Wisconsin Brain Donor Program Specialist

Job Summary

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 consenting, 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.

• Work must be completed onsite, at a designated campus work location.
• Core on‑site work hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Position also requires participation in a 24/7 on‑call rotation, so the candidate must have on‑call night and weekend availability as needed.
• This position has been identified as a position of trust with access to vulnerable populations. The selected candidate will be required to pass an initial caregiver check to be eligible for employment 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, etc. 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.

School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics & Gerontology, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Brain Donor Program

The starting salary for the position is $50,000 annually; but is negotiable based on…