Research Assistant I / Day/ 40 Hrs Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics, DOM - (3146795)
GENERAL SUMMARY/ OVERVIEW STATEMENT:
Working under the direction of the Research Manager, Division Chief, and faculty of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, the Research Assistant is responsible for the daily organization, coordination, and conduct of activities related to studies of the safe and effective use of medications in a variety of contexts. The Division’s research is neither clinical nor bench science, and is conducted in an office setting with minimal patient interaction. Please see division website for more information on faculty and research topics: http://www.drugepi.org/.
PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The typical Research Assistant’s duties are a combination of research and operational tasks Research tasks include, but are not limited to, data management and manipulation (MS Excel, MS Access, statistical software), data entry relevant to studies and monitoring, inquiries on various policy initiatives, performing literature searches, generating graphs, figures and presentations, gathering research materials for ongoing and future research projects, (i.e. manuscript and grant proposal writing), conducting interviews, assisting with conducting trials, and other duties as needed. Operational tasks ensure that the work in the entire Division as well as individual projects run efficiently.
These include a variety project and office management elements (scheduling, meeting organization, website and mailing list support, general office support, administrative support). Research Manager coordinates and monitors assignments.
Assigned projects will vary in type and amount of work required as well as duration; assignments can be individual or shared with other Research Assistants on the team. Teamwork is highly supported and encouraged. Prospective start date is Summer 2021, and a requires a minimum two-year commitment.
Work environment:
Professional Office Environment, Business Casual. Working as part of a tight-knit group of hardworking friendly people—an internationally acclaimed research unit of 22 Harvard faculty, 65 support staff, and 9 Programmers.
Employment at a Partners HealthCare System (“Partners”) affiliate is contingent upon:
- United States Citizenship and Immigration Services rules concerning identity and right to work in the United States
- Multi-state criminal background checks
- Pre-employment health and drug screening and annual compliance with the Influenza Vaccination Policy
QUALIFICATIONS:
BA/BS required. Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities is a must. Competency with MS Excel, MS Word, MS PowerPoint is required; familiarity with SAS, R and/or Tableau are a plus but NOT a requirement. Prior social science or medical research experience is preferred, and epidemiology and/or biostatistics exposure is a plus. A strong applicant will display the ability to communicate with multiple levels of staff and work effectively with others in a team environment.
SKILLS/ ABILITIES/ COMPETENCIES REQUIRED:
- BA/BS degree
-Competency with MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint
-Familiarity with SAS, R, Python, SQL and/or Tableau is a plus but not required
- Ability to adapt to a fast-paced environment and learn quickly
- Teamwork and cooperation
- Attention to detail and excellent organizational skills
- Ability to manage multiple priorities
- Ability to use independent judgment
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, telephone and email etiquette
EEO Statement:
We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Primary Location: MA-Boston-BWH Boston Main Campus
Work Locations: BWH Boston Main Campus 75 Francis St Boston 02115
Job: Research - Other
Organization: Brigham & Women's Hospital(BWH)
Schedule: Full-time
Standard Hours: 40
Shift: Day Job
Posted Shift Description: Day / 40 hrs
Employee Status: Regular
Recruiting Department: BWH Department Of Medicine / Pharmocoepidemiology
The Center of Healthcare Delivery Science (C4HDS) is an academic research center in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The Center activities focus on implementation science and, in specific, on the design and testing of innovative ways to engage patients and providers in the delivery of healthcare. Unlike typical research groups, the Center’s work involves close collaborations between academic researchers and groups that deliver care, administer health insurance benefits and/or develop technologies for improving healthcare. The Center’s largest projects involve “real world” randomized controlled trials that seek to identify simple and scalable strategies for enhancing patient and provider engagement. The design and conduct of these studies must creatively blend rigorous research methods with the operational realities faced by organizations that deliver healthcare.
Functioning under the direction of the Executive Director for Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences (C4HDS), the Research Specialist assists in designing, planning and execution of trials conducted at the Center. The Research Specialist will help with day to day management of pragmatic trials and will contribute to design and analysis of trials, drafting reports, manuscripts (including co-authorship as appropriate), presentations, and grant writings. Using the principles of pragmatic trial design and behavioral science, the Research Specialist will work with internal and external investigators to successfully design, execute, analyze and report study findings to various stakeholders.
Specific duties include:
o Participate in study design and protocol development.
o Perform advanced data analysis, working closely with the Principal Investigator and other researchers.
o Possess a solid understanding of the purpose, objective and goals of each trial.
o Develop effective relationships with internal and external investigators to plan and execute clinical trials.
o Coordinate and develop project related deliverables including project plans, PowerPoint presentations, status reports and meeting facilitation documents.
o Present updates, findings and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders as needed for assigned projects.
o Contribute to interpretation of research data and results.
o Participate in Institutional Review Board (IRB) submission process for new research protocols.
o Develop and revise questionnaires, surveys, interviews and other instruments as needed for research projects, assuring ease in administration and accuracy of data entry.
o Performs other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
o MS/MPH or equivalent degree in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, public health or a related field.
o At least 2 years of experience working in a research environment.
o Strong interest in designing and implementing pragmatic clinical trials.
o Experience in research using large databases.
o Experience performing statistical analysis with SAS or R software.
o Experience in collaborative and multi-stakeholder projects in the healthcare industry is highly desired.
o Knowledge and skills in the critical appraisal of research evidence are highly desired.
Required Skills/Abilities/Competencies:
o Strong quantitative and organizational skills as well as written and verbal presentational skills are essential. Experience in the healthcare industry is required.
To apply for this position, submit your application for "Research Specialist C4HDS Pharmacoepidemiology" (Job number 3142162) through the Brigham and Women's Hospital website here.
The Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School invites rising college senior students to participate in an eight-week summer fellowship program that provides training and skills development in pharmacoepidemiologic research with the long-term goal of assisting underrepresented persons of color who have historically been excluded from careers in health and medicine to build necessary skills for their career interests in areas of epidemiology, medicine, and public health.
The Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics brings together the various specialties of medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, health services research, legal, regulatory and social sciences to evaluate the effectiveness of prescription drugs in relation to their risks and costs; to study how medications are prescribed by physicians and used by patients; to develop methods to optimize prescription drug use; and to understand how medicines are approved and regulated after their marketing. Through utilization of a transdisciplinary approach, our team of physicians with a variety of clinical backgrounds (e.g., primary care, hospitalist care, geriatrics, rheumatology, cardiology, nephrology, anesthesiology) work together to answer critical questions in medication use and efficacy.
Key components of the internship include:
- Didactic and experiential training in health services research, implementation research, epidemiology, biostatistics, and data science, including exposure to predictive analytics/machine learning and comparative effectiveness research. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in courses taught by the Center and affiliated faculty, including those offered by Harvard Catalyst and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
- Mentoring through career development meetings, one on one faculty and intern meetings, shadowing, and strategic, long-term mentor/mentee pairing to guide further career planning.
- The opportunity to audit courses offered by faculty at Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health and in other Harvard venues.
- Examples of projects that prior students have participated in include:
o Factors associated with good disease control and medication adherence in patients with diabetes
o State-level public policies on prescription drug costs and access
o Qualitative study of opioid use and prescribing
Eligibility and timelines:
The fellowship program is best suited for rising senior undergraduate students with an interest in epidemiology, medicine, pharmacy, and health services research and policy, who are enrolled in a four-year degree program. Individuals who self-identify from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in biomedical research are eligible, including African American/Black, Alaskan Native, Hispanic/Latinx and/or Native American. Quantitative coursework, skills, or experience is preferred, but not required. Prior research experience is not required, but applicants must be able to convey an interest for this field or closely related field and how this program will help them achieve their long-term career goals.
Compensation:
Participants of the program will receive a summer stipend of $5,000 for the cost of living during the summer and compensation for relocation to Boston, MA if necessary (depending on COVID-19 guidelines). In addition to the stipend, all participants will receive a BWH issued laptop to perform work remotely for the duration of their program. Health insurance, retirement plans, etc. will not be offered.
The application deadline is March 15th, 2021 with a start date on June 21st, 2021 and a conclusion date of August 13th, 2021. We expect to complete brief interviews and notify applicants by April. Applicants are expected to complete the program in its entirety.
Interested candidates should complete the online application.
For questions regarding the program, please contact pbwh26@bwh.harvard.edu
December 3, 2020
The Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences (C4HDS) invites applications for a two-year fellowship program to provide training and skills development in health services and implementation research with the long-term goal of assisting trainees in establishing their careers as independent investigators. C4HDS is a highly collaborative academic research center based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The Center’s multi-disciplinary faculty share a common interest in health services and implementation research, with a specific focus on pragmatic trials of interventions to improve the use and prescribing of prescription medications. Additional information about C4HDS and our research can be found at www.c4hds.org. The fellowship program is led by C4HDS Executive Director, Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD.
Key components of the fellowship include:
- Didactic and experiential training in health services research, implementation research, epidemiology, biostatistics, and data science, including exposure to predictive analytics/machine learning and comparative effectiveness research. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in courses taught by the Center and affiliated faculty, including those offered by Harvard Catalyst and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
- Hands-on experience designing, conducting, and publishing mentored research projects focused on principle-driven interventions to engage patients and providers in healthcare.
- Mentoring in the application and use of methods used for health services and implementation research, including quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques, as applicable for the applicants’ long-term interests, and the design and conduct of pragmatic clinical trials, as well as manuscript and grant writing.
- Opportunities to interact with a broad range of stakeholders in healthcare, including organizations that deliver care, administer health insurance benefits and/or develop new technologies and therapeutics.
Eligibility and timelines:
The fellowship program is best suited for individuals with advanced training in clinical medicine, pharmacy, psychology or another clinical healthcare field or doctoral-level training in a methodologically intensive research field, such as health services research, implementation science, health economics, epidemiology, and/or biostatistics. For clinician applicants, prior research experience and advanced methodological training are highly desirable. Clinicians may also practice on a part-time basis will participating in the fellowship program. For non-clinicians, preference will be given to individuals who have worked in multidisciplinary teams and in a healthcare environment, ideally with experience implementing or evaluating health interventions. International applicants are welcome to apply; however, this fellowship is not eligible for visa sponsorship.
The application deadline is February 1, 2021. The anticipated start day for new fellows is July 1, 2021.
Interested candidates should send a copy of their current Curriculum Vitae with a letter of intent to Kaitlin Hanken, C4HDSProgram Manager at khanken@bwh.harvard.edu.
October 28, 2020
The Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Medicine and Harvard Medical School is accepting applications for multiple post-doctoral fellows in pharmacoepidemiology - applied and methodologically focused. The Division includes 25 faculty (drugepi.org/dope/team) and 75 staff who work closely together to research how we use medications effectively and improve health. We are a world-leading interdisciplinary research center that brings together the various specialties of medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, health services research, legal, regulatory and the social sciences to evaluate the effectiveness of prescription drugs in relation to their risks and costs; to study how medications are prescribed and used; to develop methods to optimize prescription drug use; to understand how medicines are approved and regulated after their marketing. The Division is a first-rank training site for graduate students and fellows in a variety of subject areas and methodological research. We are seeking one or more self-motivated, diligent, and independent fellows to work with Division faculty in one or more of the following areas:
