"Research Specialist"

Position Summary

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is seeking a Research Specialist for the Center for State Health Policy (CSHP) within the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research (IFH). The Research Specialist will be responsible for working with investigators and senior staff to implement statistical programming and data analyses for population health research work in New Jersey and Pennsylvania policy. CSHP focuses on research using Medicaid and Medicare claims, national administrative databases and surveys, and primary data collection. An emphasis for this position is on developing skills in programming (flexibility in preferred coding software/program/language) and the use of statistical methodology. The Research Specialist will provide data-analytic support to a large program of research and will construct statistically advanced programs in SAS and other software to allow analysis of data from large and sensitive healthcare administrative datasets and population-based surveys.

We are seeking two applicants with strong attention to detail and scientific curiosity, who take initiative and enjoy making sense of complex data.

Among the key duties of this position are the following:

• Reviews all data received from primary and secondary sources to insure consistency and accuracy. Extracts subsamples from larger data sets and merges or concatenates multiple data sets, as needed for further analysis, in accordance with project objectives.
• Identifies needs for cleaning data and constructing analytic variables and develops and documents methods and procedures for doing so to facilitate data analysis in accordance with project objectives. This requires adapting complex programs (e.g., hospital quality and patient safety measures) for innovative uses, which requires the ability to understand and revise sophisticated bio statistical programming.
• Creates programming to produce valid results for a wide range of health care quality measures. Works productively and cooperatively with project team members.
• Takes direction well, and effectively communicates progress and problems to supervisor and/or principal investigator.
• Maintains professional and productive relationships with project clients, subcontractors, collaborators, and other external parties.
• Aggregates, disaggregates, and merges data from multiple levels of measurement to provide analytic datasets.
• Adheres to University and project requirements regarding data storage, archiving, and disposal.
• Maintains confidentiality of project data and adherence to standards regarding protection of human subjects.

Minimum Education and Experience

• Master's degree in statistics, computer science, public health, or other related field or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.
• 2 years of relevant experience.

Special Conditions: Multiple vacancies.

Posting Number: 26ST0542