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Karla Fettich, PhD
I am enthusiastic about using my skills, expertise and 10+ years of healthcare analytics experience to make a lasting positive impact in the community. I lead teams to develop technical, analytics and ML/AI solutions, both professionally and through volunteer work. I have contributed to efforts to increase diversity in the Philadelphia data science community and provide analytics insights to non-profit organizations in the greater Philadelphia area through datathons and software product development.
Education
Certifications
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- Managed Healthcare Professional (MHP) (AHIP; 2023)
- AI Applications for Growth (Northwestern University; 2023)
- Professional, Health Insurance Advanced Studies (PHIAS) (AHIP; 2021)
Formal Education
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- PhD, Psychology/Neuroscience (Temple University, 2011-2016)
- MA, Social Sciences/Psychology (The University of Chicago, 2008-2009)
- BA, Psychology (Jacobs University Bremen, 2002-2005)
Healthcare Analytics Experience
Lead Data Scientist
AmeriHealth Caritas
Remote
present - 2023
- Technical lead for cloud migration to Databricks/Azure platforms, supporting DevOps/MLOps, data governance and change management
- Design and manage the development of ML/AI products and solutions, incl. collaborating with stakeholders, process mapping, project planning, pre-deployment code review, and post-deployment validation
- Drive innovation and data process quality improvements via ML feature stores, CI/CD, code review, and multidisciplinary event series for disseminating news and best practices company-wide
- Improve code quality to achieve a run time speed reduction for a core company analytics product from 4h to 30m
Senior Data Scientist
AmeriHealth Caritas
Remote
2023 - 2021
- Developed ML models in R for risk stratification of LTSS members
- Conducted exploratory data mining analyses, created insights decks and presentations to internal clients, and led a collaborative analytics project
- Improved efficiency by reducing meeting overhead, automating workflows, developing solutions to transition from legacy systems, and coordinating with other teams to facilitate access tools
- Led knowledge-sharing sessions on modern tools in data science
Head of Analytics & Algorithm Development
Orchestrall, Inc.
Hybrid (Conshohocken, PA)
2021 - 2015
- Lead healthcare data science consulting projects to derive insights from clinical data and multidisciplinary teams
- Develop and test predictive models for operational implementation
- Select optimal tools for statistical modeling, including decision trees, logistic regression, conditional inference forests, multiple imputation
- Develop algorithms to power intelligent healthcare applications for the senior care market, including outcome prediction, anomaly detection, and logistics optimization; our solution earned the Excellence in Technology Award for Dignity in Long-Term Care
- Conduct end-to-end analyses including study design, data identification/collection, ETL, analysis, and communication of findings
- Implement analytical models into production through collaborations with the software development team
Graduate Research Assistant
Neurocognition Lab
Temple University
2016 - 2013
- Introduced and applied machine learning techniques (e.g. support vector machines, multivoxel pattern analysis, graph theory, network analysis) and high performance computing tools
- Assessed new data sources for value creation, attracting new research opportunities through a large, multi-site research network
- Evaluated and communicated technical advantages and tradeoffs between statistical models
Prior experience
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- Graduate Clinical Research Assistant (Mechanisms of Affect Dysregulation Lab, Temple University; 2011-2013)
- Graduate Teaching Assistant and Lab Instructor (Temple University; 2014)
- Lead Clinical Research Coordinator (Adult Eating and Weight Disorders Clinic, The University of Chicago; 2009-2011)
I have 14 years of experience conducting academic research, including clinical trials and studies using neuroimaging and psychophysiological data.
Community Involvement & Leadership
I enjoy learning via hands-on projects that have a real and positive impact, and I seek to create opportunities to make this type of learning available to the wider community.
Project Leader
Philadelphia, PA
present - 2019
- Lead a team of volunteer developers to create a 360-degree view of PAWS’ constituents and a data integration process from independent systems into SalesForce
Organizer & Board Member
Philadelphia, PA
2023 - 2018
- Increased gender diversity in Philadelphia’s data science community by creating learning, networking and leadership opportunities for over 1500 members via technical events and collaborations with other data groups
Lead Datathon Organizer
Collaborate with non-profit organizations to articulate business questions, translate them into viable analytics projects for volunteer data scientists; coordinate the volunteer effort, and help data scientists translate their findings into into clear and actionable business insights
Philadelphia, PA
2020 - 2018
- Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society: Animal Shelter Volunteer Engagement (2018) and Animal Adoptions (2019)
- Health Federation of Philadelphia, Prevention Point, the City of Philadelphia: Opioid Epidemic (2020)
- Judge Accountability Table: Judicial patterns in Philadelphia courts (2021)