The Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) Community-Based Research Specialist will work on a five-year large-scale multi-site NIH funded grant. This person will work closely with a core research team, medical clinicians, and social services agencies to provide short-term patient care coordination. The goal of the project is to support to Latino/a/x/e individuals with kidney disease and improve these patients’ health and general well-being by connecting them to relevant resources. The goal of this work is to improve these patients’ health and general well-being.  Due to the nature of the project goals, the ideal candidate will have the ability to communicate effectively in English and Spanish, both orally and in writing. The Research Specialist will establish, engage, and maintain community relationships as well as facilitate core study activities such as scheduling, tracking patient progression in the study and handling participant compensation.

Duties and responsibilities:

1.       Responsible for establishing trusting relationships with patients and their families while providing general support and encouragement. Some Latino/a/x/e individuals experience mistrust and discrimination and cultivating trust with each participant at the onset is critically important.

2.       Recruiting and enrolling participants into the study by describing the study and consenting eligible Latino/a/x/e individuals.

3.       Participate in weekly team research meetings and facilitate a wide variety of day-to-day research tasks including, but not limited to, tracking study activities in REDCap, sending out mailings, and managing/requesting study supplies when needed.

4.       Communicate regularly with the Director of CHEK-D and the other members of the research team to contribute to the success in meeting the goals of the project.

5.       Willingness to learn about kidney disease and work with patients who have kidney disease.

6.       Willingness to become a certified community health worker (CHW training will be funded by the grant and completed during working hours)

7.       Delivery of the intervention: This includes multiple components but briefly: (1) identifying social challenges and providing resources for those social challenges; (2) supporting kidney disease education in a way that is individualized (for the participant’s health literacy and education level); (3) provide support with health system navigation (e.g., language interpretation, making appointments, attending key clinical visits with the participant, etc); (4) support with kidney-related treatment decision-making; and (5) identify other challenges faced by the participant (e.g., lack of health insurance coverage). Additional components may be added to the CHW intervention as we receive feedback from our patient and community partners.

8.       Helps patients identify socio-economic issues that affect their overall health and develop health/social management plans and goals. 

9.       Assists patients in accessing health related services.

10.   Provides support and advocacy throughout the project to assure patients’ medical needs and referrals required are being conveyed.

11.   Delivering health information in a way that is culturally and language concordant with the community.

12.  Facilitates communication and coordinate services between clinicians, patients, and the health system.

13.  Serves as the point of contact for all participants (English and Spanish speaking). Must be fluent in English and Spanish.

14.  Maintain a reliable mode of transportation for potential travel.

15.  Perform miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.

TERM APPOINTMENT; FUNDING AVAILABLE THROUGH 06/30/2025; CONTINUANCE BEYOND THAT DATE SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING.

See the Position Description for additional information.

• Possession of a valid New Mexico driver's license is a requirement for this job.

Bachelor's degree; at least 2 years of experience directly related to the duties and responsibilities specified.

Completed degree(s) from an accredited institution that are above the minimum education requirement may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

• ·      Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with Latino/a/x/e cultures and people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
•        Cultural humility (i.e. humble, self-reflective attitude towards individuals).
•        Experience working in a research setting and a working understanding of the rules and regulations that accompany Human Subjects research.
•        Strong previous experience in a service- related field (e.g., patient navigation or community health worker, work for a non-profit Latino-serving community organization, or other service-related role)
•        Working knowledge of social services programs (including transportation and other social determinants of health needs), multi-system outreach programs related to health care delivery, clinical education, and health-related services for individuals with kidney disease.
•         Ability to communicate medical information to clinicians and care coordinators over the telephone.
•         Skill in organizing resources and establishing priorities.
•         Ability and willingness to provide emotional support, encouragement and motivation to patients.
•         Experience with REDCap and the Microsoft suite
•        Culturally concordant with community and/or shared experienced with kidney disease (e.g., prior experience as a caregiver of someone with kidney disease or personal experience with kidney disease).

Only applications submitted through the official UNMJobs site will be accepted. If you are viewing this job advertisement on a 3rd party site, please visit UNMJobs to submit an application.

Positions posted with a Staff Type of Regular or Term are eligible for the Veteran Preference Program. See the Veteran Preference Program webpage for additional details.

The University of New Mexico is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class.

The University of New Mexico requires all regular staff positions successfully pass a pre-employment background check. This may include, but is not limited to, a criminal history background check, New Mexico Department of Health fingerprint screening, New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department fingerprint screening, verification of education credentials, and/or verification of prior employment. For more information about background checks, visit https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/3000/3280.html. Refer to https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/3000/3200.html for a definition of Regular Staff.