Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator

Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) affects 1 in 3000 people and affected patients face not only tumors but also cognitive and emotional difficulties. The Department of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Division of Child Neurology, is seeking an enthusiastic Research Assistant to coordinate and collect data for a project investigating children with NF1 and neuroimaging biomarkers of cognition.

For the project, the research assistant will play an active role in recruiting subjects, maintaining databases of research‑related and clinical data, and performing neurophysiology studies including electroencephalograms (EEGs) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Interested candidates will have the opportunity to analyze data and draft manuscripts under the guidance of post‑doctoral students and faculty.

• Recruitment & Scheduling of Subjects
  • Assist in recruiting children with NF1 from the Stanford Child Neurology Neurofibromatosis Clinic.
  • Assist in recruiting healthy control children.
  • Follow‑up with all interested candidates in a timely manner and screen potential participants based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.
  • Obtain consent and assent from subjects, sometimes with the help of an interpreter if needed.
  • Schedule subjects and help them navigate trips to Stanford for research, including arriving at the appropriate buildings and getting parking validated.
  • Maintain all subject‑related forms and documents, including consent forms and subject logs.
  • Assist in maintaining a secure Redcap database to store identifiable information about subjects, including health information.
• Neuropsychologic Studies
  • Assist in the performance and scoring of neurocognitive assessments.
• Data Management and Analysis
  • Appropriately code and de‑identify data in an organized, systematic way and save data to appropriate servers and/or databases.
  • Perform data cleaning and pre‑processing steps using programs like MATLAB or Python.
  • Export, organize, and analyze MRI scans using MacOS/Windows scripting and MATLAB.
• Knowledge,
  
  Skills and Abilities
  
  (Strongly Desired)
  • Excellent communication skills, especially the ability to be sensitive to children with epilepsy and their families as many participants will have a recent diagnosis.
  • Ability to work well with children of varying ages. This includes the ability to be flexible and creative in performing studies to both make children comfortable while still obtaining high quality data.
  • Ability to prioritize responsibilities of the two projects appropriately and meet deadlines.
  • Ability to take initiative in solving problems.
  • Meticulous organization skills.
  • Good problem‑solving skills, including the ability to identify and troubleshoot technical problems independently.
  • Computer literacy, including the ability to work with Microsoft Office Suite and a willingness to learn new programs such as Redcap.
  • Experience with computer coding (in MATLAB or Python) is highly preferred and a willingness to learn these tools is required.
  • Flexible to work outside of standard business hours to accommodate the needs of subject and families.
  • Other duties may also be assigned.

• Two‑year college degree and one year of relevant experience or an equivalent combination of experience, education, and training.

• Bachelor’s degree in the sciences preferred.
• Society of Clinical Research Associates or Association of Clinical Research Professionals certification is preferred.

• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
• Knowledge of medical terminology.

• Frequently stand, walk, twist, bend, stoop, squat and use fine grasping.
• Occasionally sit, reach above shoulders, perform desk‑based computer tasks, use a telephone and write by hand, lift, carry, push, and pull objects that weigh up to 40 pounds.
• Rarely kneel, crawl, climb ladders, grasp forcefully, sort and file paperwork or parts, rarely lift, carry, push, and pull objects that weigh 40 pounds or more.

• Position may at times require the employee to work with or be in areas where hazardous materials and/or exposure to chemicals, blood, body fluid or…