Research Assistant II - Boston Medical Center

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Research Assistant II (RA2) will support the Vice Chair for Addiction Psychiatry, Dr. Amy Yule, on research projects within the Department of Psychiatry. The main project the RA will be involved with will consist of a randomized controlled efficacy trial of a stepped-care intervention to address maternal depression among families involved in Headstart services. The RA2 will oversee the administrative aspects of the grant and interact with study subjects, clinical research coordinators, study investigators, work study students and other research staff. Duties include but are not limited to, assisting with patient recruitment and scheduling study visits virtually and in the community, administering questionnaires and structured observation with preschool-aged children and their mothers, creating and filing case report forms, entering and updating data, maintaining databases, running reports, and performing other administrative tasks in support of the clinical study. The RA2 maintains contact with the participating sites to insure complete and timely data collection, maintains patient profiles, assists with documenting financial and budgetary needs of the grant, and supports the research team with the preparation of data and other reports; oversees work of Research Assistants, along with training and orientation; as well as develops and implements patient recruitment strategies and changes to study protocols.

Position: Research Assistant II

Department: Psychiatry

Schedule: Full Time

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES / DUTIES:

• Prepares and maintains Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals and correspondence, including amendments and renewals as necessary.
• Provides assistance in the development of reports, presentations, and data analysis.
• Assists in data collection and provides feedback on study progress.
• Recruits subjects to participate in the study; conducts the enrollment of study participants, including explaining research procedures & protocols, and obtaining informed consent of subjects and/or their families.
• Conducts the enrollment of study participants, including explaining research procedures, and obtaining informed consent of subjects and/or their families. The informed consent process and study assessments may be performed virtually and in the community.
• Administers questionnaires, conducts interviews, and assists study participants in navigating through questionnaires at Headstart sites and in participants' home.
• Maintains participant study files in accordance with legal and institutional guidelines.
• Obtains and distributes reimbursements/participation vouchers and/or payments.
• Schedules appointments of study participants; conducts reminder phone calls and/or sends mailouts.
• Performs a variety of data management procedures (e.g., data entry, producing basic reports, data cleaning, database maintenance).
• Reviews the data collection forms for each enrollee for completion and quality; checks work of junior staff performing data entry to ensure timely and accurate entry.
• Provides technical guidance to junior staff.
• Conducts literature searches and synthesizes information in requested formats.
• Attends all required training and meetings of the research team, as instructed by Principal Investigator
• Responsible for all other administrative duties related to research activities.
• Participates in staff meetings/initiatives including appropriate quality improvement and education activities, or if unable to attend non-mandatory activities, accepts responsibility to review meeting minutes and becomes knowledgeable of issues discussed.
• Makes independent judgements of suitability of potential participants for clinical trials.
• Develops and implements patent recruitment strategies.
• Recommends changes to protocols and evaluates data.
• Conforms to hospital standards of performance and conduct, including those pertaining to patient rights, so that the best possible customer service and patient care may be provided.
• Utilizes hospital's behavioral standards as the basis for decision making and to facilitate the hospital's goals and mission. Follows established hospital infection control and safety procedures.

OTHER DUTIES:

Training and orienting new research assistants and other staff

Perform other duties as needed.

Must adhere to all of BMC's RESPECT behavioral standards.

(The above statements in this job description are intended to depict the general nature and level of work assigned to the employee(s) in this job. The above is not intended to represent an exhaustive list of accountable duties and responsibilities required).

JOB REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor's degree is required. Major in a field related to the research highly preferred.
• Master's Degree is preferred.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS REQUIRED:

• None required.

EXPERIENCE:

• 2-5 years of experience and have demonstrated sound independent judgement and competencies in research methodologies.
• Experience with recruiting subjects, with an understanding of the ethical and technical conduct of research.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Excellent English communication skills (oral and written).
• Bilingual or multi-lingual skills appropriate to the patient population served (especially Spanish) are a big plus.
• Must have sound interpersonal skills.
• Cultural sensitivity and comfort with a wide range of social, racial and ethnic populations.
• Works very independently with little guidance from supervisors and displays initiative to introduce innovations to research study and conceptual thinking.
• Organizational ability to perform multiple tasks efficiently and to prioritize duties.
• Analytical skill and ability to resolve technical problems and interpret acceptability of data results.
• Knowledge of data management programs, such as REDCap and NVivo.
• Knowledge of management programs.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel, and Access and PowerPoint. Experience with statistical analysis tools a plus. Ability to perform basic data management tasks (coding, data entry, data cleaning, retrieval).
• Ability to perform complex data analysis and reporting (in words, numbers and graphics).
• High degree of computer literacy; experience using quantitative data analysis software helpful (e.g., SPSS, SAS, Minitab).
• Must be able to maintain strict protocols of all confidential or sensitive information.

SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS (Responsible for on-call, 24 hr. coverage, etc.):

May require flexibility to work weekends and evenings
Req id: 31119