Wisconsin Brain Donor Program Specialist

Current Employees

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Academic Staff

Regular

Research Specialist

The Wisconsin Brain Donor Program Specialist serves as the primary operational lead for the Wisconsin Brain Donation Program (WBDP), overseeing the coordination of all brain donation cases and associated research activities. This position manages the full lifecycle of donor participation, including recruitment and outreach, informed consent, on‑call donation coordination, biospecimen processing oversight, and post‑donation follow‑up with families. This position operates in a dynamic environment that requires balancing field‑based donation work, laboratory coordination, and administrative responsibilities, often under tight timelines and with evolving research protocols.

The role requires continuous coordination of time‑sensitive, high‑complexity donation events, including participation in a 24/7 on‑call rotation, response to pager notifications, and coordination of staff and logistics for autopsy and tissue recovery procedures. The role ensures that all donation cases are appropriately staffed.

In addition to donation operations, this position performs advanced tissue and biofluid workflows, including precision slicing, ex vivo MRI coordination, embedding, and other post‑donation processing activities that significantly extend case timelines. The position is responsible for maintaining strict adherence to research protocols, regulatory requirements, and biospecimen quality standards.

This position also manages data collection within REDCap and LIMS, documentation, and quality control processes, including complex data entry across multiple studies, bi‑annual audits, and tracking of participant and sample information. Administrative responsibilities include coordinating meetings, managing resource and sample requests, maintaining communication with internal and external collaborators, and supporting conference and education activities by contributing to data curations and manuscripts, as well as creating abstracts.

A significant component of the role involves direct interaction with participants and donor families, including conducting phone‑based consent, follow‑up communications, and bereavement outreach such as condolence correspondence. This position represents the program at outreach and community engagement events and contributes to participant recruitment efforts.

• This position requires work to be completed onsite, at a designated campus work location.
• On‑site work hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; participation in a 24/7 on‑call rotation is required.
• The position is designated as a position of trust with access to vulnerable populations; the selected candidate must pass an initial caregiver check under the Wisconsin Caregiver Law and every four years.

• Reviews, analyzes, and interprets data and/or documents results for presentations and/or reporting to internal and external audiences.
• Assists with brain‑only autopsies for brain donation procurements; performs post‑donation technical tasks including tissue embedding, precision slicing, MRI coordination, biofluid processing; and manages specimen storage, inventory, freezer maintenance, and biorepository logistics.
• Participates in the development, interpretation, and implementation of research methodology and materials.
• Operates, cleans, and maintains organization of research equipment and research area; tracks inventory levels and places replenishment orders.
• Conducts research experiments according to established research protocols with moderate impact to the project(s); collects data and monitors test results.
• Performs literature reviews and writes reports.
• Provides operational guidance on day‑to‑day activities of unit or program staff and/or student workers.

Starting salary is $50,000 annually, negotiable based on experience and qualifications. Employees can expect benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave;…