Job Description
As a health analyst in a university research center, I work directly under a supervisor, which they call the Primary Investigator. They are people with PhD's in an area of health research such as health economics or biostatistics. You work on research projects with a study objective such as: What factors improve health outcomes in patients with colon cancer? To answer this question, I analyze large datasets by using SAS statistical software. 90% of the job is in front of the computer typing code to create subsets of data and analyze it. Other duties are reading research journal articles and finding out who else is doing similar research. I create tables and charts in Excel to display analysis results. I meet with my supervisor everyday to go over what I have accomplished. One research project takes several months to complete. Each day varies. One day I would be calling a government health agency to request data. Another day I would be figuring out how to download data into a specific format.
Pros
It is a standard 40 hour week. Some slow days make easy days. Working at a University, you get many holidays and good benefits in terms of healthcare insurance and pension plan.
Cons
The pay scale at a University is low compared to industry ranges (about 20K lower). It does not grow by much either. Promotions are slow and salaries are capped based on your education degree. Working in research with a master's degree is limiting because you will never be the boss of your work. You will always work under a supervisor PhD. This could be bad or good. If your supervisor is looking out for your career growth, they will train, nuture, and mentor you. If your supervisor is just concerned with the progress of their research, then they will most likely ignore your requests to pursue other research interests or collaborate with other professors because that takes time and money from their projects. You are the one doing the busy work to complete the project, but very often do not get the credit for it, because you are considered just the "research assista
Company Size
25-50 employees
Pay Range
$50,001-$60,000
Years in Job
1
Education
Masters degree
City
Irvine
State
CA
