Director of Research Data & Computational Science

Position Summary:

Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Design and operationalize a centralized research data science model aligned with enterprise informatics, analytics, and clinical goals.
• Academic Service Culture: Lead a team embedded in clinical departments, promoting trust, innovation, and scholarly excellence across Neonatology, Pediatrics, and Surgery.
• Team Management: Recruit, develop, and mentor research data professionals; define shared goals and metrics that support high-impact, collaborative research.
• Research Enablement: Support study design, data access, grant writing, and dissemination for clinician-researchers and embedded team members.
• Service Intake & Engagement: Develop tools and workflows for project triage, resource matching, and user training to foster scalable, high-quality data support.
• Internal Collaboration: Partner with Enterprise Analytics, Clinical Informatics, Quality Improvement, and Operations to align research with system-wide initiatives like value-based care and health equity.
• External Partnerships: Collaborate with regional academic institutions and community stakeholders to expand research capacity and educational pipelines.
• Impact Communication: Translate research outcomes into insights that support operational and clinical leadership, including reporting on return-on-investment and care improvements.

Technical Expertise:

• Advanced knowledge of data science, biostatistics, and health services research.
• Experience with machine learning, predictive analytics, and applied modeling in healthcare.
• Familiarity with EHR systems (e.g., Epic), clinical databases, and research-ready data infrastructure.
• Knowledge of data governance, pipelines, and cloud-based analytic platforms.
• Ability to evaluate and develop cross-disciplinary talent in technical and academic domains.

Education and Experience:

• Doctoral degree (PhD) in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Biomedical Informatics, Health Services Research, or related field required. MD/PhD preferred for candidates with clinical backgrounds.)
• Demonstrated record of peer-reviewed research and success in securing competitive funding.
• Experience managing research service units or embedded teams within health systems or academic medical centers.
• Leadership and mentorship of diverse, interdisciplinary teams across multiple levels of experience.

Certification: 

• Formal training or certification in transformational or servant leadership, coaching, or change management preferred.

Years of Relevant Experience: 

• Minimum 5 years of progressive experience in clinical, translational, or health services research.

Years of Supervisory Experience: 

• Minimum 3-5 years in a leadership or supervisory capacity within a research, informatics, or data science setting.

About Akron Children's

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