Quantitative Pharmacoepidemiologist

AstraZeneca; Mississauga; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

AstraZeneca in Canada is seeking a quantitative pharmacoepidemiologist to lead rapid analyses of real-world healthcare data. Reporting to the Senior Director of Safety Epidemiology, you will apply epidemiological methods to support PARCS planning, signal detection and regulatory submissions across AZ products.

The role requires a PhD and strong SAS or R skills, collaboration with internal teams and CROs, and the ability to translate research questions into executable queries for large databases.

Qualifications

• PhD in pharmacoepidemiology or related field.
• Advanced SAS or R skills.
• Strong interest in pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety.
• Ability to apply epidemiological theory to problems.
• Understanding real-world data for secondary research.
• Translate research questions into implementable queries.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners, CROs.
• PhD dissertation focused on medicines (desirable).
• Ability to work independently to achieve objectives.
• Hands-on experience with large datasets.
• Pragmatic approach with imperfect data.
• Prioritise urgent health authority requests.

Responsibilities

• Specify research questions programmatically.
• Execute analyses and interpret data.
• Program analyses and generate evidence.
• Communicate findings to Global Patient Safety and Regulatory teams.
• Support PARCS planning and regulatory responses.

Skills

Statistical analysis

Data management

Scientific communication

CRO coordination

Education

PhD in Pharmacoepidemiology

Tools

SAS

R

Job description

At AstraZeneca, we pride ourselves on crafting a collaborative culture that champions knowledge-sharing, ambitious thinking and innovation – ultimately providing employees with the opportunity to work across teams, functions and even the globe.

Recognizing the importance of individualized flexibility, our ways of working allow employees to balance personal and work commitments while ensuring we continue to create a strong culture of collaboration and teamwork by engaging face-to-face in our offices 3 days a week. Our head office and in downtown Toronto are purposely designed with collaboration in mind, providing space where teams can come together to strategize, brainstorm and connect on key projects.

Our dedication to sustainability is also central to our culture and part of what makes AstraZeneca a great place to work. We know the health of people, the planet and our business are interconnected which is why we’re taking ambitious action to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change to access to healthcare and disease prevention.

AstraZeneca’s Safety Epidemiology team is a global group of PhD-trained pharmacoepidemiologists with expertise in conducting epidemiological studies, performing evidence synthesis and analytics to evaluate drug safety. The team plans and delivers R&D safety epidemiology activities that inform the benefit–risk profiles of nearly 100 marketed and pipeline products. These activities include local and global post-authorisation regulatory commitment studies (PARCS) submitted to health authorities such as the FDA and EMA.

Safety Epidemiology offers a dynamic, inclusive and supportive environment where epidemiologists can build rewarding careers and make meaningful contributions to drug development, pharmacoepidemiology and public health. We welcome applications from recent PhD graduates and postdoctoral researchers in epidemiology who are interested in drug safety, real-world data analysis and a career in the pharmaceutical industry.

The quantitative pharmacoepidemiologist role will report to the Senior Director, Safety Epidemiology and is a pivotal scientific role within Global Patient Safety, accountable for performing rapid analyses of large electronic healthcare databases from around the world to support PARCS planning, signal detection, predictive clinical safety, clinical trial planning, drug development, new drug applications to regulatory authorities and to support responses to health authorities (e.g., FDA , EMA etc).

The incumbent will be responsible for delivering high-quality descriptive epidemiological analyses of real-world healthcare data across various products in the AZ portfolio. The role applies analytical methods to generate robust evidence from electronic healthcare databases and collaborates with multidisciplinary teams to address scientific and business questions. Key responsibilities include programmatic specification of a research question, analytical study execution, data interpretation, programming, evidence generation, and communication of findings to internal collaborators across Global Patient Safety, Global Regulatory, Global Medical/Clinical functions.

Essential Requirements

• Ph.D. in pharmacoepidemiology, epidemiology, public health, biostatistics or related health science field and substantial hands‑on experience analysing large electronic healthcare data (relational databases) and other real world data sources (claims, registry or other secondary healthcare databases)
• Advanced level skills in syntax‑based SAS or R
• A strong interest in pursuing a career in pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
• Able to apply epidemiological theory and techniques to solve new and challenging problems
• Conceptual understanding of real‑world data for secondary research use, and the data generation mechanism that impact how such data is analysed
• Ability to translate a research question into an implementable query that can be run in a real‑world database
• A strong interest in data management and using data to improve health within the pharmaceutical industry
• Able to work effectively with internal & external collaborators, including collaborative groups and contract research organizations (CROs)

Desirable Requirements

• PhD dissertation in pharmacoepidemiology or epidemiology with a strong focus on medicines as the exposure of interest
• Ability to work independently to achieve specific research objectives
• Hands‑on experience planning, analysing and interpreting results of statistical analyses performed using large electronic healthcare data or other real‑world data
• An approach passionate about using imperfect data and finding practical ways to move forward in addressing research objectives
• Ability to prioritize and work pragmatically to generate results rapidly to support health authority requests and/or insights needed to further clinical development
• Working knowledge of epidemiological methods used in research in drug development or in a closely related academic research area

AstraZeneca is committed to taking every reasonable precaution to protect employees, our customers and the healthcare systems in the communities in which we serve. In an effort to protect the wellbeing of our employees and customers, full COVID‑19 vaccination is an essential requirement of all positions at AstraZeneca. As such, all offers of employment will be conditional upon either (i) proof of full COVID‑19 vaccination or (ii) proof of need for accommodation under relevant human rights legislation, and AstraZeneca’s determination that the requested accommodation can be provided without undue hardship. You will be required to submit proof of full vaccination or proof of need for accommodation during our background screening process.

AstraZeneca is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion and providing a workplace that is free from discrimination. AstraZeneca is committed to accommodating persons with disabilities. Such accommodation is available on request in respect of all aspects of the recruitment, assessment and selection process and may be requested by emailing [e-mail].

We are using AI as part of the recruitment process.

This advertisement relates to a current vacancy.