Community Research Coordinator, Public Health Sciences

Overview

JOB SUMMARY

The primary duty of the Community Research Coordinator (CRC) will be to provide community-engaged educational opportunities for potential research participants to improve awareness about brain health, Alzheimer’s disease and the importance of brain tissue donation. The CRC will create and adapt learning materials and make presentations to the public, as well as participate in existing community events around these research topics. This position will manage multiple steps of the brain tissue donation process with potential donors, including engaging in recruitment activities, completing paperwork for registering the donor, arranging the tissue harvest, and following up with donors and their families before and after the brain donation.  The position will also assist in training brain tissue donation coordinators at several sites in other states. The CRC will communicate and coordinate donor activities with persons at the brain endowment bank. The CRC will be responsible for spearheading and maintaining retention activities for participants in the brain tissue donation program. The CRC will be responsible for developing strong and strategic partnerships with organizations at the local, county, regional, state, national and international levels to support research goals for increasing awareness of the importance of brain health and brain donation. The CRC must demonstrate expertise in community engagement and outreach methods and is responsible for developing, improving, tracking, and maintaining relationships between the research project and community-based organizations, local health care providers, and community stakeholders, among others, to build community capacity for research engagement and health promotion.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline such as Psychology, Nursing, Economics, or basic science with two years of relevant administrative or medical experience in research coordination or other related activities; or, an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Master's degree preferred.
• Fluency in Spanish preferred.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1. Assists PIs and other team members with planning, developing and implementing community outreach strategies.
2. Plans, develops and coordinates community organizing strategies and event planning.
3. Assists the PIs in working with community-based organizations, churches, community health centers and other stakeholder organizations and persons as assigned.
4. Participates in developing focus group activities.
5. Works in clinical research and community-based activities.
6. Educates community members about brain health, brain tissue donation and Alzheimer’s disease research.
7. Recommends and participates in outreach strategies and identifies trends impacting outreach efforts in various populations.
8. Sources, identifies, initiates and maintains contacts with community leaders and organizations and generates positive community relations to ensure the success of future outreach, education and research projects.
9. Maintains up-to-date, complete and accurate documentation and tracks programmatic activities, reporting regularly to demonstrate outcomes and performance improvement.
10. Identifies, locates, and enlists cooperation of individuals, groups, agencies and organizations in outreach activities.
11. Designs and tracks forms, newsletters, web pages, and other tools as appropriate to ensure the success of assigned projects.
12. Performs other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Ability to communicate effectively in person and in writing with a wide range of people.
• Must be comfortable with public speaking and giving brief presentations to community members.
• Ability to implement community-based projects.
• Ability to prioritize effectively competing requests.
• Organizational and time management skills.
• Ability/temperament to adapt to changing conditions and diverse job tasks.
• Strong initiative, outgoing and energetic.
• Achievement and goal-oriented.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrates team work and professionalism.
• Basic computer skills required.
• Flexibility with work schedule and location.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Clean, comfortable, office environment.
• Significant local travel required.
• Must be able to drive a car.