Study Coordinator for COVID-19 Cohort in Puerto Rico, CDC
Category : Alumni
Opportunity Description
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with Ponce Health Sciences University/Ponce Research Institute (PHSU/PRI) has been working in southern Puerto Rico since 2012 to conduct sentinel enhanced surveillance for acute febrile illnesses. In 2017, CDC and PHSU implemented a community platform, Communities Organized for the Prevention of Arboviruses (COPA), to detect incident infections with tropical arboviruses and evaluate interventions to prevent infection. The ongoing COPA cohort was expanded to investigate COVID-19 epidemiology. The COPA COVID-19 or COCOVID cohort study will enroll and follow-up with participants over a 1-year period in order to investigate the frequency and role of asymptomatic and mild infections, risk factors for infection, illness severity, immune response to infection, viral shedding and household transmission dynamics. This investigation will help inform epidemiologic models, evidence-based public health policy, and development and evaluation of vaccine and therapeutics. Join a fantastic team of epidemiologists, medical officers, laboratorians, modelers and public health specialists working on exciting interdisciplinary applied public health research.
Position Details
- One-year term contract position with a possibility of extension depending on the availability of funding.
-
Duty Location: Ponce, Puerto Rico
Duties and Responsibilities
- Responsible for daily operations of the study at the different cluster sites
- Develop and update standard operating procedures (SOP) for the components of the project
- Work with study staff to track participant enrollment by date and cluster, and to evaluate number of vacant houses, refusal to participate among eligible houses and dropout rates
- Supervise fieldwork including assessing barriers to recruitment by cluster, develop plans to overcome barriers, develop staff schedule, provide feedback on staff performance, supervise that SOP are being followed and other related tasks
- Oversee data quality for the overall conduct of the study, including completion of all data for each participant in the study
- Oversee that specimens are collected for all participants and that they match completed questionnaires
- Oversee the preparation of specimens for pick-up and delivery to the local and reference laboratory following established guidelines
- Oversee inventory for study materials and develop requisitions for supplies as needed
- Coordinate stipend request for visiting households and keep proper documentation for the use of stipends
- Serve as primary contact point between field sites, PHSU and CDC
- Provide training, education, and feedback to study staff regarding professional conduct during fieldwork and other SOP related procedures
- Assist in data entry, data cleaning, data analyses and data dissemination
- Prepare and submit monthly reports as needed
- Participate in other study activities assigned by principal investigator or other leadership staff.
Qualifications
- Masters in Epidemiology, Public Health or related field, or PhD in Public Health, Epidemiology or equivalent.
- Experience in coordinating large field projects, including staff management.
- Experience in writing and communicating research or surveillance findings.
- Demonstrated skills in successful communication and collaboration within a multidisciplinary team.
- Demonstrated ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast-paced work environment.
- Fluency in Spanish and English required.
Application Information
- All applicants should submit a cover letter and CV addressed to Janice Perez Padilla at jpq9 [at] cdc [dot] gov.
- Position closing date: August 31, 2020
- If you have questions, please contact Janice Perez Padilla at jpq9 [at] cdc [dot] gov.
