Career Confessions: A Health Information Manager’s Time in an NCI Fellowship
, by Boyun Jang
We spoke to a health information manager from South Korea who came to NCI for the summer. Read about her fellowship experience and how data science knowledge is furthering her career.
Boyun Jang
Health Information Manager
National Cancer Center
South Korea
What are your primary responsibilities at the National Cancer Center?
I manage cancer registration and terminology standardization as a health information manager at the National Cancer Center in South Korea.
What made you want to pursue cancer research and, specifically, the data science field?
The importance of data has grown significantly, leading to changes in the roles of health information managers like me. While working to establish registries that collect clinical and public data on cancer patients for integration with other data sets, my interest in collecting, analyzing, and utilizing big data greatly expanded. Data science is crucial in various fields, including healthcare and cancer research.
What did you learn while at NCI that you believe will help you in your career going forward?
The visiting fellow program allowed me to meet data experts from various fields, and I was inspired by their research passions and perspectives on the future of the data science field.
The five biggest takeaways from this fellowship that will positively influence my career include:
- gaining better analysis and comprehension skills. I learned about cloud-based platforms and how to visualize data.
- learning how to use NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program
- increasing my knowledge of various data set structures, such as SEER data sets, the Cancer MoonshotSM Biobank, and NCI-MATCH.
- practicing data standardization and quality control.
- understanding the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.
Learning about the SEER Program was particularly useful to me because of its connection to my current role at South Korea's National Cancer Center. At NCI, I gathered a wealth of information while constructing cancer patient registries. With my access to SEER*STAT, I could retrieve and analyze data from various datasets, further enhancing my understanding of the program and SEER data.
I currently participate in constructing a next-generation Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system for my department at the National Cancer Center in South Korea. A growing volume of data for patients has emphasized that EMRs need to manage and organize the data more efficiently. By gaining a clear understanding of the NCI cloud-based platforms, my department can work to improve data accessibility, data quality, advancements in education and research, and cost-saving benefits.
What advice do you have for someone looking to pursue the cancer data science field?
Know how to access, explore, and safeguard personal user data against vulnerabilities. I'm familiar with the significance of patient consent and the necessity of anonymizing data. When handling such sensitive information, it is crucial to have a strict process for making data anonymous.