Director of Research

Job Description

Job Description

Job Description

The Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. (LFA) is the nation’s leading voluntary organization exclusively serving the entire lupus community including persons with lupus, their families, physicians, researchers, and the general public. Our mission is to educate and support those affected by lupus and find a cure. The Director is an exceptional talent responsible for oversight, day-to-day management and implementation of LFA research related programs and initiatives and ensuring that they continue to meet organization wide strategic goals and outcomes. Reporting to the Vice President of Research, the position will require working closely with a diverse group of cross-functional internal and external stakeholder groups including LFA’s Medical Scientific Advisory Council, Industry partners, consultants, and other advisors.

Essential Functions

The Director of Research must demonstrate a high level of professionalism, accuracy, sensitivity, discretion, good judgment, and diplomacy. The work involves strategic thinking and the use of exceptional written and verbal communication skills, technical computer applications and administrative support. The work requires extensive experience in research methodology and application of quantitative and qualitative analytics as well as using mixed methods approaches to solving research problems.

The individual will work in cooperation with the research team to facilitate collaboration across the LFA, with vendors, external partners and other key stakeholders. This individual must also be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment and managing staff.

The Director’s responsibilities will include but are not limited to :

• Lupus AIM : Working closely with the VP of Research , the Director will manage LFA’s Lupus AIM (Addressing health Inequities in Minorities) program, the first comprehensive study on health disparities in lupus. This involves working with our project partners and advisory panel and overseeing potential follow-on solutions identified in the study that will help drive future programming focused on eliminating racial and ethnic disparities associated with the social determinants of health.
• Research Accelerated by You (RAY) : The Director will support the Research Department in RAY registry operations and business development. The Director will leverage new and existing relationships with partners to enhance data collection and analysis, support the process for developing reports and publications originating from the RAY registry, and work with researchers and drug developers to enhance lupus science based on data from RAY.
• Advancing Lupus Pillars for Healthcare Advancement (ALPHA) : The Director will manage the ALPHA project by working with the international lupus community and thought leaders in research, clinical practice, biopharmaceutical industry, government, and patient advocacy organizations. Specifically, the Director will :

Oversee qualitative and quantitative research initiatives focused on the development of an evidence-based, patient-informed shared decision-making tool for lupus

Leverage new and existing relationships with industry partners to design, develop, and oversee research collaborations focused on capturing ‘patient voice’ across the clinical research continuum

Education and Experience

The Director must have a PhD in nursing, psychology, biomedical science, statistics, epidemiology or related health discipline. The individual must have 6+ years of relevant work experience in biopharma, academic research settings, healthcare consulting or nonprofit organizations. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated expertise in project management with proven success managing people and experience forming or maintaining collaborative relationships with stakeholders. The individual must have a thorough understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methodology, including study design, protocol writing, data analysis and must have a strong familiarity with drug development processes, or clinical research. The individual must be comfortable working in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Excellent written and communication skills and ability to coordinate multiple programmatic activities are required.

Expertise in SPSS, Redcap, and familiarity with qualitative data analysis software such as ATLAS.ti or NVivo.

Benefits

The Lupus Foundation of America prioritizes the health and well-being of its employees. The Foundation offers a highly competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision and life insurance covered at 100% for the employee. We provide sick, vacation, and personal leave, and we follow the federal government for most holiday closures. Other benefits include, Flexible Spending Accounts and an Employee Assistance Program.

Other Requirements