Scientist, Biostatistics and Innovative Clinical Trial Methodology

The posting will remain open until the position is filled. 

The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital – one of Canada’s largest learning and research hospitals. We are proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. With more than 2,200 scientists, clinician investigators, trainees and staff, and total revenues of more than $120 million, we are one of the foremost Canadian hospital-based research institutes. Our research spans more than a hundred different diseases, conditions, and specialties with an overall focus on translating discoveries and knowledge into better health.

Job description

The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is seeking an outstanding Scientist in the field of Biostatistics and Innovative Clinical Trial Methodology. The successful candidate will join a rich, collaborative environment with clinicians, trialists, statisticians, methodologists and scientists and will be a key member of the Ottawa Methods Centre (OMC) core resource and the OHRI’s Methodological and Implementation Research (MIR) program.

The successful candidate will initiate and maintain an original, competitive, and independently funded research program of international caliber, focused on the development, evaluation and application of innovative statistical and design methods for clinical trials, while playing a central role in supporting and collaborating with OHRI’s research community as a member of the OMC. Areas of particular interest include adaptive and platform trials, multi-arm and multi-stage designs, innovative approaches to trial efficiency and decision-making, and statistical methods that enable rigorous, ethical, efficient, and practice-changing clinical research.

The successful candidate will work collaboratively across the OHRI and The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), contributing methodological leadership to major clinical trials while developing an independent program of research. The position provides an exceptional environment in which methodological challenges arising from real-world clinical trials can be identified, novel statistical solutions developed, and new methods evaluated and implemented within major clinical research programs.

The Ottawa Methods Centre is a core, cross-cutting research platform that provides methodological expertise and infrastructure to investigators across The Ottawa Hospital and OHRI. The successful candidate will have an opportunity to assume scientific leadership responsibilities within the Centre, including contributing to its future strategic direction and the continued development of its biostatistics and clinical trial methodology capacity.

The position benefits from extensive existing infrastructure and expertise in clinical trials, biostatistics, epidemiology, data science, health economics, implementation science, health services research, and patient-oriented research. The successful candidate will have access to a world-class pipeline of investigator-led clinical trials and opportunities to contribute to major national and international clinical research collaborations and networks.

Key Responsibilities Include

• Provide scientific leadership in the development of adaptive, platform, multi-arm, multi-stage, and other innovative clinical trial designs;
• Lead a specialty area of research in biostatistics and innovative clinical trial methodology;
• Develop and apply novel statistical approaches to the design, conduct, monitoring, and analysis of clinical trials;
• Establish an externally funded and internationally recognized methodological research program;
• Collaborate with clinical investigators and scientists and research teams to integrate trial methodology into major research programs;
• Develop practical statistical tools, software, guidance, and training to support the uptake of innovative trial methods;
• Supervise and mentor graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, statisticians, and emerging methodologists;
• Contribute to the scientific leadership and strategic development of the OMC; and
• Advance the profile and impact of innovative clinical trial methodology locally, nationally, and internationally.

Basic Requirements

• A PhD in biostatistics, statistics, mathematics, epidemiology, clinical trial methodology, or a closely related quantitative field, together with relevant postdoctoral or research experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in the development and/or application of statistical methodology for clinical trials.
• A strong emerging or established record of methodological scholarship, including peer-reviewed publications in biostatistics, statistics, clinical trials, or related fields.
• Expertise in innovative clinical trial designs, including adaptive, platform, multi-arm, multi-stage, or other efficient trial designs, is a particular asset.
• Evidence of the ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary clinical and methodological research teams and translate complex statistical concepts into practical trial-design decisions.
• Experience providing statistical leadership to randomized clinical trials or other major applied health research studies is an asset.
• Evidence of the potential to establish and sustain an independently funded program of methodological research.
• Experience developing statistical software, computational tools, simulation methods, or other resources that facilitate implementation of innovative trial methodology is an asset.
• Experience collaborating with academic, healthcare, government, industry, patient, or other research partners is an asset.
• Evidence of leadership potential, including mentorship, supervision, scientific program development, or contributions to collaborative research initiatives, is highly valued.