About the job

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of diverse individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your diversity of culture, thinking, learning, and leading is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

Section of Surgical Sciences

Job Summary:

Job Summary

Social Scientists work on collaborative research teams to solve real-world problems, producing objective, scientific analyses in peer-reviewed journals and technical reports to guide policymakers on diverse issues. Researchers work in multidisciplinary teams that include health policy researchers, economists, natural scientists, epidemiologists, social scientists, and others with relevant training. They apply rigorous, empirical research designs to analyze health policy issues and evaluate programs.

The Social Scientist Assistant 2 will complete all activities by strictly following Good Clinical Practices and all relevant current local, state, and federal laws, regulations, guidance, policies, and procedures developed by the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Institutional Review Board.

The applicant must have completed a master's degree in the field of public health, social sciences, or a related field, and a minimum of 5 years of research experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Provides support for a broad portfolio of sophisticated health economic, and health policy research projects in a project team structure
• Focuses on overall project quality and client deliverables while completing job responsibilities with direction and instruction from others
• Prepares study protocols, statistical analysis or other project implementation plans in collaboration with a research team to address research questions and objectives
• Identifies and collects appropriate data, including from literature, databases, interviews and/or surveys using scientifically valid methods
• Develops and executes analysis using appropriate analytic techniques
• Conducts remote web-based interviews and moderates focus groups with a spectrum of healthcare stakeholders, including patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, academic experts, and policymakers
• Synthesizes, interprets, and communicates complex quantitative and qualitative results to internal and external audiences
• Performs quality assurance and quality control procedures on own and others' work
• Supports team members in ideation and dissemination of projects and proactively seeks out opportunities to build scientific reputation
• Prepares written technical reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and presentations
• Supports project leads in identifying challenges and strategies to mitigate risk early on; communicates any risks and mitigation strategies to senior leadership if necessary

Additional responsibilities:

• Oversee and manage research projects
• Communicates and models values and mission of VU/VUMC.
• Establishes, supports, and promotes ownership of team goals. Works as a team to accomplish common goals. Willingly accepts responsibility and performs expected and unexpected tasks. Willingly exerts extra effort when necessary to get the job done.
• Sets up REDCap databases, conducts online surveys and in-depth interviews, and performs data entry.
• Coordinates between collaborating organizations.
• Exhibits strong leadership skills. Delegates tasks as appropriate and follows up to assure completion. Effectively motivates team members. Creates and supports a climate of trust, openness, and honest communication.
• Recognizes areas of responsibility and takes charge of them. Takes ownership of problems brought to their attention. Follows through from analysis to problem resolution. Takes responsibility for mistakes and learns from them.
• Ability to accept constructive criticism. Demonstrates a positive attitude in response to suggestions for improvement.
• Can distinguish critical needs/problems from less urgent ones. Effectively prioritizes tasks and work assignments. Plans, organizes, and completes projects in an efficient manner.
• Communicates in and across teams to maximize effectiveness, efficiency, and information sharing.
• Analyzes situations/events, develops recommendations/plans and prepares presentations.
• Uses innovative thinking when developing alternative solutions.
• Actively identifies and participates in educational and developmental activities to improve knowledge and performance to sustain and enhance personal and departmental development.
• May present at national conferences/panels or contribute to publications.
• Other duties as assigned, and responsibilities will extend to other research studies, upon funding.

Preferred Qualifications

• At least 5 years of research experience in social or health sciences.
• Institutional Review Board preparation and submission experience.
• Qualitative research and analysis experience.
• Familiarity with Health Services Research and Implementation Science.
• Experience with writing and co-authoring peer-reviewed journal publications.

Minimum Competencies

• Professional or personal experience in multicultural environments.
• to work in a professional manner as both a self-starter and a team member.
• Knowledge of the scientific method.
• Excellent writing skills, oral communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Experience with obtaining informed consent from study participants.
• Experience with qualitative research methods including conducting surveys, semi-structured interviews, or focus groups.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office, REDCap.
• Ability to perform qualitative analysis and use a qualitative analysis software program (i.e., NVIVO).

Preferred Competencies

• Experience with writing data reports, manuscripts, and research grants.
• Research experience in reducing health disparities, particularly for people who identify as African American or Black.
• in ethics, health policy, genetics, and organ transplantation and donation.

Preferred Qualifications

• At least 5 years of research experience in social or health sciences.
• Institutional Review Board preparation and submission experience.
• Qualitative research and analysis experience.
• Familiarity with Health Services Research and Implementation Science.
• Experience with writing and co-authoring peer-reviewed journal publications.

Minimum Competencies

• Professional or personal experience in multicultural environments.
• Ability to work in a professional manner as both a self-starter and a team member.
• Knowledge of the scientific method.
• Excellent writing skills, oral communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Experience with obtaining informed consent from study participants.
• Experience with qualitative research methods including conducting surveys, semi-structured interviews, or focus groups.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office, REDCap.
• Ability to perform qualitative analysis and use a qualitative analysis software program (i.e., NVIVO).

Preferred Competencies

• Experience with writing data reports, manuscripts, and research grants.
• Research experience in reducing health disparities, particularly for people who identify as African American or Black.
• Interest in ethics, health policy, genetics, and organ transplantation and donation.

Our Academic Enterprise is one of the nation’s longest serving and most prestigious academic medical centers. Through its historic bond with Vanderbilt University and integral role in the School of Medicine, Vanderbilt Health cultivates distinguished research and educational programs to advance a clinical enterprise that provides compassionate and personalized care and support for millions of patients and family members each year.

World-leading academic departments and comprehensive centers of excellence pursue scientific discoveries and transformational educational and clinical advances across the entire spectrum of health and disease.

Aligning with Vanderbilt Health’s Strategic Directions, the Office of Research provides shared research resources, administrative expertise and professional guidance to enable the trans-disciplinary environment and highly collaborative culture that advances discovery and training for all the research faculty, trainees, students and staff.

Core Accountabilities:

Organizational Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment. Breadth of Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area. Team Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues:- Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.- Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences. Delivering Excellent Services:- Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.- Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.- Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.- Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.- Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities. Fostering Innovation:- Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.- Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges.- Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.