HNRP Research Protocol Associate - Hybrid - 138528

UCSD Department of Psychiatry is one of the most innovative and productive academic departments in the country, offering challenging career opportunities in the diverse areas of advanced educational programs, cutting-edge research, and state-of-the-art clinical services. The department is committed to offering a dynamic learning environment and growing opportunities to its talented and dedicated employees.

The HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (HNRP)-Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) provides broad scientific and programmatic leadership for multi-disciplinary research programs related to HIV or cannabis or both. As part of its leadership role, the HNRP-CMCR stimulates and helps coordinate interdisciplinary collaborative research at the local, regional, national, and international levels, and also serves as a resource for consultation, training and career development for investigators working in HIV/AIDS, cannabis and associated issues. The HNRP-CMCR greatly facilitates research progress by identifying and broadly encouraging work on important topics, and by offering potential investigators (a) multidisciplinary consultation and training, (b) coordinated access to data and biological specimens from existing human subjects cohorts, and (c) state-of-the-art expertise with statistics, data management, and recruiting of new participant groups to meet specific needs of the proposed investigation. The HNRP-CMCR also supports information exchange among investigators and trainees via web-based resources including access to project reports, links to recent literature and conference materials, webcasts, and support for video conferencing.

Under general supervision by the Principal Investigator (PI) and HNRP supervisory personnel, incumbent employee will assist with coordinating the day-to-day operation of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies implementing and evaluating treatments for people with, or at risk for, HIV who meet criteria for mental health, and/or substance use disorders within the Department of Psychiatry. Duties include: screening participants for various research studies, obtaining informed consent, and enrolling new participants into studies; interviewing new participants and gathering research data for analysis; presenting data to the investigative team; tracking enrollment milestones and evaluating barriers to enrollment; making public presentations to educate and recruit research study participants; and initiating and maintaining regular contact with members of the local community including those serving individuals with HIV, mental health disorders, and substance use disorders. Employee will also assist with engaging the community with the goal of recruiting human subjects for a variety of large and complex research studies within the Participant Accrual and Retention (PAR) unit of the HNRP-CMCR.

Other duties will also include assisting with the determination of participant eligibility for HNRP-CMCR research studies and enrolling and scheduling eligible participants; tracking project recruitment goals and data collection; conducting qualitative research interviews; distributing electronic RedCap surveys to study participants, tracking participant completion of research surveys, and maintaining all collected data in a database; assuring the accuracy of collected research data, including identifying erroneous data and resolving any discrepancies in the data. Employee may also assist PI with data analyses and preparation of presentations and manuscripts, preparing research grant applications, study protocols, Institutional Review Board (IRB) material, clinicaltrials.gov records, and progress reports to federal and state regulatory bodies and renewals; ensuring compliance of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Employee will also assist with enrollment into organ donation studies, which includes ongoing monitoring of study participants' health status at end of life and making arrangements for autopsy and organ donation upon death. Assist with other projects and miscellaneous duties as required.

• Theoretical knowledge of neuropsychology, neurosciences, infectious diseases (i.e., HIV), addiction, or related fields as typically attained by a Bachelor's degree and/or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Experience in administering neurobehavioral assessments and qualitative interviews.

• Proficiency in word processing, graphics, statistical (especially JMP), and database programs.

• Proven ability to conduct data analyses, data collection, data tracking, interpretation, and presentation.

• Knowledge of statistical concepts and ability to perform basic statistical analyses.

• Must be able to maintain confidentiality.

• Proven ability to implement data collection forms, electronic surveys, and questionnaires pertinent to a research study.

• Proven ability to maintain strict confidentiality and deal with confidential matters with tact and diplomacy.

• Proven ability to conduct comprehensive literature reviews utilizing multiple sources of media.

• Ability to prioritize work in an environment with frequent interruptions, maintaining a high degree of judgment and confidentiality, while working independently and resourcefully against deadlines.

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to foster a good working relationship with a wide variety of people (participants living with HIV and with psychiatric conditions, including active substance use disorders) using tact, diplomacy, confidentiality and flexibility.

• Solid organizational, planning, and time management skills.

• Ability to identify and cultivate potential partnerships with professional organizations.

• Ability to work collaboratively, secure cooperation and facilitate partnerships.

• Excellent writing and editorial skills.

• Experience working with people infected with, or at risk for, HIV, mental health disorders, and/or virus and substance use disorders dependent populations.

• Proven ability to assist the Principal Investigator (PI) in preparing and managing Institutional Review Board (IRB) materials.

• Proven ability to consult with data management, computer systems and statistics personnel in ad hoc meetings to plan analyses.

• Experience tracking all scheduled participant assessment sessions and data collection using multiple online and paper-based formats.

• Proven ability to assist with conducting structured and unstructured interviews and collecting information regarding participant substance use history, psychiatric history and everyday functioning abilities using questionnaires and testing stimuli.

• Spanish fluency.

• Employment is subject to a criminal background check and pre-employment physical.

• Must be willing to work with people from a diverse community.

• Must be available to work overtime, including evenings and weekends such as occasional Saturdays.