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 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 is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness 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.

Organization:

Neurology Admin 20

Job Summary:

The Vanderbilt ALS Research Center (VARC) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is seeking a highly motivated and collaborative Data Analyst to support translational research programs focused on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and related neurodegenerative diseases.
This position offers a unique opportunity to work within a rapidly growing multidisciplinary research environment integrating clinical research, biospecimen collection, biomarker discovery, multi-omics data analysis, and precision medicine approaches. The successful candidate will work closely with clinicians, scientists, bioinformaticians, trainees, and research staff to support data-driven discovery efforts aimed at improving diagnosis, disease stratification, and therapeutic development for ALS and FTD.

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Position Summary
The Data Analyst will assist with the management, integration, analysis, and visualization of complex research datasets generated across multiple translational research studies and clinical programs. The position will support projects involving clinical metadata, longitudinal patient outcomes, genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and fluid biomarker datasets.
The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, highly organized, analytically driven, and comfortable working with large-scale human research datasets in a collaborative academic research setting.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Data Management and Integration

• Organize, curate, harmonize, and maintain large and complex clinical and research datasets from multiple ongoing studies and collaborations.
• Perform data cleaning, quality control, validation, and integrity assessments across multimodal datasets.
• Integrate clinical, molecular, biospecimen, and longitudinal patient data into standardized analytical frameworks.
• Assist with database organization, REDCap management, and biospecimen tracking systems.

Statistical Analysis and Computational Support

• Perform statistical analyses and exploratory data analyses using R, Python, SQL, and/or related analytical platforms.
• Support biomarker discovery, patient stratification, longitudinal modeling, and outcome association analyses.
• Assist investigators with study design, data interpretation, and preparation of analytical plans.
• Contribute to reproducible analytical workflows and pipeline development.

Data Visualization and Scientific Reporting

• Generate publication-quality figures, tables, dashboards, and graphical summaries for manuscripts, presentations, grant applications, and internal reports.
• Prepare analytical summaries for multidisciplinary research meetings and collaborative projects.
• Assist with generation of reports for regulatory, consortium, and funding requirements.

Research Collaboration

• Work closely with investigators, clinicians, laboratory personnel, trainees, and external collaborators across translational research projects.
• Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings and contribute to scientific discussions and project development.
• Support collaborative efforts across clinical, laboratory, and computational research teams.

Compliance and Data Security

• Ensure compliance with institutional policies, HIPAA regulations, IRB protocols, and NIH data-sharing requirements.
• Maintain secure handling of sensitive human subject and clinical research data.
• Contribute to documentation, data dictionaries, standard operating procedures, and workflow organization.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Data Science, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Epidemiology, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Public Health, or a related quantitative field.
• Experience with statistical programming and data analysis.
• Experience working with large datasets and relational databases.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team environment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience analyzing biomedical, clinical, omics, or neurodegenerative disease datasets.
• Familiarity with longitudinal clinical data and human subject's research.
• Experience with multi-omics data analysis, including epigenomics and other high-dimensional molecular datasets.
• Experience with REDCap, SQL databases, cloud computing environments, or high-performance computing systems.
• Experience with data visualization tools and publication-quality figure generation.
• Knowledge of genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, biomarker studies, or multi-omics integration approaches.
• Prior experience in academic medical center or translational research environments.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

• R
• Python
• SQL
• REDCap
• Data visualization and dashboard development
• Statistical modeling
• Multi-omics data integration
• Longitudinal clinical data analysis
• Machine learning approaches (preferred but not required)
• Git/GitHub or version control systems

POSITION TYPE

Full-time research staff position based in Nashville, Tennessee.

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. 

Core Accountabilities:

Organizational Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment. Breadth of Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area. Team Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues:- Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.- Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences. Delivering Excellent Services:- Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.- Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.- Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.- Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.- Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities. Fostering Innovation:- Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.- Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges.- Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications :

Work Experience :

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level :

2 years

Education :

Master's

This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well-being and professional growth.

Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity.  EOE/Vets/Disabled.