Position Focus:

The Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE), co-housed at Yale School of Public Health and Southern Connecticut State University, was established to identify solutions to New Haven’s health challenges through a community engaged research approach with the mission of CARE being to improve the health of New Haven residents. CARE is recruiting a Research Associate 3 - who has research interest and/or experience in the area of community-based participatory research and interventions for addressing health equity.

The Research Associate will work primarily with Dr. Duffany and Dr. Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, and center staff, on a CDC-funded program with the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center. The Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) are a network of 26 research centers that are university-based and serve a vital role within the public health system. PRCs work to identify public health problems and to develop, test, and evaluate public health interventions that can be applied widely, particularly in underserved communities. A main focus of PRCs include improving population health outcomes and contributing to reducing health disparities. The PRC program’s grantees conduct research that contributes to improved community and population health.  The Yale-Griffin PRC implementation science research project will deliver and assess a virtually-administered Diabetes Prevention Program implemented with support from Community Health

Workers (CHWs) in public housing communities in New Haven.

In addition, there will be the opportunity to work with Dr. Duffany, the CARE Director of Research and Evaluation and Co-Director of the PRC, on various community evaluation projects assessing programs and policies, including on the CDC-funded Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) project. REACH aims to address health disparities among populations with the highest burden of chronic disease by improving access to healthy foods and physical activity opportunities, and by strengthening community-clinical linkages through grassroots mobilization, community-driven interventions, and system-wide changes.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Oversee all aspects of the research study, which is a virtually-administered Diabetes Prevention Program in public housing communities in New Haven.
• Oversee multiple community-based evaluation projects.
• Assist with daily operations of research center, including work flow and project management for multiple projects, day-to-day coordination of study activities, budget management across multiple grants, and student and staff oversight.
• Coordinate and support Research and Evaluation Core and Training Core of the center.
• Design and refine research and evaluation tools in collaboration with community partners.
• Develop and oversee data collection processes.
• Collect qualitative and quantitative data, as dictated by research plan.
• Work closely with community partners and CARE staff to obtain relevant data.
• Train relevant CARE and community partner staff on data collection processes.
• Ensure quality control of all data.
• Run descriptive and inferential statistics, as needed, and report results.
• Analyze qualitative data and report results.
• Create community-friendly reports and research briefs for dissemination.
• Compile data and write reports for CDC and relevant advisory committees.
• Initiate, coordinate, and oversee all IRB and compliance processes.
• Supervise research staff and students.
• Significant contributor to grant-writing to ensure sustainability of the center. Collaborate with other Yale researchers.
• Co-author manuscripts.
• Assist with academic and community report writing and development of presentations.
• Help to foster collaborations with additional investigators for PRC- and CARE-related projects.

Essential Duties

1. Supervises research within the scope of established study protocol. Adheres to all human subjects regulations as defined by Yale University and the federal government that pertain to research studies.
2. Responsible for reviewing, planning, and implementing study protocols and assessing the impact of program changes on research quality. Identifies and makes initial contact with potential funding sources to secure funds.
3. Oversees the planning of large multi-site or global studies. Establish goals and objectives, training requirements, productivity goals and financial parameters. Develops forms and questionnaires and manages the application of research techniques.
4. Works closely with research faculty and collaborators to identify quality and operational strategies and aspects of study that need to overcome.
5. Fosters and maintains cooperative relationships with principal investigators, collaborators, study coordinators, government officials, international partnerships, and study sponsors to ensure for the safe and timely progression of studies and adherence to all study/agency/government regulations.
6. Develops original HIC/IRB submissions for multi site research. Collaborate with various PI on major revisions and ensure changes are incorporated at each participating site.
7. Uses advanced statistical knowledge to provide support in managing and analyzing data.
8. Develops operational procedures for the collection, editing, verification and management of statistical data. Develops and implements relevant statistical programs to incorporate data from multiple projects. Designs comprehensive and rational databases with advance knowledge of the scientific applications impacting on the data analyses and reporting.
9. Develops protocols for collection of data. Designs data gathering instruments and related procedures. Tests, refines and finalizes instruments for use in research study.
10. Presents talks, seminars or other oral presentations on the methodology and analyses used in scientific studies.
11. Composes major abstracts/publications/manuscript.
12. May perform other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience

Master’s Degree in a related discipline and four years of experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Required Skill/Ability 1:

Ability to be a significant contributor to the research grant writing process.

Required Skill/Ability 2:

Well-developed interpersonal and oral and written communication skills.

Required Skill/Ability 3:

Ability to effectively, efficiently and independently work under pressure, to set priorities among multiple competing tasks.

Required Skill/Ability 4:

Project management skills with the ability to create research related materials, report on the status of project deliverables and submit project updates to the study sponsor.

Required Skill/Ability 5:

Proficient with Microsoft Office and statistical analysis software.

Preferred Education, Experience and Skills:

PhD or Doctoral Degree. Experience with research and evaluation of community programs. Experience with quantitative data collection and analysis. Experience conducting and coding interviews and qualitative surveys. Experience with SAS, NVIVO (or similar), ACCESS, Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey. Spanish language proficiency.

Weekend Hours Required?

No

Evening Hours Required?

No

Drug Screen

No

Health Screening

No

Background Check Requirements

All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. Please visit www.yale.edu/hronline/careers/screening/faqs.html for additional information on the background check requirements and process.

Posting Disclaimer

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the particular position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring departments.

Affirmative Action Statement:

Yale University considers applicants for employment without regard to, and does not discriminate on the basis of, an individual’s sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, or national or ethnic origin; nor does Yale discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from sex discrimination in educational programs and activities at institutions that receive federal financial assistance. Questions regarding Title IX may be referred to the University’s Title IX Coordinator, at TitleIX@yale.edu, or to the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 8th Floor, Five Post Office Square, Boston MA 02109-3921. Telephone: 617.289.0111, Fax: 617.289.0150, TDD: 800.877.8339, or Email: ocr.boston@ed.gov.

Note

Yale University is a tobacco-free campus