Department: MED-Preventive Medicine
Salary/Grade: EXS/7
Target hiring range for this position will be between $63,000 - $80,000 per hour. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.
Job Summary: Manages daily operations of a biomedical &/or social-behavioral research study involving multidisciplinary teams of colleagues, sponsors & other external project stakeholders. Monitors study performance, analyzes & review results, & supervises development & implementation of new protocols. Assigns work & supervises study staff & reviews technical operations ensuring that all processes, protocols & procedures are quality controlled & functioning up to standards. Develops implements & administers budgets, grant & administrative procedures. May co-author scientific papers for presentation & publication & coordinates writing, submission & administration of grants. Ensures that all study activities are completed by strictly following Good Clinical Practices (GCP) & all current local, state, & federal laws, regulations, guidance, policy & procedure developed by the NU Institutional Review Board (IRB), Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), & the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH).
Please note:
This is primarily an in-person position and requires working on site at least four days per week. There may be flexibility to work remotely up to one day per week, depending on study needs, participant schedules, and operational responsibilities.
Because this is a participant-facing research position, the individual must be able to accommodate research participant schedules, which may occasionally require work outside of standard business hours, including early mornings (e.g., 6:00-8:00 AM), evenings (e.g., 6:00-8:00 PM), and weekends.
The position also requires close coordination with the Principal Investigator, study staff, and collaborators at a partner university in Madison, Wisconsin. Occasional travel to the Madison area may be required to support protocol implementation, staff coordination, training, and consistent execution of study procedures. Travel may include day trips and, when necessary, overnight stays.
Specific Responsibilities:
Technical
- Provides complex scientific & technical leadership in determining research priorities & the plan, design & execution of research projects ensuring that programs of investigation meet specified objectives.
- Plans, develops & implements new processes & protocols to support research studies & maximize/extend study capabilities.
- Oversees completion of study activities per protocol.
- Establish recruitment workflows using electronic medical record, and MyNM patient facing portal, and collects data from medical records
- Ascertains pretreatment & eligibility requirements.
- Obtains informed consent.
- Interviews & obtains medical & social histories.
- Administers, schedules &/or scores tests; coordinates scheduling with other staff to schedule tests (sonographers for ultrasound imaging).
- Administers and manages mailings and returns of blood pressure monitors, wearable devices (Fitbit and Accelerometers)
- Conduct participant visits including tech set-up (blood pressure monitor app and device use, wearable devices), consent and training participant on tech set-up
- Maintains communication with participants to strengthen retention and ensure accuracy of data collection.
- Coordinates processing & analysis of data, conduct of experimental tests & procedures
- Ensures that study protocols are in compliance with appropriate rules & regulations & reviews study progress and recommends revisions, amendments, and/or other study changes as necessary to better meet needs of sponsors.
- Reviews scientific literature & evaluates & recommends applicable techniques & procedures.
Administrative
- Oversees & manages collection, maintenance, analysis & evaluation of data that will be used in grant submissions, presentations & publications.
- Ensures that information is entered correctly into databases.
- Assists PI in reviewing, analyzing, interpreting, summarizing, formatting, editing, & preparing tables, charts, graphs, progress & final reports, etc.
- Prepares results & may co-author scientific papers for presentation & publication & disseminates information via seminars, lectures, etc.
- Acts as liaison between sponsoring agencies, collaborating organizations &/or other research &/or educational institutions.
- Ensures that all study documents associated with current local, state, & federal regulatory guidelines, requirements, laws & research protocols are completed in a timely manner.
- Communicates with other research groups around the US who are part of the research project.
Finance
- May create &/or manage research study budget which may include deciding on & approving expenditures of funds based on budget.
- Monitors accounts.
- Negotiates prices & specifications with vendors.
- Purchases supplies, materials, equipment & services that they are necessary, reasonable & project related.
- Maintains inventory of study supplies.
Supervision
- Trains, directs, assigns duties to & may supervise lab EEs, students, residents &/or fellows.
- Acts as a mentor in regard to education of junior coordinators.
Miscellaneous
Performs other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications: - Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in a major such as social or health science or related; OR appropriate combination of education and experience and 5 years' research study or other relevant experience required; OR
- Successful completion of a full course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a master's or higher degree in a major such as social or health science or related; OR appropriate combination of education and experience and 3 years' research study or other relevant experience.
- Supervisory or project management experience required.
- Must complete NU's IRB CITI training before interacting with any participants & must re-certify every 3 years.
Minimum Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities.) Preferred Qualifications: - Experience coordinating a health-related research studies
- Experience developing, setting up, and managing REDCap databases.
- Master's degree in a social, behavioral, public health, clinical, or other health-related science.
- At least 2-3 years of research experience in social, behavioral, public health, clinical, or other health-related sciences.
- Experience preparing and submitting materials to an Institutional Review Board (IRB)
- Experience with recruiting, screening and obtaining informed consent from research study participants
- Experience training and/or overseeing research staff.
- Familiarity with chronic disease management and/or cardiovascular health research
Preferred Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities) - Conducting and obtaining informed consent from research study participants
- Collecting and documenting data from human subjects using standardized study procedures.
- Developing or implementing research protocols, standard operating procedures, or manuals of operation.
- Ability to train, coordinate and provide oversight to research staff.
- Submitting documents to IRB
- Knowledge of effective participant recruitment, engagement, tracking, and retention strategies.
- Must complete NU's IRB CITI training before interacting with any participants & must re-certify every 3 years.
- Comfortable using remote blood pressure monitors, heart rate and activity monitors, and other sensor-based technologies.
- Familiarity with smart phone health applications and connectivity to REDCap
- Use REDCap for participant tracking, data collection, data management, and study operations.
- Exerpience with survey research and administration of participant-reported measures
- Experience with writing data reports
- Strong written communication skills, including the ability to communicate with other investigators and collaborators, and patients, prepare study documentation, reports, and materials
- Strong organizational and project management skills, including experience coordinating multidisciplinary research teams, priorities, timelines, and deliverables.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to coordinate effectively with multidisciplinary research teams, investigators, clinical personnel and participants.
Benefits At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful and competitive benefits. The available benefits package for this position will include health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance; paid vacation and holidays; paid medical/sick and parental leave; tuition benefits for the employee and dependents; pre-tax and flex spending accounts for commuting and dependent care; generous retirement savings options; and wellness programs. For a comprehensive overview of available benefits, including eligibility details, visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/index.html to learn more.
Work-Life and Wellness: Northwestern offers comprehensive programs and services to help you and your family navigate life's challenges and opportunities, and adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles.
We support flexible work arrangements where possible and programs to help you locate and pay for quality, affordable childcare and senior/adult care. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/work-life/index.html to learn more.
Professional Growth & Development: Northwestern supports employee career development in all circumstances whether your workspace is on campus or at home. If you're interested in developing your professional potential or continuing your formal education, we offer a variety of tools and resources. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/learning/index.html to learn more
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