Research Scientist

George Washington University; Rockville (MD); Hybrid; USD 38,000 - 62,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

Benefits package

Job summary

The George Washington University’s Biostatistics Center in Rockville, MD seeks a Research Scientist specializing in machine learning, data harmonization, and privacy-preserving modeling. You will design pipelines to harmonize multi-site clinical and omics data, generate high-fidelity synthetic datasets, and ensure governance and compliance across large-scale studies.

Responsibilities include ETL/ELT development, privacy risk assessment, and collaboration with biostatisticians, privacy officers,

Qualifications

• Master's degree plus 5 years of related experience or a PhD with 2 years of related experience.
• Experience in research and/or higher education settings.
• Background in machine learning, data science, and data privacy desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead synthetic data generation and privacy engineering activities for multi-site datasets.
• Design and validate generative models (GANs/VAEs/diffusion) for synthetic tabular and multi-omic data.
• Develop ETL/ELT pipelines to map multi-center data to common models (OMOP CDM, PCORnet).
• Collaborate with statisticians, privacy officers, and engineers to deliver secure data products.

Skills

ML

Data Harmonization

Privacy Engineering

Synthetic Data

Education

Master's degree + 5 years experience

PhD + 2 years experience

Tools

Bioconductor

PLINK

Nextflow

Snakemake

Docker

Kubernetes

Git

R

Python

SQL

Job description

I. DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

The Biostatistics Center (BSC) of the Milken Institute School of Public Health is an off-campus research facility of The George Washington University located in Rockville, Maryland. The BSC serves as the coordinating center for large scale multi-center clinical trials and epidemiological studies funded by federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health. The BSC is a leader in the statistical coordination of major medical research programs of national and international scope. Visit our website at: www.bsc.gwu.edu.

We are seeking a Research Scientist specializing in Machine Learning, Data Science, Data Harmonization, and Synthetic Data Generation to lead the integration, standardization, and privacy-preserving algorithmic modeling of complex, multi-site datasets. In this role, you will bridge the gap between complex data infrastructure, cutting-edge machine learning, and synthetic data generation-building automated transformation pipelines, harmonizing disparate clinical/observational data structures (e.g., OMOP CDM, FHIR), and generating high-fidelity synthetic datasets to accelerate secure collaborative research without compromising data privacy. Experience with high-dimensional multi-omics data analysis and integration is highly desirable.

Key Responsibilities

Synthetic Data Generation & Privacy Engineering

• Generative Modeling: Design, train, and validate generative machine learning models (GANs, VAEs, diffusion models, and LLM-based tabular synthesizers) to generate high-fidelity synthetic tabular, longitudinal, and multi-omic datasets.
• Privacy Assurance & Risk Assessment: Implement rigorous privacy-preserving methodologies (differential privacy, membership inference attack testing, re-identification risk metrics) to guarantee synthetic datasets meet strict governance and compliance standards.
• Utility & Fidelity Evaluation: Establish automated benchmark suites comparing distributional fidelity, feature correlations, cross-sectional/longitudinal validity, and downstream task performance between real and synthetic cohorts.

Data Harmonization & Infrastructure

• ETL & Data Standardization: Design, execute, and maintain scalable ETL/ELT pipelines to map complex, longitudinal datasets from multi-center registries and disparate source systems into common data models (e.g., OMOP CDM, PCORnet).
• Ontology Mapping & Quality Control: Implement vocabulary mappings (SNOMED, RxNorm, LOINC, ICD-10) and robust data quality frameworks to handle missingness, inconsistent formatting, and cross-site measurement variation across clinical and molecular datasets.
• Registry & Pipeline Integration: Architect automated validation workflows ensuring privacy preservation, site blinding, and reproducible data harmonization across large-scale cohort studies.

Machine Learning, Omics & Statistical Modeling

• Multi-Omics Data Integration: Analyze, harmonize, and model high-dimensional biological data layers (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics) alongside EHR and clinical registry data.
• Algorithmic Modeling: Develop, evaluate, and deploy advanced machine learning models (gradient boosted trees, neural architectures, ensemble learning) and semi-parametric causal inference techniques on high-dimensional harmonized and synthetic data.
• Longitudinal & Trajectory Analysis: Build statistical and ML frameworks for analyzing longitudinal trajectories, biological aging markers, and time-varying exposures.
• Model Explainability & Transportability: Conduct rigorous cross-validation, sensitivity analyses, and transportability evaluations to ensure model fairness, robustness, and biological/clinical validity when trained on real vs. synthetic inputs.

Collaborative Research & Leadership

• Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Work closely with biostatisticians, bioinformaticians, privacy officers, software engineers, and domain experts to translate scientific hypotheses into secure, end-to-end data products.
• Methodological Dissemination: Lead the drafting of peer-reviewed scientific publications, technical whitepapers, and method documentation regarding privacy metrics, synthetic data utility, and multi-omic modeling.
• Pipeline Open-Sourcing & Mentorship: Contribute to reproducible codebases (R, Python, SQL) and mentor junior data engineers and graduate research assistants.

Performs other work duties as assigned. The omission of specific duties does not preclude the supervisor from assigning tasks logically related to the position.

Minimum Qualifications

Qualified candidates will hold a Master's degree plus 5 years of experience or a PhD and 2 years of experience in a related discipline to include at least 2 years of research and/or college level teaching in a field basic to the work to be performed. Degree must be conferred by the start date of the position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Multi-Omics Expertise: Strongly Desirable: Hands-on experience processing, harmonizing, and analyzing high-throughput omics datasets (e.g., genomic variants, RNA-seq, untargeted metabolomics, panel proteomics) using standard bioinformatics pipelines (e.g., Bioconductor, PLINK, Nextflow/Snakemake) and integrating them with clinical EHR/registry frameworks.
• Experience evaluating the "train on synthetic, test on real" (TSTR) paradigm across diverse biomedical, multi-omic, or observational datasets.
• Experience working with federal funding frameworks (NIH, NSF, PCORI) or multi-center research coordinating centers (BRCCs).
• Familiarity with privacy-preserving technologies (federated learning, differential privacy, secure enclave research environments).
• Knowledge of containerized deployment (Docker, Kubernetes) and version-controlled workflow tools (Git).
• Potential to lead first-author publications in peer-reviewed journals or top-tier machine learning/data science/bioinformatics conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, KDD, JAMIA, Biometrics, Bioinformatics).

Hiring Range

$37,949.02 - $61,727.22 (at 57% effort)

GW Staff Approach to Pay

How is pay for new employees determined at GW?

Healthcare Benefits

GW offers a comprehensive benefit package that includes medical, dental, vision, life & disability insurance, time off & leave, retirement savings, tuition, well-being and various voluntary benefits. For program details and eligibility, please visit https://hr.gwu.edu/benefits-programs.

II. POSITION INFORMATION

Campus Location: Rockville, Maryland

College/School/Department: The Biostatistics Center

Family: Research and Labs

Sub-Family: Field Research

Stream: Individual Contributor

Level: Level 4

Full-Time/Part-Time: Part-Time

Hours Per Week: 20

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 9am - 1pm

Will this job require the employee to work on site? Yes

Employee Onsite Status: Hybrid

Telework:

Required Background Check: Criminal History Screening, Education/Degree/Certifications Verification, Social Security Number Trace, and Sex Offender Registry Search

Special Instructions to Applicants: Employer will not sponsor for employment Visa status

Internal Applicants Only? No

Posting Number: R002466

Job Open Date: 09/28/2026

Job Close Date:

Background Screening: Successful Completion of a Background Screening will be required as a condition of hire.

EEO Statement

The university is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.