RESEARCH COORDINATOR

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The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences within the UW School of Medicine is the third largest clinical department within the School of Medicine with 330 full-time faculty members, 460 courtesy faculty members, and over 350 staff. Department faculty provide clinical services in 5 hospitals, 14 primary care locations, and several outpatient sites in addition to telepsychiatry consultations to more than 150 clinics in Washington and beyond. As the only academic psychiatry department serving the five state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), the Department’s highly competitive residency training program is largely responsible for developing the mental health workforce in the Pacific Northwest. The Department’s robust research portfolio totals $67 million in grants and contracts per year for projects ranging from clinical neurosciences to treatment development to health policy and population health. The Department is recognized as an international leader in developing, testing, and implementing Collaborative Care, an integrated care model increasingly seen as a solution for population-based mental health care. Other areas of excellence include Addictions, Autism, High Risk Youth, Neurosciences, and Trauma, and the Department is developing innovative new programs in Technology and Mental Health, Global Mental Health, Maternal and Child Mental Health, and Targeted Intervention Development.

The Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences within the UW School of Medicine currently has an outstanding opportunity for an experienced Research Coordinator. Psychiatry is the third largest department in the School of Medicine and the largest non-divisioned department. The overall annual operations funding from all sources is over $130 million.

POSITION PURPOSE
This full-time research position involves coordination and supervision of a variety of SPIRIT lab research and evaluation projects and activities within PACT (Programs of Assertive Community Treatment), as well as other research projects that support evidence-based care for people with SMI. A focal point of the role will be on analyzing data, writing academic publications and grant writing, in addition to coordination activities. This role is intended to represent a research perspective within the expert team of PACT trainers, helping to ensure that the ongoing evaluation and training of PACT teams simultaneously serve as a robust portfolio of research projects. Projects are funded by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, federal funders (NIMH, SAMHSA), and private foundations. Programs of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) are an essential, evidence-based means of delivering multi-disciplinary, recovery-oriented care to individuals living with serious mental illness (SMI). The SPIRIT lab is an international leader in PACT research and innovation; over the past several years, it has developed novel ways of assessing PACT teams to better facilitate client recovery and has worked to enrich existing PACT services with other state-of-the-art clinical interventions.

This research coordinator will be expected to use independent judgment and excellent communication skills while working with a diverse group of stakeholders, including community mental health agencies, behavioral health clinicians with diverse specializations, collaborating academic institutions, and internal faculty and staff. This position will serve alongside a team of expert clinical trainers and will work collaboratively and creatively to shape clinical training initiatives into empirical, publication-ready research projects. The person in this position will rely heavily on previous experience and expertise in research development and management. Under the supervision of SPIRIT lab faculty, this research coordinator will be given wide latitude to develop PACT research projects aligned with their interests and to present these projects at conferences and as publications. While this position is not intended to provide direct clinical services or training, given the range of interventions included within PACT, the person in this role will become comfortable understanding of the range of treatment options available for SMI and be able to think critically about how those offerings may be improved.

The SPIRIT Lab is the only lab within UW dedicated solely to research, training, and implementation related to psychosis and SMI. We interface and work collaboratively with policy makers, leaders, and other key stakeholders at the national, state, and local levels, focused on improving care for individuals and families experiencing psychosis and SMI. The person in this position will be highly visible in these settings and will often be seen as the face of both SPIRIT and the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES