For our September Employee Spotlight, we’re featuring Kivan Polimis! Serving as a pivotal part of our Health Analytics team, he’s a Data Scientist that values being able to help others. But there’s more to Kivan than just the awesome work he does with Karna, and he gives us a glimpse of that in this month’s feature.
Q: What is your position and what do you do?
I am a Data Scientist and, in this role, I support internal and externally funded projects by integrating diverse datasets, providing statistical analyses, developing data ingest pipelines, and creating visualizations and dashboards.
Q: What has been your favorite project at Karna and why?
My favorite project is working on the CDC DASH Dashboard because of how the dashboard supports analysts’ and stakeholders’ ability to generate insights by interactively visualizing data to investigate outcomes.
Q: What have you gained from working at Karna?
I’ve gained exposure to mentorship and leadership opportunities, technical expertise, and business development.
Q: What do you do to stay fit/healthy?
I love trying to cook (work-in-progress), shooting around (basketball), walking regularly (occasionally run), and sometimes lifting weights.
Q: Do you have a tip for coping with stress?
Focus on helping others. You’ll have less time to spend on what is stressing you out and you’ll demonstrate some competence to yourself by helping others. Ultimately, you develop the confidence to address your own stress and have the added benefit of helping others.
Q: Where is your hometown?
Mon Repos, Saint Lucia. I grew up mainly in Baytown, Texas, so I claim both.
Q: What did you want to be growing up?
I did high school debate, and Thurgood Marshall’s career as a litigator and later Supreme Court Justice was always inspiring. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer until I got old enough to go to law school.
Q: You are happiest when?
This is a multi-way tie: shooting free throws in an empty gym, listening to an audiobook while walking, finding a hidden gem restaurant after you spent the whole day wandering a new city, or being one of a handful of people in a matinee movie. Doing something solitary yet social.
Q: What is something most people do not know about you?
I used to have dreadlocks before Father Time flexed his unblemished record.
Q: Anything you would like to add or say to help your colleagues and clients know you a little better?
I am an intellectually curious person and enjoy hearing about what people are working on and being helpful where I can. Anything from listening quietly to providing feedback, workshopping an idea, or more. In particular, the Analytics team prides itself on trying to automate the time intensive portions of workflows so people can spend more time on the fun parts of work.