Data Specialist/SAS Program I

Job Summary

Works in conjunction with the biostatisticians and programmers to manage all aspects of data manipulation, ensuring data quality and maintaining data integrity for analytic studies or the research data warehouse through the use of SAS and other analytic programming languages. Maintains and supports a culture of compliance, ethics and integrity. Maintains knowledge of policies and procedures and performs in accordance with the Principles of Responsibilities and applicable regulatory requirements, external laws and accreditation standards. Appropriately reports observed fraud or abuse.

Essential Responsibilities

• The DS I develops solutions to routine problems, following established policies and procedures; requires some judgment to develop alternative solutions; provides information to others to be used in decision-making processes; works under general supervision; may need guidance to solve difficult issues; interprets routine information; and has no formal leadership responsibilities but may provide informal work guidance or direction to other team members.

• Assists in data management: plans and carries out data management activities (e.g., data cleaning/quality assurance, data documentation, analytic data set creation).

• Operationalizes research protocols. Participates in multi-site projects by testing/running SAS code distributed by programmers at multiple sites.

• Identifies and resolves problems using interactive problem solving and troubleshooting techniques. Develops QA programs to identify any issues in the data. Partners with members of the research team to resolve data issues. Notifies appropriate IHR subject matter expert of issues discovered in the data so that the issues can be resolved in the source data.

• Extracts data from multiple sources within KP and develops a thorough understanding of the data elements to be used for a study. Communicates issues around the data elements and proposes alternatives to make the data as complete and accurate as possible.

• Independently authors programs to efficiently extract data from source systems using a variety of SAS tools, as well as other analytic programming languages, such as Python, R, or SQL.

• Contributes to programming for KPCO or for multi-site research collaborations or research data warehouse ETL.

• Provides the data for study development or manuscript preparation, i.e., analytic data sets.

• Demonstrates experience in relational database structures, system testing and quality assurance methods.

• Participates in the development of registries/databases, including base definition, structure, documentation, long-range requirements, operational guidelines, and protection. Ensures accuracy and completeness of data in master files and various support tools, such as data dictionaries to be used by the research team, to conduct federally funded research.

• Coordinates data transfers and data reconciliation. Complies with IRB approved protocols, Business Associate Agreements, and Data Use Agreements to transfer data between agencies.

• Employs data management best practices and knowledge thereof in a standardized, transparent, and efficient manner. Assumes responsibility as a partner for the planning, resourcing, and execution of relevant internal and external data management activities to obtain clean databases within a specified timeframe. Openly reviews code with team members to ensure high quality results and share techniques employed.

• Develops knowledge and professional skills through continuing education, cross training, literature, and attendance at departmental meetings.

• Under the scientific direction of a PI, assists with proposal development.

• Assists with data interpretation, preparation of technical reports, manuscripts, posters, presentations.

• Adheres to federal and local regulations and KPCO Standard Operating Procedures governing research. Maintains compliance when manipulating large volumes of patient data, both internal to KPCO and from external agencies. Follows the IRB approved protocols on federally funded grants as well as on internally funded projects. Adheres to the research protocols for maintaining HIPAA compliance when accessing, manipulating, storing, and transferring data. Partners with Investigators to adhere to the research requirements outlined in the study protocol and data use agreements report all violation/deviations immediately to the Investigator and IRB.

Basic Qualifications:

Experience

• Minimum one (1) year of SAS, R, Python, or SQL.

Education

• Bachelors degree required.

License, Certification, Registration

• N/A

Additional Requirements:

• Highly organized with an emphasis on attention to detail and quality control.

• Ability to adapt to constantly changing environments & priorities.

• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Health care/research experience preferred.

• SAS Programming experience.

• Masters degree in social or behavioral sciences, health services, public health, statistics, health economics, epidemiology, computer science, or related field.

COMPANY: KAISER

TITLE: Data Specialist/SAS Program I

LOCATION: Aurora, Colorado

REQNUMBER: 1298625

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, state and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran, or disability status.