Assistant Researcher

20715BR

Bureau of Child Research

Position Overview

The Center for the Advancement of Research on Eating Behaviors (CARE) Laboratory has an opening for 1-2 Assistant Researcher positions to help coordinate clinical trials and basic science research in eating disorders. The Assistant Researcher will work closely with Dr. Kelsie Forbush, PI, and a team of local and international researchers. Duties will include conducting literature searches, writing IRB submissions and amendments, overseeing participant recruitment and enrollment, participant testing using structured clinical interviews, coordinating team meetings and laboratory schedules, preliminary basic data analyses, data cleaning, and data management using RedCap software. Other responsibilities will include supervising undergraduate research assistants and paid staff, assisting with extramural and intramural grant submissions, maintaining lab records and processes, and assisting with publications. The Assistant Researcher will assist the PI in upholding high ethical standards, regulatory compliance, and confidentiality of sensitive data and open-science reporting practices.

Although this position will primarily involve work on our eating-disorders clinical trials, we have numerous other opportunities for collaboration and research skill-building. For example, our lab has numerous ongoing clinical trials that include a mobile-health intervention of Guided Self-Help Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT-gsh) as a part of an ongoing research study and an NIH-funded clinical trial designed to develop a mobile-health app that uses machine learning to predict likelihood of relapse. We also also conducting DoD-funded research designed to develop a new screening tool for eating disorders and related mental health conditions in two nationally representative samples of veterans. The CARE Laboratory also has several large existing datasets, including (but not limited to) a longitudinal dataset of over 30,000 patients with eating disorders in collaboration with Recovery Record, Inc. and an ongoing five-wave longitudinal study of over 350 community-recruited adults with eating disorders.

Finally, our center has close relationships with numerous local and national eating-disorder treatment centers, including Children’s Mercy – Kansas City and Eating Recovery Center, making this an ideal position for someone who is interested in graduate or medical school!

This position will require relocation to Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is a vibrant community that offers numerous sporting, cultural, shopping, and educational opportunities. We are also located 45-minutes from metropolitan Kansas City, which is the 37th largest city in the USA, with a wide range of professional sports, arts, music, food, cultural, and shopping options.

Job Description

50% Supervision, Project Management, and Administrative Support:

• Provide oversight of undergraduate and paid research assistance to ensure timely completion of tasks and training on research tasks
• Develop laboratory schedules for undergraduate students
• Interview potential undergraduate research assistants
• Run weekly and monthly reports to update PI and team regarding recruitment and enrollment targets
• Create meeting agendas, take notes, and follow-up on Team member task completion
• Train undergraduate students on data entry, lab policies, and procedures
• Develop and maintain IRB protocols, submit IRB amendments, and reports of new information, when applicable
• Coordinate team meetings and scheduling of data safety monitoring board
• Assist with preparation of grants, progress reports, and publications
• Ensure recruitment targets are met
• Ensure team deadlines are met and keep track of project metrics using Asana

• Conduct semi-structured clinical interviews to generate mental-health diagnoses
• Screen participants for inclusion/exclusion criteria using diagnostic measures
• Administer tests of neurocognition and self-report measures of psychopathology
• Assist with data collection for various research protocols

• Perform simple statistical analyses, as needed, SPSS
• Oversee recruitment and enrollment flow through our protocols using RedCap
• Assist with the preparation of reports for the data safety monitoring board
• Data entry
• Ensure data are saved and kept secure

Position Requirements

• This will be a hybrid position to start with and will transition to fully on-site – this means we will require relocation to Lawrence, Kansas.

Required Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

Additional Candidate Instruction

Please provide your resume and three references from academic mentors.

Application review will begin on January 21, 2022 and will continue until a qualified applicant pool has been identified.

Advertised Salary Range

$36,000 or higher (depending on experience)

Application Review Begins

21-Jan-2022

Anticipated Start Date

21-Mar-2022

Limited Term End Date

01-Jan-2024

Primary Campus

University of Kansas Lawrence Campus

Employee Class

U-Unclassified Professional Staff

Work Schedule

40 hours/week

Conditions of Employment

Contingent on Funding, Limited Term

Work Location Assignment

On-Site

Disclaimer

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Director of the Office of Civil Rights & Title IX, [email protected], Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses).