysis.
• Knowledge of high-performance computing systems, Git and version control systems, and/or experience with Unix/Linux systems.

Preferred Competencies

• Strong analytical skills.
• Ability to provide written descriptions of analytic methods for grant applications and scientific manuscripts.
• Ability to adhere to protocols for maintaining confidentiality of protected health information, and work with sensitive information (HIV/STI testing data).
• Meticulous attention to detail and excellent organizational skills.
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously, set priorities, and meet deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills, including ability to communicate results from complex statistical analyses to a non-technical audience.
• Flexibility, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to collaborate with colleagues from diverse academic and professional backgrounds.
• Ability to identify and expand knowledge of new software and analytic tools to support evolving Center needs.
• Strong relationship and team management skills including ability to adapt communication style, content, timing and tone to principal investigators, staff and/or stakeholder needs.
• Ability with leading meetings and guiding other organization members.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
• Cover Letter (required)

The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family
Research

Role Impact
Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours
40

Drug Test Required
No

Health Screen Required
No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No

Pay Rate Type
Salary

FLSA Status
Exempt

Pay Range
$100,000.00 - $150,000.00
The included pay rate or range represents the University's good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible
Yes
The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call View phone number on click.appcast.io or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

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