Research Assistant

Job Title: Research Assistant

Reports To: Kathleen Carlson

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt

Salary: $19.23 per hour

Work Type: Hybrid

Summary

This role provides research assistance support to multiple research projects intended to advance scientific understanding of issues related to injury/violence and other important health care problems and conditions that affect Veterans. Ongoing projects are related to strategies to identify and ameliorate social and financial needs related to Veteran suicide, firearm injury and firearm suicide prevention, healthcare for Veterans with traumatic brain injury and other chronic health conditions, care coordination in VA/VA-purchased care, and opioid and other medication safety.

The Research Assistant will collaborate with and provide support to the Principal Investigator and research team. General responsibilities include organizing team meetings and paperwork, including regulatory paperwork, producing visual representations of research findings, assisting with the organization and formatting of scientific posters, presentations, and manuscripts, and other tasks to ensure successful completion of research tasks. The Research Assistant will work with an active group of investigators, statisticians, data analysts, and other research staff. This position involves working as a team member, requiring excellent and effective oral and written communication skills.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (**denotes essential)

• **Communicating with and supporting multiple research team members, partners, and collaborators; organizing meetings; and providing general administrative support to the research team.
• **Assisting with Institutional Review Board approvals and other regulatory compliance processes; maintaining correspondence from approving entities and tracking compliance deadlines.
• **Entering data from collected surveys/interviews, abstracting data from databases including medical charts/records, performing basic descriptive analyses.
• **Helping with poster/slide presentation preparation and report/manuscript writing.
• Scheduling research team meetings and/or managing other team communications.
• Recruiting and consenting/enrolling research participants and managing participant databases and tracking enrollment.
• Provides in-house research assistance to research team.
• Review existing literature and other resources to prepare summaries for research team.
  
  

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Required Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Experience

• Experience or training in public health, epidemiology, or related field with quantitative methods training.
• Knowledge of methods and techniques of quantitative and qualitative research processes.
• Experience producing posters and/or papers for scientific translation and dissemination.
• Experience working on issues related to the health of marginalized or other high-risk populations.
• Takes the initiative to identify research project needs and addresses them.
• Demonstrates ability to communicate and organize project tasks with team members.
• Commitment to contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.
  
  

Education

• High School education
  
  

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills.
• Excellent quantitative skills.
• Able to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to conduct project activities. Also has knowledge and use of visual communication and design software or platform such as Canva.
• Ability to manage and perform multiple tasks under conditions of fluctuating workloads, competing requirements, and changing deadlines.
• Ability to work independently and follow through on assignments with minimal direction. Ability to work in a complex environment.
• Ability to analyze problems and offer creative solutions and implement changes.
• Strong organization skills, with the ability to understand overall program objectives and maintain attention to detail.
  
  

Additional Information

Because this position is based in a VA facility, the Research Assistant must secure a VA Without Compensation Appointment (WOC) prior to starting work, and must maintain a WOC Appointment in order to continue employment.

The VA's WOC process will be facilitated by the supervisor and processed through the VA Research and Development office. The screening process required to obtain a WOC may include a background check, a credit check, a physical, a drug test, and a TB test.

After the WOC process has been completed, the VA also requires several trainings prior to employees starting work.

Portland VA Research Foundation is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to status as a protected veteran or a qualified individual with a disability, or other protected status such as race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin or age.

All PVARF employees are required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 within 8 weeks of hire, unless medically exempt. Employees will be required to provide either proof of vaccination or an approved medical exemption prior to beginning work.