Research Project Coordinator

Overview: MSS

The Department of Medical Social Sciences (MSS) is a leader in advancing and applying outcomes/effectiveness research to improve patient care and influence policy. Our strong academic ties across the university and the medical school encourage comprehensive collaboration in disease management, prevention, and control. We intend to meet a growing need for expanded interdisciplinary scientific collaboration, to promote discovery of multidimensional mechanisms of health and disease, to improve adult and pediatric health status and outcome assessment, and to collaborate with partners in genetic, epidemiologic, biologic and behavioral translational research paradigms. While part of our work serves to reduce health disparities of groups that are traditionally underrepresented in research, we acknowledge that there is always room to grow. MSS is committed to creating a world of inclusion, health, and well-being for all. We hire the best people from a wide variety of backgrounds because drawing on their diverse perspectives and experiences will be the foundation of our department’s future success.

Overview: 

The EDIT Program The Evaluation, Data Integration, and Technical Assistance (EDIT) Program at Northwestern University is a leader in community-based evaluation focused on improving the health and wellbeing of sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, especially youth and young adults. EDIT Program empowers community agencies to strategically plan, implement, and evaluate innovative and culturally responsive programming that serves SGM youth. EDIT Program develops and apply innovative methods to rigorously analyze SGM health disparities using a variety of data sources and applying an intersectional and community engaged approach and focuses on advancing health equity and identifying health needs among understudied SGM populations, including bisexual, transgender, asexual, intersex, racial/ethnic minority, adolescent and older adult communities. EDIT Program share best practices and lessons learned from program evaluation and research studies with policymakers, funders, researchers, and service providers to improve community response to serving sexual and gender minority youth. One of the key projects of the EDIT Program is the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) project, an R01-funded project to explore health disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth within a pooled YRBS dataset containing more than 1 million observations.

Job Description

Under the supervision of EDIT Director, Dr. Gregory Phillips II, the Research Project Coordinator will oversee the day-to-day operations of the YRBS project including supervising analytic responsibilities for projects examining disparities in health outcomes, HIV related sexual risk behaviors, and alcohol use between sexual minority and heterosexual youth using YRBS data. In addition, this position will coordinate adaptive planning sessions, facilitate peer mentorship, process consultation, and working closely with faculty team members. The research project coordinator will partner internally to draw on emerging research on youth research.

Job Expectations      

The Research Project Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating all aspects of the project related to the YRBS data, including data curation from National and State sources, leading the timely submission of dissemination products including newsletters, reports, and other publications, and contributing to future projects stemming from the R01 project. The successful candidate will have a background in public health research, excellent organizational and analytical skills, a strong understanding of research methodology, and experience working with large datasets. They will be expected to develop and maintain databases, spreadsheets, and other data management tools to track data products while ensuring the accuracy and quality of data products and reporting. This position will also collaborate with research team members to design and implement research projects using YRBS data, develop expertise in YRBS data and methodology, and prepare reports, presentations, and other documents (e.g., grants) for dissemination to various stakeholders.

Specific Responsibilities :

Technical

• Coordinates processing & analysis of data, conduct of experimental tests & procedures

Administration

• 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. 
• Coordinates between sponsoring agencies, collaborating organizations &/or other research &/or educational institutions.  

Finance

• Negotiates with vendors, obtain quotes & arrange for demos of large equipment.    

Supervision

• Trains, directs, assigns duties to & supervises research staff, students, residents &/or fellows.  
• Acts as a mentor in regard to education of junior coordinators.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications: (Education, experience, and any other certifications or clearances)

• 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 3 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 1 year 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.)

• Strong interpersonal skills and comfort facilitating communication between various stakeholder groups
• Demonstrated familiarity with data curation, including common data management techniques and methodologies
• Ability to manage, interpret, and present data
• Broad knowledge of health disparities in the US and familiarity with academic research
• Ability to prioritize tasks.
• Effective time management skills.
• Demonstrated attention to detail and ability to adhere to instructions/procedures.
• Efficient and resourceful in problem-solving.
• Good communication skills; demonstrated effective spoken and written communication.

Preferred Qualifications: (Education and experience)

• Master's degree in a field related to public health, statistics, or a related field (e.g., MPH)
• Experience working with large datasets or conducting research using pooled YRBS data
• Strong experience conducting youth and alcohol research.
• Participation in public health research.
• Demonstrated experience working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals.
• Demonstrated experience working with Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC).
• Experience with community-based participatory research or other community-centric research models.

Preferred Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities)

• Familiarity with data curation and maintenance.
• Ability to work in a team environment.
• Ability to work with minimum supervision and guidance.
• Willingness to expand skill set and improve.
• Ability to write scientifically for dissemination activities.
• Familiarity with data collection and management software, such as REDCap.
• Familiarity with research around health disparities.

Benefits:
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