Clinical Research Assistant

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
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VCU's Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation and the Tissue Data Acquisition and Analysis Core (TDAAC) invites all interested candidates to apply for our exciting Clinical Research Assistant position! Tissue and Data Acquisition and Analysis Core (TDAAC) is a shared
research resource at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, which collects and banks tissue samples for cancer research by Massey investigators and provides expertise and services
for histology/pathology research.

VCU is UNLIKE the rest. Our impact is measured one student and patient at a time.VCU's unequaled combination of excellence, diversity, research and creativity makes success possible for every one of our 300,000+ "RAMily" members. And that makes us one of the most innovative universities in the country. A premier, urban, public research university nationally recognized as one of the best employers for diversity, VCU is a great place to work. It's a place of opportunity, where your success is supported and your career can thrive .

Typical Duties:

We are seeking a clinical research assistant to identify patients scheduled for cancer surgery, to obtain patient consents, and to help maintain the biorepository and TDAAC database. Under the supervision of the core director and laboratory manager, the assistant will serve our clients by following our standard procedures and policies. The assistant will be responsible for interfacing with patients to obtain their consent (either in person or via phone) for enrollment into the TDAAC biorepository. The assistant will help maintain the physical biorepository by organizing, labeling, and storing samples in accordance with the TDAAC IRB-approved protocol, as well as the TDAAC database by creating entries for new specimens, tracking consent status, and annotating the specimens with information found in EPIC. The assistant will share the responsibility of submitting a list of priority specimens for collection to Anatomic Pathology each day. They will also work closely with the Massey Clinical Trials Office to facilitate proper transport of clinical trial specimens from the procedure room to Anatomic Pathology - this includes coordinating with clinical trial teams via emails, reviewing clinical trial protocols, and entering the procedure to retrieve research specimens. The assistant will interface with clients/investigators/clinical trial teams to provide excellent, timely service, keep detailed records of services provided via Smartsheet and Excel, and monitor inventory of laboratory supplies and place orders as needed. They will also assist with day-to-day lab operations. Such duties include monitoring liquid nitrogen levels for dewars and freezers and ordering new tanks when necessary, communicating with Pathologists to have new specimens reviewed, retrieving banked specimens from Anatomic Pathology, monitoring ViewPoint to ensure that all temperature sensitive units in the lab are operating within their normal ranges. This position will also require adherence to safety protocols and published Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), general equipment maintenance (including scheduling repairs and routine service), compliance with VCU Health System's training requirements regarding sensitive data containing personal health information, ensuring that investigators submitting requests for tissue samples have IRB-approved protocols in place, working with human tissue samples, and other duties as assigned.