Research Scientist - Aging and Disability Economics, Evaluation, and Public Health Surveillance

Job no: 503856 Work type: Regular Full-Time Location: Chicago - 300 E Randolph St Capability Area: Public Health

JOB SUMMARY:

NORC's Public Health Analytics Program conducts research and surveillance on age-related chronic disease and disability. The program's portfolio includes the Dementia DataHub (DementiaDataHub.org), the Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS), SoundCheckMap, fall prevention research, and additional projects on aging-related conditions. The work is funded through NIH grants, federal contracts, and foundation support, and is conducted in partnership with academic institutions, federal agencies, and industry collaborators. The program uses Medicare claims, national surveys, and other secondary data to measure disease burden, identify disparities, and inform policy.

We are hiring a Research Scientist to play a central analytic role across this portfolio. The role suits an early-career PhD scientist who wants to publish, build a research portfolio, and contribute to a long-running, well-funded program of work.

Work Location

This is a hybrid role based in our one of our office locations: Chicago Loop, Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA or Cambridge, MA.

Qualified applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. We regret that we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.

DEPARTMENT: Public Health Research

The Public Health Research team conducts work on a variety of public health topics including disease surveillance, health communication science, health promotion, interpersonal conflict and violence, rural health, and social determinants of health. Our team includes prominent health policy experts, nationally recognized public health researchers with general and specialized expertise in areas such as rural health and tribal issues, health communications, skilled methodologists, and leaders in the field of survey design and implementation. Our staff also brings expertise in populations of special interest and the intersection of public health and health care delivery. We offer broad, multidisciplinary experiences spanning public health, epidemiology, statistics, policy, developmental psychology, economics, sociology, social work, and political science.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead analyses of Medicare and Medicaid Fee-for-Service claims using the CMS Virtual Research Data Center, including work with the Master Beneficiary Summary File, Inpatient, Outpatient, Carrier, SNF, Home Health, Hospice, DME, and Part D files.
• Develop, validate, and refine claims-based case definitions and ascertainment models for dementia, vision impairment, hearing loss, falls, and related conditions.
• Conduct analyses using nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies and their linkages to Medicare claims.
• First-author peer-reviewed publications under PI mentorship and co-author across the team's portfolio.
• Contribute to NIH grant applications, federal contract deliverables, foundation-supported research, and pilot grant program activities.
• Produce analytic code that is reproducible, auditable, and built to survive verification.

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• PhD in economics, health services research, public policy, epidemiology, or a closely related quantitative field. Recent post-doc or assistant professor equivalent experience preferred.
• Demonstrated proficiency in SAS, R, or Python for analysis of large administrative claims and survey datasets. SAS is preferred; strong R or Python candidates will be considered. STATA and SPSS proficiency alone is not sufficient.
• Direct, hands-on experience with Medicare claims data or comparable large administrative health datasets.
• A track record of scientific writing and the ability to first-author publications under mentorship.
• Meticulous attention to detail and a strong instinct for when something is not quite right in the data or the analysis.
• Qualified applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. We regret that we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.

Preferred qualifications

• Expertise in dementia measurement, regardless of data source.
• Working knowledge of nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies relevant to aging, such as the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), or the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), including their wave structure, imputation conventions, and Medicare linkages.
• Experience working in the NIA LINKAGE data enclave.
• Experience working in the CMS Virtual Research Data Center, including familiarity with DUA requirements and CMS cell suppression rules.
• Experience with epidemiological estimation, machine learning, Bayesian regression methods, and econometrics.
• First-author peer-reviewed publications in health services research, epidemiology, or aging.

What we offer

• Sustained research funding through NIH grants, federal contracts, and foundation-supported research.
• Direct mentorship from a PI with a long record of NIH funding and high-impact peer-reviewed publication.
• A clear path to first-author publications and to building an independent research portfolio.
• Affiliation with NORC at the University of Chicago, with access to NORC's data infrastructure, statisticians, and broader research community.
• The opportunity to do work that matters. The program produces some of the only national-scale surveillance estimates for dementia, vision impairment, and hearing loss, and the analyses you contribute will shape how disease burden in aging populations is measured at the national level.

Who will thrive here

The strongest candidates bring genuine scientific curiosity about how dementia, aging, and disability are measured and what the data do and do not tell us. They pair that curiosity with near-obsessive attention to analytic accuracy and the ambition to make a substantive contribution to their field. We work iteratively and collaboratively. We expect people to run their own work streams and own their decisions, while being open to direct feedback and willing to revise when the evidence calls for it.

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

The pay range for this position is $106,000 - $130,000.

This position is classified as regular. Regular staff are eligible for NORC's comprehensive benefits program. Benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Generously subsidized health insurance, effective on the first day of employment
• Dental and vision insurance
• A defined contribution retirement program, along with a separate voluntary 403(b) retirement program
• Group life insurance, long-term and short-term disability insurance
• Benefits that promote work/life balance, including generous paid time off, holidays; paid parental leave, bereavement leave, tuition assistance, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

NORC is committed to equity and transparency in its pay practices. We publish salary ranges and benefit information for every job. The listed hiring range reflects what we, in good faith, expect to pay at the time of posting, though actual compensation may vary and may be adjusted over time. A candidate's placement within the range depends on factors such as competencies, education, qualifications, experience, skills, performance, and organizational needs. This role is bonus eligible. Bonus payment is contingent upon program terms and individual performance.

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Advertised: June 22, 2026 Central Daylight Time Applications close:

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