Yalemzewod A Gelaw
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Career Summary

Over 8+ years, I’ve been on a relentless mission to make data useful — spanning academia, public health, and the private sector. My journey has taken me from modelling disease dynamics in R to orchestrating cloud-scale pipelines in Snowflake and Microsoft Fabric. I’m equally at home wrangling messy surveillance datasets and shipping polished Power BI dashboards to executive stakeholders. Armed with a PhD in Epidemiology & Biostatistics, I bring rigors to every analysis and a genuine obsession with turning raw numbers into decisions that matter.

2025 - Present

HBF Health, Data Analytics and Insight Team

Senior Data Analyst

Stack: Snowflake · Python · SQL · Tableau · Streamlit · Atlassian

Key responsibilities:

  • Design and ship end-to-end dashboards that translate complex insurance claims data into clear, actionable narratives for business stakeholders

  • Interrogate high-dimensional cloud datasets to surface patterns in high-claim episodes and health conditions

  • Engage cross-functional stakeholders to align data products with real decision-making needs

  • Build interactive Streamlit apps to democratize data access across the organization

2024 - 2025

WA Department of Health, Healthcare Quality Intelligence Unit

Senior Data Scientist

Stack: Power BI · SQL Server · Snowflake · R · Power Query

Key responsibilities:

  • Architected and deployed Power BI dashboards and data models that drove quality intelligence decisions across WA Health services

  • Built and maintained ETL pipelines using SQL and Power Query, ensuring clean, reliable data flowing from source to insight

  • Led end-to-end project delivery from requirements gathering through to stakeholder sign-off

  • Translated complex healthcare metrics into visual stories that non-technical audiences could act on instantly

2021 - 2023

Child Health Analytics Team, Telethon Kids Institute

Researcher & Geospatial Analyst

Stack: R · Python · ArcGIS · QGIS · Excel

Key responsibilities:

  • Managed and validated high-resolution raster outputs for insecticide-treated net (ITN) models — because bad input data means bad decisions in the field.

  • Acquired, cleaned, and geolocated malaria surveillance datasets and shapefiles, building a pipeline from raw coordinates to analysis-ready layers.

  • Led sub-national geostatistical modeling of malaria endemicity using Bayesian statistics, producing maps that informed elimination strategies.

  • Lead-authored two manuscripts for high-impact journal submission.

  • Co-developed a spatial analysis training manual in R and QGIS, delivering two rounds of hands-on training in Ethiopia.

  • Secured a $15,000 AUD seed grant to build a web-based interactive decision-support tool for malaria elimination in Vietnam.

2020 - 2021

Population Child Health Research Group, UNSW Sydney

Child Health Biostatistician

Stack: R · MySQL

Key responsibilities:

  • Ran quantitative analyses on linked administrative datasets covering children in out-of-home care — turning sensitive, complex records into rigorous, policy-relevant insights.

  • Delivered statistical and research design support across the group, from choosing the right model to interpreting results for non-statistician collaborators.

  • Contributed to competitive grant applications, owning study design, sample size calculations, and analytical strategy.

  • Authored three manuscripts, leading or co-leading two submissions to peer-reviewed journals.

2019 - 2020

Metro North Public Health Unit, Queensland Health

Epidemiologist

Stack: R · PostgreSQL · QGIS

Key responsibilities:

  • Delivered statistical analysis and epidemiological expertise to population health research, programs, and community health planning — bridging the gap between raw surveillance data and public health action.

  • Extracted, analyzed, and reported on data from routine disease surveillance databases, turning continuous data streams into timely, decision-ready reports.

  • Led monitoring and surveillance of forborne outbreaks, applying rigorous epidemiological methods from data collection through to actionable findings.

  • Mentored and supervised undergraduate and postgraduate students in research methods, building the next generation of data-literate health scientists.

2016 - 2020

The University of Queensland, Brisbane, AU

PhD Candidate — Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Stack: R · ArcGIS · WinBUGS · Scientific writing

Key activities:

  • Deployed a full arsenal of statistical methods — population-attributable risks, Poisson and Binomial regression, Bayesian inference, and geostatistical models — to crack complex public health questions.

  • Produced multiple high-resolution geospatial maps by fusing surveillance data with environmental datasets, pushing the boundary of what spatial analytics could reveal.

  • Partnered with WHO-linked senior researchers on two systematic reviews to update Adolescent Latent TB Infection Treatment guidelines.

  • Published five first-author journal papers and co-authored four additional articles — building a track record of rigorous, reproducible research.

2013 - 2016

Institute of Public Health, The University of Gondar

Lecturer

Stack: R · SPSS · Scientific writing

Key responsibilities:

  • Taught Biostatistics to undergraduate and postgraduate students across medicine and health sciences — sparking a love of data-driven thinking in the next generation of public health professionals.

  • Supervised student research projects, guiding them from research question to robust analysis and publication-ready findings.

  • Led fieldwork students through community professional practice, turning classroom theory into real-world impact.

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