Meet the Data Scientist: Scott Worland
We sat down with one of our talented Data Scientists, Scott Worland, to talk about his background and what it’s like contributing to the data science and engineering team at Thyme Care.
“We know that Thyme Care is having a huge impact in people’s lives and I'm excited to begin developing the causal-modeling framework that will allow us to quantify our impact and continuously improve our care model.”
Tell us a little about yourself.
My path to healthcare has not been a straight one. Over the past decade I have been a research fellow in academia, a research scientist with the federal government, and a data science leader at a supply-chain startup. The common thread throughout these different roles has been the use of machine learning and statistics to solve big, ambitious problems.
How’d you end up at Thyme Care?
My interest in health tech developed over years of conversations with my family members and close friends who work in healthcare. I noticed that I was spending a lot of my personal time reading and thinking about the current state of healthcare and exploring the landscape of existing and burgeoning health tech solutions. When I heard about Thyme Care, I was immediately sold on the mission. What can be more disorienting than a cancer diagnosis? How is someone expected to self-navigate all of the medical and financial intricacies of the healthcare system while also dealing with a life-altering illness? After my initial conversations with Sarah Ruth and Alphan I knew that I had found something I had to be a part of.
Tell us about the data/engineering team at Thyme Care. What makes it special?
There is a culture of empathy at Thyme Care and the tech team is no exception. Whether it’s a Care Partner assisting someone with treatment for a new cancer diagnosis or a Data Scientist working with a Backend Engineer—we respect other people and value their thoughts and inputs.
Within a few days of joining I was struck by the fact that Thyme Care has managed to build a data/engineering team without making compromises. Each member is an expert practitioner, laser focused on the mission, and genuinely fun to work with. The Engineers and Data Scientists at Thyme Care could go anywhere they wanted, yet choose to invest themselves at Thyme Care because they truly believe in what we are building.
Tell us about a project you’re excited to be working on in the future?
We know that Thyme Care is having a huge impact in people’s lives and I'm excited to begin developing the causal-modeling framework that will allow us to quantify our impact and continuously improve our care model.
What skills have you found most important in your role?
The ability to translate business needs into questions that are answerable, at least in part, by mathematical and computational approaches. It is also paramount to receive feedback from the care team and clinical staff to iteratively improve our data-science products.
What’s working well on the team?
Each member of the team focuses most of their energy in one of several thematic verticals, and this allows us to move fast. We are only able to accomplish this because our fantastic product team is able to keep all the plates spinning while also ensuring knowledge is shared across verticals.
How do you see Thyme Care as an innovator in the world of healthcare tech?
Apart from the fact that we are really the only company offering navigation and advocacy services targeted directly to cancer members, I think the big thing is that the engineering and data teams are operating at a level that you would expect from a much more mature company. This allows us to spend our time thinking about the hard problems we need to solve rather than constantly dealing with tech debt.
We prioritize hiring incredible Data Scientists regardless of their background. This works because we can hire Data Scientists who are experts in a specific area (building data science infrastructure, causal modeling, etc) who lack healthcare-specific experience and pair them with other members of the data team who have extensive knowledge of oncology and value-based care.
What are some of the core decisions you make every day? What motivates you to make those decisions?
One of the exciting parts of working for a startup is that there is always a lot to do, and it can sometimes be hard to decide what to work on and how much effort it deserves. We know that each item we prioritize has an opportunity cost associated with it, but for us these costs are not just whether or not we should have spent our time building another feature—our opportunity costs are denominated by the impact we are having on the lives of enrolled members. I make it a habit to continually reorient myself with the question, "What is the ultimate goal of what I am working on today?" Taking a step back and reminding myself of the bigger picture allows me to keep perspective as I focus on the day-to-day tasks.
Listen to Alphan Kirayoglu, Thyme Care’s VP, Data Science, to learn more about how the data science team integrates across the Thyme Care organization and check out our open data roles here: thymecare.com/careers
