Research Support Specialist

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The Research Support Specialist will support research activities under the direction of a Principal Investigator (Audrey Harkness, PhD) or designee of the Principal Investigator. Dr. Harkness leads the REACH (Research Engagement and Community Health) Equity Team which is focused on addressing HIV and behavioral health (mental health/substance use) disparities affecting key populations affected by the HIV epidemic, with a focus on Latino men who have sex with men (MSM).

The position is full-time and in-person at the School of Nursing and Health Studies at the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami. Some aspects of this job will take place in-person at community sites (e.g., venues, clubs, healthcare organizations, events that serve Latino MSM) to achieve the goals of the position.

CORE JOB FUNCTIONS

Researches, collects, analyzes, and synthesizes data and maintains databases. Conducts quality assurance checks and reports on the status of research activities. Organizes and coordinates community working group meetings for protocol activities. Serves as primary point of contact for community partners and supervises and oversees research data collection at protocol venues in the community. Reviews study progress, identifies areas of opportunity, and recommends solutions. Prepares and updates study research procedures manuals. Contributes to the publication and presentation of significant results and writes and edits material for publication and presentation. Maintains research files and responds to phone calls on the research study phone line. Adheres to University and unit-level policies and procedures and safeguards University assets.

This list of duties and responsibilities is not intended to be all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties or responsibilities as necessary.

CORE QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Bachelor's degree in relevant field (e.g., public health, communications, community health, psychology, sociology, nursing, or other related fields)

Certification and Licensing:

Not Applicable

Experience:

Past experience in a relevant role (e.g., recruitment for studies, outreach for community programs, community engagement for research or programs) preferred but not required.

Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes:

• Ability to prioritize competing demands and meet multiple deadlines across projects.
• Ability to work evenings, night, and weekends as necessary and as directed by supervisor in advance.
• Ability to work independently and in a collaborative environment.
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion.
• Skills in interacting in-person, via email/phone/text with community members (Latino gay, bisexual and other sexual minority men and men who have sex with mem (MSM) and community organizations that serve the community.
• Knowledge of graphic design programs (e.g., Canva, PhotoShop) preferred but not required.

DEPARTMENT ADDENDUM

Department Specific Functions

The Research Support Specialist will support the following projects:

JUNTOS Referral Network: JUNTOS is a website/app that is a centralized database of South Florida HIV prevention and treatment services, tailored to the needs of Latino MSM. We have a grant to pilot test JUNTOS as a strategy to improve the reach of HIV prevention and treatment services to Latino MSM. For the pilot, we are recruiting HIV test counselors and will randomly assign them to either get the JUNTOS tool (experimental condition) or a referral list (control condition). Counselors will then enroll Latino MSM testing clients into the trial. The person hired would help with recruiting HIV test counselors (e.g., attending community events, going to local staff meetings of HIV testing organizations) and screening in English and Spanish potential participants (including HIV test counselors and Latino MSM) for the study.

Dime Más: This project is a pilot trial. We are comparing three conditions to determine which strategy is best for improving the reach of PrEP, HIV testing, and behavioral health treatment to Latino MSM. The first condition is "Dime Más." Latino MSM participants who are randomized to Dime Más receive intensive outreach from our community partner (Care Resource). The second condition is "Oye Miami." Oye Miami is a website that shows real stories of local Latino MSM talking about their experiences with PrEP, HIV testing, or behavioral health services. The third condition is a referral sheet to help participants find local services. The person hired would help with recruiting Latino MSM (e.g., going to community events and venues, including sexually-themed events and clubs that serve Latino MSM, using social and sexual networking apps to recruit, attending community meetings, etc.).

Community Advisory Board: The REACH Equity Team is supported by a Community Advisory Board (CAB) of Latino gay, bisexual, and other MSM who provide feedback on our projects, generate new research projects, and have their own community service activities that our team supports. The CAB meets monthly to discuss research studies and members' ongoing activities in the community. The person hired for this position will be responsible for running and coordinating CAB meetings, interfacing with CAB members between meetings (e.g., for coordination or for assisting CAB members with their own projects or the research team's projects), recruiting and retaining CAB members (e.g., recruiting and interviewing prospective CAB members), and planning agendas (in coordination with the PI and the REACH Equity Team) for meetings.

Other REACH Equity Team Projects may arise that require support from the Research Support Specialist. For instance, we have a project that was initiated by the CAB through which we adapted a dating and relationship skills intervention to specifically meet the needs of Latino gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men. We are in the process of applying for funding to continue this project and pilot test the intervention. If funded, the person hired for this position would also assist with this project. The purpose of this position is to be a research team member who works across all projects with recruitment, outreach, and community engagement needs to ensure that the research is successful.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Identify and visit events, venues, and community organizations to recruit prospective participants for studies (e.g., Latino MSM, HIV test counselors).
• Coordinate in-person recruitment activities for themselves and other team members (e.g., for larger events, coordinate other team members to be in attendance).
• Maintain an active recruitment schedule for on-site recruitment based on study needs.
• Use sexual (e.g., Grindr, Scruff) and social networking (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) websites/apps for recruitment and study advertising.
• Systematically track all recruitment contacts, efforts, and outcomes to facilitate identification of "best practices" for recruitment of eligible participants.
• Responsibly carry out and report on planned recruitment activities during non-traditional work hours (e.g., evenings, late nights, weekends) in coordination with supervisor and report these hours accurately in a lab calendar.
• Interface (alongside the lab manager) with individuals who are supporting recruitment for specific projects such as hired consultants and contracted community organizations. The person hired will be responsible for helping to coordinate these recruitment efforts with their own efforts.
• Support the development and maintenance of a lab website to ensure that ongoing projects are publicly accessible and accurately represented.
• Develop various public facing materials to support recruitment, outreach, and community engagement, including but not limited to recruitment flyers, infographics, videos, intervention materials, and other visually focused materials. This may include locating (via public or paid repositories) or generating relevant visual content for these materials.
• Plan and coordinate all aspects of the lab Community Advisory Board, including recruitment of new CAB members, interviewing CAB members, engaging and retaining current CAB members, planning agendas, coordinating REACH Equity team members' and external visitors' participation in CAB meetings, interacting with CAB between meetings (e.g., phone, email, WhatsApp), and more.
• Screen, enroll, and consent prospective participants for research studies following detailed protocols and documenting all data collected accurately within REDCap.
• Attend lab meetings and project-specific meetings to report on recruitment, outreach, and community engagement activities.
• Speak and write in both English and Spanish for most of the above responsibilities.

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