Research Program Manager, The Nicholas School

Duke University:

 

Duke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan Duke. Today, Duke is regarded as one of America’s leading research universities. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is positioned in the heart of the Research Triangle, which is ranked annually as one of the best places in the country to work and live. Duke has more than 15,000 students who study and conduct research in its 10 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. With about 40,000 employees, Duke is the third largest private employer in North Carolina, and it now has international programs in more than 150 countries.

 

Job Description

Research Project Manager

North Carolina Firefighter Cancer Cohort Study

Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University

 

Duke University invites applications for a Research Project Manager to join an active research team focused on environmental chemical exposures and cancer risk in North Carolina firefighters. The Project Manager will work closely with Dr. Heather Stapleton and other researchers at Duke University, including the Duke Cancer Institute, and with researchers at NC State University.

Position Details:

The candidate will be expected to serve as one of two project managers for the newly formed North Carolina Firefighter Cancer Cohort Study (NC FFCCS). The goal of the NC FFCCS is to recruit 1000 active firefighters to a prospective study, collecting survey information along with both biological and environmental samples to support exposure and health assessments. Firefighters will be followed for a period up to 30 years and will become part of the National FFCCS study.   Primary responsibilities will involve coordinating recruitment events at different locations across the state, communicating and advertising recruitment events with firefighters, managing protocols, collecting samples and helping to manage the project database.   Excellent communication and organizational skills are important. 

The position is available for two years, with a possibility of extension pending funding.

Preferred Qualifications:

Qualifications include a Master’s Degree or five years of prior experience along with a Bachelor’s degree in an environmental or natural science field and/or public health.  The successful candidate should be highly organized and have excellent oral and written communication skills, and a demonstrated interest in exposure science and community engagement.

 

Responsibilities:

• Assist with recruitment events for the firefighter research study.  This includes working with the existing Lead Project Manager (Candace VanVleet) to schedule and participate in recruitment events.  Our goal is to recruit 1000 firefighters from the state of North Carolina over a two year period.  This entails working with the various fire stations across the state of North Carolina to coordinate a date, time, and room for the event, which typically lasts 3-5 hours. We are planning for 2-3 of these events per month. This position will support Candance by helping to support logistics (e.g. reserve rental cars, hotels as needed) and scheduling support staff in Dr. Stapleton’s lab to assist with each event. (We will need 3-4 people at each event). After each event, the blood and urine samples will be transported back to Dr. Stapleton’s lab at Duke University, centrifuged and aliquoted into small cryovials.  Some aliquots will be stored in Dr. Stapleton’s laboratory while others will be shipped on dry ice to the Project Biorepository at the University of Arizona. This position will assist with this process (20%)
• Prepare and share exposure report backs with study participants.  As firefighters are recruited into the st