Full-time, based in Albany NY

The CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health (ISPH) is recruiting for a Lead Regional Coordinator for a 5-year NIH-funded randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a socialization and sex education program among individuals with mild to moderate developmental disabilities, under the direction of co-Principal Investigators Suzanne McDermott and Heidi Jones, faculty at the CUNY School of Public Health.

The randomized controlled trial (RCT) will test a socialization and sex education curriculum among 856 adolescents and young adults (ages 16-27) with Down syndrome and other types of mild/moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) who receive services in four of the five Developmental Disabilities Regional districts of the New York State Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). Half of the participants will be randomized to receive a socialization and sex education curriculum, and the other half a physical exercise and nutrition intervention. The interventions will be 6-weeks and there will be questionnaires administered at numerous points before and after the interventions.

This position combines some training and supervision of 3 Regional Coordinators (20%) while maintaining a caseload for study participants in Region 3. The Region 3 Regional Coordinator role will take up most of the effort (80%). The remaining 20% will be providing supervision of the three other Regional Coordinators (in Regions 2,4,5). The start date is March 1, 2023 (or mutually agreed upon alternative).

The Lead Regional Coordinator will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operation of the trial within Region 3 and for providing oversight and supervision of the Regional Coordinators in Regions 2, 4 and 5. The Lead Regional Coordinator will be supervised by the Co-Principal Investigators, through weekly in-person and/or remote meetings.

Lead Regional Coordinator management job duties include:

• Work closely with the Co-PIs and the three other Regional Coordinators to track study activities and organize training sessions
• Communicate with the other Regional Coordinators and Lived Experience Consultants, including individual meetings and group in person and remote meetings
• Complete progress reports
• Purchase and maintain supplies and distribute manuals in collaboration with Project Manager

Regional Coordination duties include:

• Recruitment of study participants through service providers in Region 3
• Attendance at Service Provider meetings to encourage recruitment
• Coordinate intervention and data collection by scheduling appointments, maintaining accurate visit completion records, and data entry
• Administration of informed consent/assent to Region 3 participants
• After receiving training on the interventions, implement the 6-week individual socialization and sex education curriculum (largely in people’s homes) and the 6-week group physical and nutrition intervention in community meeting places (based on randomization scheme
• Administering surveys before and after the intervention to all participants

• At least two years of fieldwork experience with adolescents or adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD)
• At least a bachelor’s degree (BA or BS)
• Ability to travel across the region to provide the intervention in people’s homes or in community settings
• Evidence of supervision and/or collaboration with colleagues

The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) was established as a not-for-profit educational corporation chartered by the State of New York in 1963. RFCUNY supports CUNY faculty and staff in identifying and obtaining external support (pre-award) from government and private sponsors and is responsible for the administration of all such funded programs (post-award).

RFCUNY stands between CUNY’s principal investigators (PIs) and the sponsors who support them and strives to fulfill its essential responsibilities to both groups. Working closely with individual PIs and Grants Officers on the campuses, RFCUNY oversees employment, accounting, audit, reporting, purchasing, and special responsibilities that include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.