Among its approximately 400 employees, Division of Research (DOR) includes a wide variety of educational backgrounds, specialized skills, and research experience. DOR staff works either in teams organized around specific research, or belong to one of several centralized support groups.
The following are brief functional descriptions of the most common job categories at DOR.
 Research Scientists/Investigators initiate and lead DOR research. Trained in fields such as epidemiology, medicine, or biostatistics, they are responsible for procuring competitive research funding, conducting studies, and publishing results in scientific journals.
Staff assists in preparing and submitting proposals and progress reports to funding agents, identifying potential funders, and maintaining documentation needed for proposals such as biosketches.
Clinic Staff
DOR currently has over a dozen clinical research studies in progress. Each project requires the gathering of physical measurements and socioeconomic information in a consistent manner. DOR clinic staff is specifically trained to collect data as mandated by study protocol. Personnel includes exercise treadmill test staff, echocardiograph technicians, medical assistants, nurse practitioners, nutritionists, phlebotomists, research nurses, ultrasound technicians, and other clinical research staff.
Data Entry
DOR's in-house Data Entry department provides double-entry validated key entry services.
Editorial Staff
DOR’s quarterly newsletter, Research Update, is produced and overseen by a science editor, managing editor, and executive editor.
Financial administrative
Staff assists researchers with financial needs such as monitoring the progress of project budgets and preparing financial reports for funding agencies.
Facility operations
Staff orders project supplies, assigns space, processes security requests, books conference rooms, and triages building problems.
Human resources
Staff provides services such as recruiting, hiring, promoting, evaluations, maternity leave, employee assistance, and other personnel services.
Information Technology (IT)
Staff operates DOR computer networking services; configures and maintains all computer hardware and software; develops end user applications for research studies and administration; maintains DOR internal and external Web sites; provides help desk services. The IT group includes UNIX and Window OS administrators, Web masters, application developers, and technical support specialists.
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Research Compliance staff is responsible for working directly with Kaiser Foundation Research Institute to meet all the federal Internal Review Board regulations. This includes reviewing new project submissions and annual progress reports, processing modifications, and consulting as needed.
Library
Staff conducts scientific literature searches, locates online full text articles, and facilitates interoffice library loans.
Medical Record Analysts
DOR's Medical Record Analyst (MRA) group provides chart review services for research projects, typically completing detailed record abstraction forms tailored for each research project. The majority of DOR MRAs are accredited medical record technicians, although other MRAs have diverse backgrounds, including nursing.
Programmer Analysts
DOR currently employs over 40 Programmer Analysts. Most function as part of project teams linked to specific Research Scientists or research programs over a long period of time. Programmer Analysts are responsible for accessing and processing Kaiser Permanente’s rich stores of clinical patient data, conducting statistical analyses, and contributing to research reports. Programmer Analysts often have advanced degrees in substantive fields such as public health, biostatistics or epidemiology; as well as expertise in the SAS programming language.
Project Managers and Project Coordinators
Project Managers and Project Coordinators manage, implement, and monitor DOR research studies; hire and supervise Research Assistants and clinical staff; oversee participant recruitment, data collection and data quality assurance; and often participate in the writing of scientific publications generated from the research. There are currently over 40 Project Managers and Project Coordinators directing more than 200 projects at DOR. Several disciplines are represented in this group, including individuals with clinical backgrounds and advanced academic degrees in health-related fields.
Public Affairs and Media Relations
Staff publicizes significant research results, facilitates relationships between regional and national public relations and media staff to promote new projects, and assists the regional and national public relations and media staff with identifying research experts.
Research Assistants
Research Assistants, a critical component of most DOR research projects, recruit and interview study participants on the phone or face-to-face, edit and code completed questionnaires, maintain participant tracking data bases, and assist the Project Coordinators and Project Managers. Many Research Assistants work on two or more projects concurrently.
|
