Staff spotlight: Michael Dudley
In his role as program operations analyst, Michael’s primary focus is providing acquisition and analytic support to the Department of Medicine Strategic Plan workgroups.
“It’s been almost one year since I’ve been in this position and I absolutely love it!!” he said. “It has connected me with many employees within the divisions. Daily, I am amazed at the wealth of talent within this organization. People are dedicated to providing the best service and care to the community.”
Michael enjoys the variety of projects and people that he gets to work with on a daily basis, which “keeps the work interesting and challenging,” he said. He’s also happy to be involved in the fantastic work happening to support the Strategic Plan, including the development of a dashboard to track workgroup progress, and a grants dashboard for supporting faculty research efforts – to be introduced soon.
Background and education
Though born in New Jersey, Michael has spent most of his life in the Seattle area, where he grew up and gained secondary education. He earned his bachelor of science degree in math from UW ("go Huskies!!") and after a “slight” delay of over 25 years, earned a master of science degree in data analytics from Western Governors University.
“I was quite content with my career – then COVID happened. I wanted to get back to working in healthcare/research. As I looked at the job market, I quickly realized that I needed a graduate degree, even for equivalent positions I previously held many years ago. This helped me make the decision to go back to school and get the required credential.”
Career experience
For over 20 years, Michael has worked as a data analyst/manager supporting healthcare and government agencies. His previous roles include serving as a data manager with the UW Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute (ADAI), working on various HIV/AIDS and colorectal clinical trials at Fred Hutch, and analyzing claims data for Group Health Cooperative.
Throughout his career, Michael has had the opportunity to support many interesting projects. One in particular was with ADAI in collaboration with the Suquamish Tribe. His team met regularly with tribal leaders to develop and implement ‘Healing of the Canoe’, a culturally-based substance abuse prevention program for Indigenous youth.
Prior to coming to the Department of Medicine, Michael worked for a company that contracted with the Federal Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). In this role, he was responsible for cleaning and analyzing pipeline data as well as updating the Enforcement Transparency website which contains information on all pipeline incidents initiated by the federal government.
“Hear of any reporting on gas pipeline accidents? Most likely my hands at one point touched the data reported!” he quipped.
Hobbies
Michael is passionate about music with a background as a professional musician performing in the Seattle area.
“Music is a HUGE part of my life,” he said. “In the past I have enjoyed performing around the Seattle area, including a 9-year stint with Seattle Opera. Many great memories AND I got a paycheck doing it, not like a Stevie Wonder paycheck, but a paycheck none the less!”
