Data Scientist – Oncology

DigiONE

The IQVIA team is looking to reinforce a team committed to the creation of high-quality routine oncology clinical databases with the appointment of a Data Scientist who will specialise in academic and pharma sponsored federated oncology real world evidence studies. If you are intellectually curious, have a passion to discover the real impact of oncology medicines in routine care, and meet the experience requirements listed below please apply and we look forward to speaking with you.

IQVIA has worked with academic partners across Europe to incubate a public-private partnership for next-generation real world evidence and pragmatic trials in precision oncology: DIGICORE, the Digital Institute for Cancer Outcome Research (www.digicore-cancer.eu). This brings together 39 research intensive cancer centres from 17 countries. A subset of DIGICORE, called the Digital Oncology Network for Europe (DigiONE), recognise the need for digital interoperability and have developed a core dataset transformed to the OMOP common data model for faster precision oncology research called the Minimal Essential Description of Cancer (MEDOC).

The Role

This role will offer you an exceptional opportunity to work with clinically rich data in oncology working as a key member of a small, dedicated team. The Data Scientist will oversee multiple studies, collaborating closely with OMOP experts, statisticians, medical writers within IQVIA, as well as clinicians, data managers, and data scientists from participating centres. The Data Scientist is the central coordinator for each study. It’s a highly collaborative role in which you need to have the confidence and organisational skills to detail the tasks required to deliver, assign tasks to people with timelines, track progress against plans and risks, and work closely with the lead clinicians. 

The primary aim of this role is to facilitate the investigation of a wide range of analytical and statistical questions directly related to care delivery and patient outcomes. A significant aspect of the current DigiONE research programme involves studies focused on cancer-specific Disease natural history and treatment outcomes with care quality assessment (DINASTY). These studies include large patient cohorts and use a combination of programmatic transformation of structured source data, natural language processing (NLP), and manual data abstraction under clinical guidance. These studies are one example of the type of research questions you will be involved with. 

Essential Functions

Working as Data Scientist you will be the involved in various studies from study design through to publication. Specifically, the responsibilities include:

• Work closely with clinicians, data managers and programmers at the centres to understand the source data and their routine management of patients within a particular cancer to assess the feasibility of different study designs and ensure accurate interpretation of results.
• Plan, organise and manage resources to bring about the successful completion of specific study objectives, such as the DINASTY metastatic NSCLC study and metastatic breast cancer study described
• Possess a strong understanding of scientific study protocols, particularly regarding oncology study variables, with the opportunity to collaborate directly with study principal investigators to facilitate clinical interpretation that informs study analysis and publications
• Develop a study plan including tasks required to deliver, responsibility for each task, and timelines. Meet regularly with team members to track progress, document risks and mitigations, and raise risks with senior leaders at IQVIA and study lead clinicians at centres
• Designing, structuring and delivering client reports and presentations
• Developing long-lasting client relationships through daily contact, discussions, workshops, etc.
• Oversee the delivery of studies to initial and timely abstract submission at an appropriate academic conference and to high impact publication
• Coordinate a team of OMOP experts, statisticians and programmers to develop new study delivery methods to support these studies fusing Vantage6 and OHDSI tools, with particular thought to be given to maximise reusability between studies.
• Act as a source of global expertise on these methods, including leading high impact publications and thought leadership in clinical informatics, RWE and novel study methods
• Supporting discrete initiatives around IQVIA’s real world evidence (RWE) strategy
• With time, providing expert guidance on RWE and the Real-World Data (RWD) landscape to junior colleagues
• Willingness and ability to travel to visit the centres and to conferences

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Desired skills – Essential

• MSc (or equivalent) in clinical, biomedical sciences, nursing, etc.
• Experience designing RWE studies including developing research objectives, documenting the source data required, defining derived variables and endpoints, and interviewing staff at centres to assess feasibility of the proposed study design
• OMOP CDM knowledge and more specifically vocabulary mapping processes 
• 4 years of work experience including clinical trials experience in a function similar to Data
• Excellent knowledge of Medical Dictionaries used for coding (e.g. MedDRA, SNOMED, ICD-10, etc.)
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills including presentations, chairing meetings, workshop facilitation, business and report writing
• Experience working with teams with diverse scientific backgrounds (clinical, technology, statistical, privacy)
• Ability to effectively manage multiple tasks under pre-agreed timelines and to meet deadlines (e.g. conference abstract submission deadlines)
• Strong commitment to pragmatic and implementable innovation and thought leadership
• Operational knowledge of GDPR for medical research on unconsented electronic medical record (EMR) data
• Knowledge of key issues and current developments in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries
• Fluency in English (spoken and written)

Desired skills – Nice to have

• PhD in relevant discipline
• Support data management and OMOP teams in converting data to CDM leveraging medical and oncology expertise
• Technical proficiency in R and SQL, enabling you to contribute beyond data analysis by actively shaping and refining study methodologies.
• Knowledge of open-source federation solutions, like Vantage6 or DataShield

IQVIA is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. We create intelligent connections to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide. Learn more at https://jobs.iqvia.com