Research Associate - Public Health Specialist
About the role
Prevention Insights at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington invites applications for a Research Associate – Public Health Specialist. This position will begin on or around August 31, 2026. Applications received by August 14, 2026 will receive full consideration and will continue to be accepted until the position is filled. This is a one-year position that is subject to annual renewal. The work structure will be hybrid, including a combination of remote work, on-site work at Prevention Insights, and occasional in-state travel for meetings, trainings, or site visits.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree in public health, health education, community psychology, social work, or a related field. Bachelor’s degree in those fields with relevant experience would also be accepted instead of a Master’s degree.
- A minimum of 3 years of experience in community-level substance use primary prevention and public health promotion.
- Working knowledge of the following areas:
- Prevention science models, frameworks, and methodologies including the Strategic Prevention Framework, the Communities that Care approach, and the CDC’s Engage approach for youth substance use prevention.
- Knowledge of evidence-based primary prevention strategies for substance use across the lifespan, an understanding of program implementation fidelity, and familiarity with public-health-based social norms and social marketing campaign design, fidelity, and implementation best practices.
- Assessment and evaluation knowledge including data collection, prioritization, management, analysis, dissemination and utilization.
- Experience with coalition development and enhancement, and mobilizing community key leaders, stakeholders, and organizations to support local-level coalition efforts related to community wellness initiatives, such as youth substance use prevention and/or mental health promotion.
Encouraged
- Public health or prevention-specific certification (e.g., IC&RC, CHES).
- Evidence of strong oral and written communication skills.
- Evidence of the ability to present statistical information in academic and non-academic formats.
- A detail-oriented personality with strong project design and management skills, and ability to meet deliverable deadlines without requiring micromanagement of progress.
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work with a team.
Responsibilities
This role's primary responsibility will be to provide technical assistance (including consultation and coaching) as well as skill-building education via synchronous and asynchronous trainings, webinars, and resource development to communities that have received state funding from the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction, which may include onsite visits as well as utilizing various technologies including email, telephone, zoom, websites, and other online modalities. The candidate will work as part of a technical assistance team but will ultimately be directly responsible for supporting multiple communities as the primary point of contact for technical assistance.
- Offering technical assistance in prevention process for all competencies across the 10 essential public health services and the Strategic Prevention Framework, including assessment and qualitative and quantitative data utilization, organizational and community-level capacity development, comprehensive strategic planning and program selection, use of evidence-based models with assurance of fidelity and population saturation, prevention infrastructure and coalition development, and evaluation framework application and utilization.
- Offering training, work sessions, meetings, consultations, phone calls and webinars to allow for resource sharing, coaching, fiscal compliance, report requirements, and capacity building.
- Providing feedback on data assessments, reviewing reports, and giving guidance for community planning and implementation.
- Creating webinars, resource documents, worksheets, and tailored tools to support the milestones and benchmarks associated with implementation of the Strategic Prevention Framework with fidelity.
- Occasionally offering one-on-one coaching, group instruction, facilitated planning, or resource sharing.
Application Procedure
To apply, please provide a letter of application, CV, and a list of three references at: https://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/33817. Questions regarding the position or application process can be directed to: Desiree Reynolds, Director of Workplace and Employee Experience, Prevention Insights, 5001 N. State Road 37, Bloomington, IN 47404, desiree@iu.edu.
Pay
Baseline starting at $58,000, with a higher starting amount negotiable commensurate with experience.