Postdoctoral Fellow

PurposeMed

9h • Remote

About The Position

PurposeMed is a Canadian-founded healthtech company established in 2019 with a mission to improve access to complex care for underserved communities. They provide specialized care to thousands of patients every month through their three complex care business units: Freddie (sexual health, LGBTQ2S+ focus), Frida (adult ADHD diagnosis and treatment), and Foria (gender-affirming healthcare). They also partner with Affirming Care Pharmacy for discreet prescription delivery. PurposeMed is recognized as a fast-growing tech company and for its corporate culture, driven by a mission to make healthcare accessible. This 1–2 year fellowship is designed as a transition-to-industry opportunity, bridging academic training with real-world application in digital health, clinical operations, and business analytics, while maintaining academic rigor and publication support. The Fellow will be formally affiliated with the University of Calgary and embedded within PurposeMed’s Data and Analytics team, offering a unique professional advantage with a named academic home and direct industry immersion. The role includes mentorship from a three-person supervisory triad: academic, clinical, and technical.

Requirements

• A PhD in Biostatistics, Statistics, Epidemiology, or a closely related quantitative field (conferred or imminent, ABD candidates with a confirmed defense timeline are welcome to apply)
• Demonstrated experience with advanced statistical analyses: regression modeling (linear, logistic, mixed-effects), ROC curves, risk score development and validation, survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier, Cox proportional hazards)
• Proficiency in R, including tidyverse and statistical modeling packages
• Production-quality coding
• Working knowledge of SQL for querying healthcare data warehouses
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and is able to present findings to clinical, operational, and non-technical audiences
• A proven ability to work independently and collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams

Nice To Haves

• Experience using Python (pandas, scikit-learn, statsmodels)
• Familiarity with cloud data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift) and version control (Git)
• Prior experience with real-world healthcare or clinical research datasets, particularly those with missingness, selection bias, or irregular observation times
• Exposure to BI tools (Looker, Tableau, Power BI) or R dashboard frameworks (Shiny, flexdashboard)
• Awareness of dbt or similar data transformation frameworks
• An interest in or prior experience with LGBTQ+ health, HIV/sexual health, gender-affirming care, or chronic disease management
• A prior connection to the HIV CTN, Alberta Innovates, University of Calgary research networks, or Dr. Somayaji's research group

Responsibilities

• Applying biostatistical methods including regression analyses, ROC curves, risk scoring, and survival analysis to real-world healthcare datasets
• Partnering with clinical, operations, and product teams to design and conduct analyses that drive decision-making and improve patient outcomes
• Participating in patient communication initiatives that make analytical findings accessible to the communities PurposeMed serves
• Translating complex statistical insights into actionable recommendations for clinical, ops, and leadership teams
• Collaborating in the development, validation, and communication of metrics and KPIs for clinical, operational, and business performance
• Collaborating with PurposeMed's data engineering team to extract, manage, and transform data from cloud-based healthcare data warehouses
• Contributing to peer-reviewed publications, white papers, and conference presentations in collaboration with Dr. Somayaji
• Collaborating with government agencies, non-profits, and community partners, including HIV CTN-affiliated organizations, on joint research initiatives
• Receiving structured mentorship in business analytics, product decision-making, and applied healthcare data science

Benefits

• a benefits package from the University of Calgary

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees