Clinical Research Assistant - Bilingual Spanish

About the role

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences conducts studies examining the effects of maternal and child environmental exposures (e.g., stress/trauma, chemicals/toxins, caregiving quality) on children’s developmental outcomes (e.g., stress physiology, mental and physical health, neurodevelopment). Current projects involve follow-up of a cohort of mothers recruited in pregnancy and their children for assessments when the children are between 11 and 17 years of age. Assessments involve collection of a range of data, including maternal interviews, child behavioral tasks, neurodevelopmental measures, biospecimens, and anthropometry.

Responsibilities

• Recruit and consent participants for research studies through interviews and written communications; provide detailed background information regarding studies to families, communicate all policies and procedures, and respond to all inquiries.
• Execute study visits remotely, in the lab, and in the home, including performing data collection and handling biospecimens.
• Serve as liaison to participants, guiding and advising them throughout the study; coordinate follow-up visits; act as a resource to address concerns; troubleshoot issues.
• Monitor and review data collection, data entry, and informed consent procedures to ensure consistency of application.
• Assist Principal Investigator in planning and implementing research studies and perform other administrative duties as assigned.
• Participate in the training of newly hired research study assistants as needed.
• Create and prepare data collection statistical reports and analytical summaries for distribution to the study research team for review and analysis.
• Prepare/update documentation for ensuring study quality (e.g., procedural manuals) and dissemination of findings (e.g., assistance with poster presentations, manuscripts) as necessary/requested.
• Coordinate activities between the study team and participating collaborators within and outside the hospital.
• Coordinate and prepare the necessary documentation for Institutional Review Board (IRB), Committee on Clinical Investigations (CCI) submissions, and NIH, together with the Principal Investigator of the study, as requested/needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in psychology or another relevant field.
• Flexible schedule, including some evenings and weekends; hours will be adjusted to maximize recruitment and interviewing schedules.
• Fluency in English and Spanish is required.
• Sensitivity in working with multicultural populations, traumatized women, and children.
• High attention to detail and organizational skills; ability to multi-task; analytical skills to gather and interpret data of moderate to high complexity.
• Well-developed communication skills to provide critical information to participants, work collaboratively on a team, effectively deal with conflicting views or issues, and mediate fair solutions.
• Phlebotomy experience is a plus; willingness to be trained if no prior training.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel; familiarity with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, REDCap, and SPSS or SAS is a plus.

Benefits

• Flexible schedules
• Affordable health, vision, and dental insurance
• Child care and student loan subsidies
• Generous levels of time off
• 403(b) Retirement Savings plan and Pension
• Tuition and certain License and Certification Reimbursement
• Cell phone plan discounts and discounted rates on T-passes

Pay

The posted pay range is Boston Children’s reasonable and good-faith expectation for this role at the time of posting. Any base pay offer provided depends on skills, experience, education, certifications, and a variety of other job-related factors. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive benefits package.