TFRI – Chief Data Officer

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The Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI), named for Canadian icon Terry Fox, is built on Terry’s dream to end cancer through research. Established in 2007, TFRI invests in world-class, collaborative cancer research teams and partnerships. Together with its research and funding partners, TFRI is working to inspire the transformation of cancer research in Canada by bringing together leading cancer research and treatment organizations from coast to coast and empowering them under the framework of the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network.

TFIR is seeking a strategic leader who is highly motivated, collaborative and solution oriented to provide leadership for the development, alignment, implementation and oversight of the data governance framework for key TFRI initiatives including the Digital Health and Discovery Platform (DHDP) and the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (MOHCCN).

The DHDP is a scalable, multi-use platform to digitally-enable national and international collaboration to advance next-generation precision medicine technologies. The DHDP is co-led with Imagia, an artificial intelligence healthcare company, and funded ($49M) from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund Stream 4 program. The DHDP will apply state-of-the-art data governance principles and technology to transform collaborative research and stimulate commercialization from home grown research discoveries.

The Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network is a bold vision led by The Terry Fox Research Institute and The Terry Fox Foundation with support from dozens of research and funding partners across Canada including a $150M investment from the Government of Canada. Its goal is to accelerate the adoption of precision medicine for cancer through the creation of a pan Canadian network of designated cancer centres. This network represents a powerful collaborative platform that will embed research in the cancer clinic, uniting the top-tier cancer researchers and clinicians in Canada and allowing them to share their data to deliver the best outcomes for each patient in the collective pursuit of curing cancer.

The fundamental responsibilities and accountabilities will include:

• Establish and execute data accessibility & utilization strategies and accompanying operating plans for current & future data initiatives.
• Establish, lead, and maintain integrated data governance frameworks that incorporate policy and procedure setting, risk identification and mitigation, ethics and consent, data stewardship, compliance, quality and privacy/legal applications of data management.
• Ensure alignment and coordination across TFRI initiatives leading to harmonized data policies and procedures.
• Work collaboratively with cancer centres, hospitals, and patient groups to determine harmonized data standards, data quality, privacy, digital security and cybersecurity protocols.
• Manage the Privacy Impact Assessment outputs to ensure compliance of DHDP Data Governance ensuring the Privacy by Design principles are embedded into the DHDP and its operation.
• Liaise with key industry partners and across cancer centres and hospital to oversee linkage and secure access to data from each centre for research in accordance with the FAIR principles and best ethical practices.
• Ensure appropriate data and governance requirements are planned in the roadmap implemented in the technical architecture and solutions.
• Lead consultation across key stakeholders to develop a strong and stable data infrastructure to support Initiatives.
• Lead the creation and maintenance of a data and AI governance infrastructure and strategy with acute awareness of risks and consequences of non-compliance.
• Create, lead, or participate in selected committees and advisory groups specifically focused on data governance and ethical use of AI.

The successful candidate will have/exhibit:

• Advanced degrees in a relevant quantitative or technological discipline with 5 years of relevant experience in a managerial role, or alternatively a bachelor’s degree with 10 years of relevant managerial experience.
• Demonstrated experience with:
  • managing a technological portfolio in a healthcare environment, and with managing healthcare data assets;
  • Successfully managing change and digital/data transformation for healthcare, and,
  • managing multiple projects simultaneously, including the implementation of emerging technologies.
• Demonstrated strong understanding of:
  • Health data including genomics data, and its uses in research leading to commercial clinical application;
  • Precision oncology;
  • Potential application of Artificial Intelligence and its uses in research and innovation;
  • Health data infrastructures that support research and innovation; and,
  • Data Ethics and the ethical use of AI.
• comprehensive understanding of changing priorities, trends, legislative requirements (ie provincial and federal data privacy) and/or other internal and external emerging issues and their potential impacts on goals, priorities and activities across the organization.
• Strong quantitative skills including knowledge of biostatistics and machine learning, and strong knowledge of data governance and Canada’s privacy legislation.
• Strong communication skills, to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Fluency in both Canada’s official languages would be an asset.

This position is a full-time employment located at either Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver. The candidate must be allowed to work in Canada.

We recognize the importance of diversity and equity in our workforce and encourage all qualified applicants to apply, including indigenous persons, women, persons with disabilities, minorities, and other underrepresented communities.

We aspire to undertake the most impactful cancer research in Canada and to achieve Terry’s dream of a world without cancer by enabling the acceleration of precision medicine to improve outcomes for all cancer patients.

If Terry’s dream is your dream, and you value excellence, integrity, leadership, are results oriented and believe in taking risks, we invite you to apply by April 30, 2022 (or until a suitable candidate is identified) to hr@tfri.ca