Principal Clinical Informatician - Systems Architect

Band 8a

Main area Health Data Science Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 213-PRUH-6588360

Employer King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Town London Salary £61,927 - £68,676 per annum, including high cost allowance Salary period Yearly Closing 04/10/2024 23:59

Job overview

The AI and Data Science group CogStack is seeking a Clinical Scientist to join our Team as Principal Clinical Informatician. The post holder will be responsible for developing predictive algorithms using Machine Learning techniques as applied to healthcare settings for a number of key clinical areas. This will include developing the clinical analytics platform by managing, analysing and harmonizing genomics data alongside existing clinical, diagnostics and imaging data analytical pipelines.

The post-holder will also take responsibilities in further developing the data systems underlying and building on the CogStack data lake and lead on the development new services and applications that build on this architecture. This includes responsibilities in related quality management and data governance processes.

The position offers an exciting opportunity to develop the next generation of machine learning analytical tools that utilize a vast and unique genomic and clinical data collection to make personalized medicine a reality. Furthermore, it offers an opportunity to shape the internal governance and process frameworks with the goal to reach full service accreditation. The position could also offer the opportunity for further post-graduate qualifications for suitably qualified candidates.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will be responsible for developing predictive algorithms using Machine Learning techniques as applied to healthcare settings for a number of key clinical areas. This will include developing the clinical analytics platform by managing, analysing and harmonizing genomics data alongside existing clinical, diagnostics and imaging data analytical pipelines. The expectation is to publish these projects in peer-reviewed journals.

The post-holder - as a core member of the AI, Data Sciences & CogStack team - will also be responsible for supporting the day-to-day operational activity of the clinical analytics platform, the main data backend infrastructure. The post holder will also lead on the evolution of current data flow architectures and develop the next generation of user facing applications leveraging the information from the CogStack data lake. 

Further responsibilities include the active development and improvement of internal quality management, data governance processes. The post-holder will also help shape the next generation of Health Informaticians through supervision of STP trainees and developing of related training programmes. Effective communication with data requestors, collaborators, developers and management is key to this position.

Working for our organisation

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of £1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and around 14,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in Bromley. 

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

The trust-wide strategy Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we can take Team King’s to another level.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Machine Learning / Data Science Responsibilities

· Developing machine learning algorithms for the diagnosis, prognosis and follow-up of complex diseases.

· Developing machine learning outcomes for monitoring and improving outcome measures.

· Benchmarking and fine-tuning machine learning algorithms tools for quality control, and validating new features in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.

· Continuously scanning the scientific literature to identify new approaches to machine learning applications that can be implemented to improve our capabilities.

· Contribute to the publication and dissemination of our learnings in the form of scientific papers, conferences, workshops and forums.

Systems Architect Responsibilities

· Review systems architecture and design, storage solutions and analysis pipelines for the departmental business plans.

· Develop data analytics solutions in response to business strategy and clinical need.

· Manage and operate version control systems and procedures.

· Help maintain and further develop existing in production software/web applications.

· Advise on the use of tools, frameworks, hardware and software for ML/AI applications.

· Liaise and effectively communicate with trust ICT in matters of data storage and safety, processing and transfer.

· Follow and ensure adherence to information governance standards within the AI, Data Sciences & CogStack Team.

· Ensure the safe and compliant operation of the clinical analytics platform under current best practice for clinical risk management.

· Operate local compute servers and conduct maintenance as needed.

· Configure and maintain database servers and processes, including monitoring of system health and performance, to ensure high levels of performance, availability, and security.

· Manage SQL Server databases through multiple product lifecycle environments, from development to mission-critical production systems.

· Help evolve current compute and data lake resources in response to clinical and operational needs.

· Apply data modelling techniques to ensure development and implementation support efforts meet integration and performance expectations.

· Build appropriate and useful reporting deliverables (reports, dashboards).

· Independently analyse, solve, and correct issues in real time, providing problem resolution end-to-end.

· Refine and automate regular processes, track issues, and document changes.

· Assist developers with complex query tuning and schema refinement.

· Provide support for critical production systems.

· Perform scheduled maintenance and support release deployment activities after hours if needed.

· Share domain and technical expertise, providing technical mentorship and cross training to other peers and team members.

Clinical Analytics Responsibilities

· Understand the necessity for the accurate communication of complex information, and contribute to better understanding of clinical problems that require machine learning applications.

· Support the core AI, Data Sciences & CogStack team’s activity by providing clinical users with consultation and project support to develop and improve data management, analytics and reporting.

· Develop and maintain technical standard operating procedures used by the AI, Data Sciences & CogStack team and ensure they are followed.

· Participate with the AI, Data Science & CogStack team to ensure that multi-omics datasets are interoperable with the clinical datasets being indexed.

· Support the delivery of Informatics projects; which requires liaising with clinical leads and project leads from other Trusts, including Kings Health Partners & Kings College London amongst others.

· Support design, development and implementation of improving the quality and integrity of referral data, alerting processes and machine learning as required by the AI, Data Sciences & CogStack service and other internal and external customers to support the Trust’s activities.

· Support the AI, Data Sciences & CogStack Administration, and when required, perform platform upgrades.

· Work proactively with the Trust ICT, Business Intelligence Unit, KHP data scientists and referring institutions to ensure that resources are effectively and efficiently deployed in order to improve clinical quality and financial performance.

· Support and take leadership role in the implementation of quality management processes and take responsibility for service certifications under ISO13485.

Scientific

· Undertake training and development to successfully acquire core competencies necessary for performance as a Clinical Informatician and thereafter maintain the required standards of competence.

· Maintain registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).

· Develop and improve scientific expertise via Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and remain up to date with scientific and technical developments in the field of clinical bioinformatics, genomics and machine learning.

· Participate in research and development as required within the KHP Institutes and Biomedical Research Centres.

· Engage in collaborative scientific research with academic partners to stimulate innovation in clinical services as required.

· Maintain and develop scientific knowledge and participate in scientific publications where possible.

· Provide advanced analytical expertise to the bioinformatics group and the department where possible.

· A key responsibility will be to develop research proposals using machine learning applications and disseminate the findings through peer reviewed publications.

· This will include developing and validating Semantic inference tools such as MedCAT using clinical, diagnostics and patient reported data.

· Maintain data governance and security processes put in place to restrict access to the Research datasets

· Develop collaborative research with colleagues in both the Trust and partner organisations to support submission through the Trust’s KERRI approval process.

· Lead on and deliver on delegated research proposals that have been approved by KERRI.

· Contribute to research publications in peer reviewed scientific journals resulting from KERRI projects.

· Participate and present relevant research to internal and external stakeholders to facilitate research and development.

Quality & Clinical Governance

· Ensure that at all times there is adequate staff, computational resources, including system redundancy, for the efficient provision of the service.

· Participate in internal and external audits in accordance with the department’s quality manual.

· Monitor the quality of the service provided for audit, research and service improvement initiatives.

· Work with the AI, Data Science & Cogstack team to ensure achievement of and adherence to the standards required for an accredited laboratory, in close liaison with the Quality lead and under the direction of the AI & Bioinformatics Lead of the Department.

· Maintain the highest levels of patient confidentiality and comply with trust standards.

· E nsure that all members of staff abide by all statutory requirements, codes of practice, safety regulations and operational policies of the department and to be aware of these measures as applied to other sections.

· Ensure that the risk management and risk reporting strategy within the section functions effectively. 

People Management and Performance

· Lead, coach and manage the performance of the team in line with good people management practices. Ensuring excellence is recognised and underperformance is addressed.

· Responsible for the training of clinical Informatics staff (informatics and genomics), including STP and other trainees. Co-ordination of placements, establishing projects and assessing coursework. Continually improving the STP training plan using trainee and placement supervisor feedback.

· Help develop and manage the STP training programme, and take responsibility in ensuring delivery of training modules and learning objectives according to the STP Curriculum.

· Participate in regular performance appraisal meetings and ensure each member of the team has a clear set of objectives and development plans.

