Research Project Manager 3 - Public Health Sciences

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JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

The Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, in Hershey, PA, is seeking a research manager to independently manage the Penn State College of Medicine NIH-funded Tobacco enter for Regulatory Science, housed at the Department of Public Health Sciences.  The position is designed for a candidate who has an active interest in public health, public health research and disease prevention. The candidate should possess at least a bachelor’s degree and demonstrated work experience in research study management or other experience in a healthcare setting. Candidate should be knowledgeable in diverse areas of research management and have excellent communications skills, computer and IT experience, budgeting, and planning. Candidates will work with a diverse team of faculty, physicians, students, and staff to fulfill research goals and training objectives.  Candidates will also interface joint activities with other Universities and sponsoring officials.

This role will be a hybrid working position with the Project Manager working the majority (>= 60%) of the time remotely.

Position Summary: The Research Project Manager will coordinate the preparation, implementation, and interpretation of several projects in the area of tobacco regulatory control. The project manager must have excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills. The job includes development of standard operating procedures and protocols, IRB applications, participant recruitment and retention, data collection and management, liaising with collaborators from external departments, overseeing study compliance and data integrity, abstract and manuscript preparation. The project manager will train, direct, supervise, and evaluate research assistant and students to assist with the projects.

Some specific responsibilities are as follows:

Coordinate and prioritize all administrative activities in the Tobacco Center. Provide feedback and recommendations to study investigators. Oversee communications internally and externally through on line or in-person meetings, group emails, press releases, and others. Insure that all activities are logged, and addressed with appropriate actions. Oversee day to day financial activities including conference registrations, financial reimbursements for travel, payment of contractual workers/external advisory board. Develop annual and semi-annual NIH progress reports. Ensure that all individual center investigators are provided deadline notices. Submit reports to Federal and other agencies. Respond to external media and other inquiries. Direct content to appropriate investigators. Oversee IRB submissions, modifications and requirements (e.g. investigator trainings and certifications). Assist in the preparation of supplemental NIH applications. Be responsible for job announcements, recruitment, scheduling of candidates, advertising of job vacancies. Oversee various employees including Research Technologists, Research Project Managers, Post-docs, and others as needed within Workday and in conjugation with departmental HR liaisons. Have overall responsibilities for IT needs e.g. creating shared computer workspaces, creating documents, organized document folders. Coordinate activities with PHS administrative staff and college of medicine IT.  Schedule meetings and arrange for meeting rooms. Assume delegated responsibilities for Workday assignments and sub-project review in SIMS. Coordinate activities of sub-committees, including for example, publication committees, training program requests, scheduling of coursework and educational programs. Facilitate the preparation of documents including operating manuals, research publications and others. Asist in the preparation and submission and tracking of research abstracts, publications and presentations. Prepare graphical files as needed. Provide technical expertise in the preparation of redcap databases, reports and monitoring reports. Provide scientific feedback on study protocols including feasibility, methods and coordination with CTSI.

Scope

The Research Project Manager will coordinate projects with $19 million in funding from federal sources. The Project manager will direct part or full-time research assistants in addition to rotating graduate and medical students at the College of Medicine.  The Project Manager will be expected to function in coordination with other collaborating Project Managers in Public Health Sciences and outside advisory boards.  

Effective Knowledge

• Research study design and implementation, including double-blind randomization, clinical trial procedures
• Human subjects protection, privacy, and confidentiality
• Database development and management
• Basic statistics and data interpretation
• IRB protocol and documentation development, submission, maintenance
• Teaching and demonstration skills
• Technical writing for procedural manuals, grants, publications
• Laboratory safety with biological samples
• Federal budget processing

Accountability and Self-Management

The position requires a high degree of self-direction and personal accountability. The Research Project Manager will be expected to independently develop IRB protocols, standard operating procedures, regulatory documentation, data collection materials, and databases directly from funded research grant applications. These tasks will need to be completed on funding deadlines.

Teamwork and Leadership

The research project manager is expected to function as a team leader of research assistants and students assisting with the principal investigator’s projects. In addition, the project manager will work in coordination with project managers from collaborating laboratories in the College of Medicine and may occasionally assist the other project managers with study development, implementation, and training.

Communication

The research project manager will communicate daily through training, directing, and evaluating employees and students who assist with the project; recruiting, scheduling, interviewing, and instructing research participants; providing accountability progress reports to the site principal investigator; consulting and coordinating with regulatory authorities at Penn State, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration via phone and email; sharing materials with project managers from other laboratories; coordinating data collection procedures with MRI Director, Operations Manager, and technicians; writing clear concise documentation of laboratory procedures; writing background literature and study design and methods for grants and publications. 

Innovation and problem-solving

The research project manager will be required to develop their own methods of organizing projects and solving daily problems in study implementation as they arise. For example, managing re-scheduling of participant visits on short notice and developing new data collection materials like cigarette tracking logs.  The project manager may also need to use innovation and problem-solving to direct work activities of supervisees with varied skills sets and time commitments.

Typical Education & Experience

4+ years related experience

Master's Degree or higher

Or an equivalent combination of education and experience

This is a limited-term position funded for one year from date of hire, with possibility of refunding. 

The following clearances must be successfully completed for this position:  

• Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Background Check  
• Pennsylvania Child Abuse History
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Background Check   

 
The Pennsylvania State University is committed to and accountable for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its forms. We embrace individual uniqueness, foster a culture of inclusive excellence that supports both broad and specific diversity initiatives, leverage the educational and institutional benefits of diversity, and engage all individuals to help them thrive. We value inclusive excellence as a core strength and an essential element of our public service mission.  

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS:

Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Pennsylvania Act of 1988, Penn State publishes a combined Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report (ASR). The ASR includes crime statistics and institutional policies concerning campus security, such as those concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. The ASR is available for review here .

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies. 

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