GRA Opportunities: Contribute on multi-institutional NIH-funded studies on COVID-19, diabetes and health disparities

The Emory Global Diabetes Research Center is seeking several first and second year Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) to contribute to two projects, funded as part of NIH-funded RADx-UP COVID Testing and Diabetes Studies, and are joint projects with Morehouse School of Medicine and Georgia Institute of Technology:

1. 1)  Project PEACH 1 (RADx-UP): The RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program, is a part of the NIH-funded, Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative. Emory’s RADx-UP program, known as Project PEACH (Promoting Engagement and COVID-19 Testing for Health), aims to better understand COVID-19 testing patterns among underserved and vulnerable populations, particularly those at risk for or living with diabetes. The mixed methods study will help understand disparities in disease progression and outcomes and guide development of strategies to reduce disparities in COVID-19 testing. Data will also inform information about testing for minority populations affected by diabetes and associated comorbidities, including pre-diabetes and obesity.

2. 2)  Project Peach2: Building on knowledge gained in Project PEACH 1, Project PEACH 2 will address the on-going need to find sustainable, easy to disseminate, and acceptable ways to increase and sustain COVID-19 testing to overcome barriers to testing such as scheduling and attending appointments, and stigma. This study will test the feasibility, acceptability and sustainability of at-home COVID-19 testing among the high-risk population of individuals affected by or at risk for diabetes by developing targeted behavioral nudges. Nudges will be developed based on findings from Project PEACH 1 and will consist of text or social media messages designed to provide indirect suggestions and positive reinforcements to encourage choices and change behaviors around disease prevention, particularly in a pandemic situation.

Positions will support research in areas of diabetes and chronic disease management as well as health equity and disparities. GRAs will gain relevant hands-on experience in the MPH Foundational Competencies listed below, as well as others specific to their concentrations. Relevant experience includes:

• Working on cross-institutional teams;
• Developing and participating in qualitative data collection, management and analysis;
• Participating in the planning and conduct of quantitative and qualitative research to develop
• culturally appropriate interventions;
• Utilizing large public health databases for targeted programming and intervention development;
• Collaborating on a team to develop targeted social media-based communications for
• interventions.

Positions Available

There are several positions available according to student interests, as well as opportunities for APE, student theses, and capstone projects.

Spanish-speaking GRAs are urgently needed to participate in survey authentication, recruitment, participation in in-person events, scheduling and conducting interviews in Spanish, data management, translation and cleaning of transcripts and data analysis, and development of culturally appropriate messaging for the Phase 2 study.

• Individuals with training and/or experience in qualitative data analysis are needed to assist with interview data preparation, analysis, and interpretation that will inform the development of targeted intervention messages.
• GRAs interested in or with experience developing apps and public health messaging for social media.

Please e-mail your resume to Wendy Gill (wggill [at] emory [dot] edu).