Data Scientist

The CDC Foundation helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) save and improve lives by unleashing the power of collaboration between CDC, philanthropies, corporations, organizations and individuals to protect the health, safety and security of America and the world. The CDC Foundation is the go-to nonprofit authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners and private-sector resources to support CDC’s critical health protection mission. Since 1995, the CDC Foundation has raised over $1.9 billion and launched more than 1,300 programs impacting a variety of health threats from chronic disease conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer, to infectious diseases like rotavirus and HIV, to emergency responses, including COVID-19 and Ebola. The CDC Foundation managed hundreds of programs in the United States and in more than 90 countries last year. Visit www.cdcfoundation.org for more information.

Job Highlights

Location: Remote, must be based in the United States

Salary Range: $92,700-$134,275 per year, plus benefits. Individual salary offers will be based on experience and qualifications unique to each candidate.

Position Type: Grant funded, limited-term opportunity

Position End Date: June 30, 2025

Overview

The Data Scientist will play a crucial role in advancing the CDC Foundation’s mission by leveraging data to inform strategic decisions and initiatives in a public health organization. This role is aligned to the Workforce Acceleration Initiative (WAI). WAI is a federally funded CDC Foundation program with the goal of helping the nation’s public health agencies by providing them with the technology and data experts they need to accelerate their information system improvements.

Working within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Public Health Administration (PHA), the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Public Health Administration (PHA), the Data Scientist will utilize advanced analytics, statistical techniques, and innovative data science approaches (such as machine learning algorithms) to derive insights from the implementation and use of Admission, Discharge, Transfer (ADT) messages for public health use. Activities may include supporting the State of Michigan (SOM) centralized information technology (IT) owner in design and implementation of a decoupled ADT data environment, pilot projects demonstrating increased interoperability between existing public health technology environments and supporting ADT data quality improvement initiatives. These efforts will require engagement across MDHHS and local public health, with the SOM centralized IT owner, with the state health information exchange (HIE) entity (MiHIN), and other internal and external public health partners. These efforts will ultimately enable cross-domain use for MDHHS and local health department public health practitioners, improved ADT data quality, and furthering MDHHS’s ability to develop new public health insights through de-siloed data access. Work activities will be adjusted for the timeline of the position.

The Data Scientist will be hired by the CDC Foundation and assigned to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Administration. This position is eligible for a fully remote work arrangement for U.S. based candidates.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and improve data analysis and visualization tools for use by organization staff, to provide timely, relevant information that informs decisions affecting public health’s use of ADT message data.
• Analyze diverse datasets related to public health issues to identify trends, patterns, and correlations.
• Apply statistical methods and machine learning algorithms to extract actionable insights.
• Identify data quality improvement opportunities remediation approaches.
• Create compelling visualizations and reports to communicate findings to partners and decision-makers.
• Create and Present data-driven insights in a clear and understandable manner to facilitate informed decision-making.
• Collaborate with MDHHS PHA and its partners to understand their data needs and objectives.
• Serve as trusted advisor to MDHHS PHA business areas on best practices for the application of ADT message data for public health use.
• Serve as thought leader to SOM centralized IT owner on the design and development of a decoupled ADT data solution for public health use.
• Provide data-driven support and guidance to inform public health policies and initiatives.
• Stay abreast of emerging trends, technologies, and methodologies in data science and analytics.
• Explore innovative approaches to address complex public health challenges and improve data analysis capabilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Data Science, Statistics, Epidemiology, Health Informatics, or related field. Master’s or PhD in related field preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Experience in assessing data quality across large datasets.
• Experience in interpreting complex datasets and derive meaningful insights.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to convey technical concepts to non-technical partners and communicate public health concepts to technical focused audiences effectively.
• Flexibility to adapt to evolving project requirements and priorities.
• Experience in developing and implementing educational or training materials in support of building sustainable technological capabilities.
• Outstanding interpersonal and teamwork skills; collegial; energetic; and able to develop productive relationships with colleagues, partners, and partners.
• Demonstrated ability to work well independently and within teams
• Experience working in a virtual environment with remote partners and teams
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Proficiency in programing languages such as Python or R strongly preferred.
• Experience with data manipulation and analysis tools (e.g., SQL, Pandas, NumPy) strongly preferred.
• Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of machine learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, Scikit-learn) strongly preferred.

Special Notes

This role is involved in a dynamic public health program. As such, roles and responsibilities are subject to change as situations evolve. Roles and responsibilities listed above may be expanded upon or updated to match priorities and needs, once written approval is received by the CDC Foundation in order to best support the public health programming.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, mental or physical disabilities, veteran status, and all other characteristics protected by law.

We comply with all applicable laws including E.O. 11246 and the Vietnam Era Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 governing employment practices and do not discriminate on the basis of any unlawful criteria in accordance with 41 C.F.R. §§ 60-300.5(a)(12) and 60-741.5(a)(7). As a federal government contractor, we take affirmative action on behalf of protected veterans.

The CDC Foundation is a smoke-free environment.

Relocation expenses are not included.