· Ensure the team is compliance with all statutory, mandatory training together with any professional training requirements, ensuring they are up to date and fully compliant.

· Manage team absences including sickness in line with Trust policy ensuring the appropriate return to work meetings occur, e-roster is updated and productivity is at keep to the highest possible level.

· Identify and fill any vacancies that arise within the team in line with the Trust’s recruitment policy and process.

· Identify talent and support the internal talent management process in order attract and retain and succession plan for your people.

· Review skills mix at regular intervals in order to identify any potential opportunities to maximise resource utilisation / allocation, ensuring job descriptions are kept up to date.

· Ensure overall wellbeing of the team is maintained. Continuously support in improving the morale of the team and implementing a culture of zero-tolerance for bullying and harassment.

For the full list of responsibilities please refer to the Job Description document.

Person specificationEducation and Qualifications

• Educated to a BSc degree level with relevant domain knowledge, skills and experience in the informatics field
• MSc in Computer Science, mathematics, statistics, physics, computational biology, artificial intelligence, data science or other quantitative field is preferred
• Completed or just completing Scientific Training Programme (or equivalence certification) in Bioinformatics / Health Informatics and registered / registration submitted for the Health and Care Professions Council
• Post-Graduate experience in advanced data analysis/machine learning related to healthcare
• PhD in computational biology, computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science or other quantitative field

Management Experience

• Experience in leading and managing a bioinformatics and data analytics team
• Experience in developing management policies and procedures
• Experience in developing informatics workflows in a complex clinical setting

Scientific Experience

• Experience in writing scientific proposals, grants and publications
• Experience of working in a number of computing languages
• Ability to use statistical programs such as NumPy/SciPy, R or SPSS

Knowledge and Experience

• Proficient in R and/or python programming
• Proficient in the use of data science libraries (e.g. numpy/scipy, scikit-learn, pandas, tidyverse, matplotlib)
• Experience with at least one major machine learning framework (e.g. pytorch, tensorflow, keras, NLTK)
• Experience of using and applying machine learning and data-mining tools to address clinical, operational, audit and research questions
• Experience of supporting/developing a clinical analytics platform in a large, complex academic health science centre or similar environment
• Experience in Linux system administration
• Experience in the design, configuration and operation of databases, data warehouses and/or data lakes
• Experience in collaborative software development and delivery (e.g. agile practices)
• Experience in the development of user facing (web) applications
• Experience with data flow management software and ETL processes
• Experience with search/indexing engines based on the Apache Lucene library (e.g. Elasticsearch, Solr)
• Experience of working closely with leading academic AI/Machine Learning groups to develop, test and implement ‘Big Data Techniques’ on health and genomic data
• Experience of producing software to be certified as a medical device and/or subject to clinical risk management standards

Skills and Competencies

• Demonstrable experience and knowledge of computer science and applications, modelling, statistics, analytics and maths to solve problems using healthcare data
• Demonstrable skills and competencies in collaborating with software engineering and AI development teams
• Demonstrable skills and competencies in documenting proposals and procedures to a high level. Demonstrated via previous work, publications, contributions to open source projects, or coding competitions
• Demonstrable skills and competencies in developing Research & Innovation proposals, including data security aspects and consent, and delivering through publications, contributions to open source projects, or coding competitions
• Highly competent working in Linux environment, experience with cloud platforms and/or HPC clusters
• Demonstrable skills and competencies in providing consultancy services to clinical / academic users in developing their detailed proposal specifications using structured and unstructured data
• Demonstrable skills in accurately documenting and communicating system deployments and data analytics processes
• Demonstrably high level of communication skills and ability to explain technical issues to a non-technical audience
• Ability to multitask and work under pressure independently as well as within a team
• Ability to manage user expectations and troubleshoot when required
• Able to liaise and communicate with staff from all levels within the Trust
• Able to prioritise workload in response to changing demands
• Strong analytical and data visualisation skills
• Professional approach with skills in communication and team working
• Ability to produce software in a quality managed environment
• Demonstrable skills and competencies in transferring public and industry quality standards and tools to novel settings

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

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