Scientific Engineer, Level D

Staff - Non Union
Job Category
M&P - AAPS
Job Profile
AAPS Salaried - Scientific Eng., Level D
Job Title
Scientific Engineer, Level D
Department
Support | Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems | Faculty of Applied Science
Compensation Range
$6,378.58 - $9,189.17 CAD Monthly
The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.
Posting End Date
April 19, 2023
Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.
Job End Date
Apr 18, 2024
At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.
Job Summary
The purpose of the position is to provide leadership and management of research on new ultrasound acquisition and analysis techniques for the Wellcome Leap project. The incumbent is responsible for determining the research questions and directing the day-to-day research on novel ultrasound imaging methods to meet the objectives of the project, especially to develop biomarkers for predicting risk of stillbirth. The position will also coordinate with partnering universities in other countries and integrate research initiatives undertaken by collaborators.
Typical duties include managing a diverse team of researchers and clinicians at UBC and BC Women’s Hospital to conduct a large prospective clinical study with both engineers and clinicians; evaluating the quality of the obtained study data and determining suitability for use by the research team; determining the appropriate changes to the study protocol according to quality metrics; determining changes to the study based on the latest literature on recent advances in ultrasound transducers, quantitative ultrasound signal processing, and image-based biomarkers of diseases of pregnancy; working with clinical collaborators at partnering universities and hospitals, especially University of North Carolina and University of New South Wales; guiding the technical and ethical aspects of clinical studies on high-risk pregnancies; collaborating with the full group of 13 international collaborators in the Wellcome Leap project; assigning and reviewing work of statisticians; advising and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students; and writing and presenting the results of research to the Wellcome Leap and in international conferences and journals.
Organizational Status
The position reports directly to Dr. Robert Rohling, Director of ICICS. The Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (CICIS) is an interdisciplinary unit at the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus.
Work Performed

• Determining new research opportunities with the partnering universities under the Wellcome Leap project based on designing novel ultrasound data acquisition and processing algorithms with both the standard Clarius ultrasound system and the more advanced Verasonics research ultrasound system. This includes developing new scanning protocols to span the different clinical studies at multiple sites while maintaining a common standard of data quality suitable for determining biomarkers of disease. It also includes directing the processing and assessment of data from the two ultrasound systems (standard and advanced), developing research protocols to manage and combine the data from the two ultrasound systems in order to coordinate effective joint research among the partnering universities.
• Consults with a broad group of stakeholders in maternal-fetal-medicine, radiology, obstetrics and pathology at BC Women’s hospital to ensure the research is aligned with the clinical goal of reducing stillbirth
• Assigns, oversees and reviews work by consultant statisticians
• Creates and manages an up-to-date survey of the literature on ultrasound-based biomarkers of organ health, especially in the field of obstetrics; provides guidance on research based on the survey.
• Provide day-to-day supervision of work by undergraduate research assistants
• Manages the distribution of raw clinical data to researchers and collects and translates results from those researchers; in particular, determining how to conduct research on ultrasound signal analysis of radiofrequency echoes to extract tissue-dependent measures of health of fetal placenta, heart, lungs, brain and other organs. Also determining how to divide the data and analysis tasks among the different research teams, and how to combine the results together.
• Provides advice to the research team on suitable state-of-the-art data analysis techniques
• Collects, collates and secures data from the clinical study
• Mentors and advises graduate students in research methods, communications and teamwork
• Develop and maintain collaborations with engineers from the manufacturer of the ultrasound systems
• Leads the research theme of ultrasound biomarker discovery for predicting and preventing stillbirth as the main goal of the Wellcome Leap In Utero project at UBC
• Authors and co-authors publications on the results of research at team meetings, Wellcome Leap meetings, conferences and journals
• Developing recommendations to manage the complex interplay between engineering and clinical researchers, including hosting workshops and collating reports that can be understood by both types of researchers.
• Directs and assigns tasks to the engineering team of the other engineers who are supporting a large clinical study at BC Women’s Hospital
• Designs and develops protocols for ultrasound data acquisition with the input of sonographers, reviews the protocol during clinical study, and recommends and implements updates to the protocols.
• Provides training on ultrasound systems to the clinical team at BC Women’s Hospital
• Directs a number of research projects within the above theme including optimization of high-quality ultrasound data acquisition; development and implementation of quantitative ultrasound measurements of health; verifying performance against clinical gold standards such as pathology results.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
This position is responsible for the research and testing results for the Wellcome Leap project. The current project is part of a $50M international effort with twelve other universities. Work is expected to be at a high level of accuracy. Error could cause serious consequences to the research team and current and future funding. Liaising with the ICICS Director, Clinical Research Manager and other clinical researchers has to be maintained to ensure strict adherence to the goal of the overall project: reducing stillbirths worldwide.
Supervision Received
Works independently. Position reports to Dr. Robert Rohling. Assignments are given according to project requirements and objectives.
Supervision Given
Supervises various engineers and students/staff of the Wellcome Leap project. While the incumbent is not directly responsible for managing all the clinicians and research collaborators, the incumbent is responsible for ensuring that various collaborators are collecting data according to standards identified. The incumbent is also responsible for ensuring effective communication between various groups to ensure changes to protocols are clearly communicated and followed. This includes ensuring the protocols undertaken meet the standards of the country.
Minimum Qualifications
University degree in Engineering or Applied Science with advanced training or experience in the field of image analysis. Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own. Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Preferred Qualifications
Ph.D. preferred with a focus on medical imaging. Excellent organizational, management, communication and administrative skills. Effective interpersonal and problem solving skills. Ability to work effectively and independently and in a team environment. Ability to exercise judgement, take initiative and work under pressure to meet deadlines. Ability to manage time and prioritize duties. Musts be through, accurate, and have a high level of attention to detail.