Research Assistant - Alzheimers Disease Center

Department:
SOM KC The Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC)

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Honea Research
Position Title:
Research Assistant - Alzheimers Disease Center
Job Family Group:
Professional Staff
Job Description Summary:
The University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (KU ADRC) is a National Institute of Aging P30-designated national leader in AD research with the vision to impact the lives of every patient and family dealing with Alzheimer’s in the region and across the state of Kansas through our research, education, and clinical care. It resides at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). We are a comprehensive center at the forefront of clinical trials, lifestyle intervention trials, drug and translational research, and basic science research. Our research enables us to also provide leading edge clinical care and support for dementia caregivers. In addition, we provide a wide variety of both public education and training opportunities for the workforce of tomorrow.
This position will be in the Neuroimaging Core of the ADRC support research on Alzheimer’s Disease and additional collaborations with the KU ADRC. The ADRC measures cognition, disease progression, and a variety of blood and brain biomarkers every year on a group of nearly 400 older adults in order to understand and identify early markers of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. By doing this, we hope to one day prevent future disability. This project analyzes the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion MRI data, and positron emission tomography (PET) brain images we get from those older adults. We are measuring changes in brain structure, function, and pathology known to be related to dementia. Your work as a research assistant would be to help with imaging data entry, data analysis, and data management for the project.
We're looking for someone who is interested in the brain and how it works, or someone who is interested in computer-based image analysis. You don't have to have a science degree to qualify. You will be great for this position if you have good attention to detail and procedures, are organized, and like to work on your own. It's best if you like working with numbers, computers, and learning new software. Don't worry if you haven't done anything like this before. We can teach you everything you need to know. But if you really don't like working with computers and have no coding or a mind for numbers and data, this might not be the right position for you. The research assistant will also assist with training students or other research associates on these tasks.
Job Description:

Required Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree. A combination of education and relevant work experience may substitute for degree on a year-for-year basis.

Preferred Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, or related discipline. A combination of education and relevant work experience may substitute for degree on a year-for-year basis.

Work Experience:

• Four years of relevant work experience
• Experience in research and clinical studies with human participants, including coding experimental stimulus paradigms in E-Prime, Presentation, PsychoPy, or other software
• General computing experience including familiarity working with UNIX command line (Mac/Linux), and programming in MATLAB, R, Python, or other language
• Experience with MR imaging data analysis (AFNI, SPM, FSL, or other tools)
• Knowledge of statistics, and experience with statistical analysis software (SPSS, SAS, R, or similar)

Skills:

• Analytical and meticulous, with strong problem solving, communication and writing skills
• Interest in the brain and brain function or computer-based image analysis
• Must have the ability to learn and use computer code
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills
• Applicant should be detail-oriented, motivated, and able to work independently as much of the role will be on the computer and virtual
• Candidates should have strong English skills due to occasional interaction with patients, and demonstrate and ability to write and communicate with a scientific audience.

Job Duties Outlined:

• Data entry, transferring information accurately into computer-based forms and Excel spreadsheets.
• Data management, organizing new electronic data into proper folders, making sure data file names are correct and data are complete.
• Data analysis, viewing imaging data, checking for good data quality, running analysis scripts.
• Documentation, keeping detailed and accurate notes about the tasks you complete, summarizing methods and results, helping with reports and manuscripts, making tables and figures.
• Attend project progress meetings with the supervisor and study teams.
• Assist with research design and implementation.
• Participation in grant development and submission, and manuscript development and submission.
• Any other duties as might be assigned from time to time.
• Be a consistent, dependable, and committed team member.

Required Documents

• Resume/CV
• Cover Letter

Comprehensive Benefits Package:

Coverage begins on day one for health, dental, and vision insurance and includes health expense accounts with generous employer contributions if the employee participates in a qualifying health plan. Employer-paid life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and various additional voluntary insurance plans are available. Paid time off, including vacation and sick, begins accruing upon hire, plus ten paid holidays. One paid discretionary day is available after six months of employment, and paid time off for bereavement, jury duty, military service, and parental leave is available after 12 months of employment. A retirement program with a generous employer contribution and additional voluntary retirement programs (457 or 403b) are available. https://www.kumc.edu/human-resources/benefits.html

Employee Type:
Regular
Time Type:
Full time
Rate Type:
Hourly

Compensation Statement:

The pay range listed for this position is determined by our compensation program using market data and salary benchmarking. A combination of factors is considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, education, experience and training, qualifications relative to the requirements of the position, and funding. At the University of Kansas Medical Center, a reasonable estimate for the starting pay range will be the minimum to midpoint of the posted range, taking into account the combination of factors listed above. 

Pay Range:
$22.66 - $32.85

Minimum

$22.66

Midpoint

$27.75

Maximum

$32.85