Research Assistant - Allergy, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine

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Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated.

It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt's mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

The Laboratory of Science and Translation in Critical Illness (LSTCI) conducts a wide range of research, from basic science to large scale clinical trials, in a wide variety of critically ill patients and transplant recipients. Your role, under direct supervision, will be to support clinical and laboratory research teams. Additionally, you will assist in general lab operation and maintenance.

• Under supervision, assist the clinical team with the collection, processing, storage, and inventory of human biospecimens.
• Work with senior lab members to learn new lab specific techniques.
• Conduct biomarker studies on clinical samples by preparing dilution plates, running ELISA assays, analyzing data, and communicating experimental results to the team.
• Assist LSTCI graduate students and fellows by preparing and executing mechanistic experiments, including cell culture or animal studies.
• Assist with experimental and clinical data collection and organization, keeping an up-to-date laboratory notebook and record of data/sample acquisition.
• Work both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Understand and follow Vanderbilt Health safety protocols, including the use of combustibles, toxic, and biohazardous materials.
• Operate lab equipment: centrifuge, pH meter, autoclave, spectrophotometer, analytical balance, etc.
• Attend weekly lab meetings being present and prepared to share experimental results.
• Maintain the laboratory by inventorying supplies, monitoring lab storage units, and cleaning and maintaining labware and equipment.

• Deliver world-class clinical care to patients with allergic diseases, pulmonary conditions, and critical illness through employing a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach.
• Lead in the development of cutting-edge, patient-focused research that extends from basic discoveries to clinical implementation.
• Provide state-of-the-art education and training to inspire and nurture the next generation of leaders in allergy and immunology, pulmonary and critical care medicine, and interventional pulmonology.

• Organizational Impact:
  Delivers job responsibilities that impact own job area/team with some guidance.
• Problem Solving/ Complexity of work:
  Uses existing procedures, research and analysis to solve standard job related problems that may require some judgement.
• Breadth of Knowledge:
  Requires subject matter knowledge within a professional area to meet job requirements.
• Team Interaction:
  Individually contributes to project/work teams.

• Supporting Colleagues:
  • Develops Self and Others:
    Continuously improves own skills by identifying development opportunities.
  • Builds and Maintains Relationships:
    Seeks to understand colleagues priorities, working styles and develops relationships across areas.
  • Communicates Effectively:
    Opens shares information with others and communicates in a clear and courteous manner.
• Delivering Excellent Services:
  • Serves Others with Compassion:
    Invests time to understand the problems, needs of others and how to provide excellent service.
  • Solves Complex Problems:
    Seeks to understand issues, solves routine problems, and raises proper concerns to supervisors in a timely manner.
  • Offers Meaningful Advice and Support:
    Listens carefully to understand the issues and provides accurate information and support.
• Ensuring High Quality:
  • Performs Excellent Work:
    Checks work quality before delivery and asks relevant questions to meet quality standards.
  • Ensures Continuous Improvement:
    Shows eagerness to learn new knowledge, technologies, tools or systems and displays willingness to go above and beyond.
  • Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements:
    Demonstrates basic knowledge of conditions that affect safety and reports unsafe conditions to the appropriate person or department.
• Managing Resources Effectively:
  • Demonstrates Accountability:
    Takes responsibility for completing assigned activities and thinks beyond standard approaches to provide high-quality work/service.
  • Stewards Organizational Resources:
    Displays understanding of how personal actions will impact departmental…