Research Data Analyst

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.

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.
• Aid 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.
• Afford support in generating 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.
• Afford support in 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.