Senior Research Assistant - Department of Community Health Sciences

The Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS) is the leading unit of its type in Pakistan, recognized regionally and internationally for the relevance, quality and extent of its work in support of public health and the development of primary health care systems. It comprises of five major operational units: epidemiology & biostatistics, health policy & management, population & reproductive health, environmental health and non-communicable diseases & mental health.

The A-PLUS Trial (Azithromycin-Prevention in Labor Use Study) is a randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel multicenter clinical trial. The trial will enroll pregnant women who are in labor with a live fetus pregnancy of greater than or equal to28 weeks gestational age, and plan to deliver vaginally in a facility. The data will be collected from all enrolled participants starting from their stay at the facility for delivery, to a 42 days postpartum follow up at home.

This is a short-termed grant-funded contractual position for a period of nine months.

Responsibilities

You will be responsible for:

• screening all pregnant women in labor coming to JPMC study site
• identifying and enrolling eligible participants after taking informed consent
• collecting relevant prenatal, natal and postnatal information till discharge on paper-based forms and android tablets
• maintaining study logs and submitting weekly reports to study coordinator
• keeping track of all babies of enrolled mothers both from JPMC and the field
• collecting relevant information and laboratory samples/reports as indicated
• visiting all participants enrolled in the a-plus study as per study protocols for data collection
• maintaining all study logs of the field activities and submit to field supervisor/study coordinator
• collecting additional data from medical records by visiting concerned health care providers/hospitals in case of any unexpected medical visits
• motivating patients to go for laboratory tests in case of suspected infection
• referring the affected mothers and babies to JPMC or NICH for further assessment and management
• keeping a record of all study tools and assist in editing, and cleaning of data
• coordinating with study hospital teams, parents/caretakers of admitted babies, hospital doctors, nurses, and ancillary staff for smooth operations management.

Requirements

You should have:

• a Bachelor's degree, preferably in Sociology/Community Development/Social Science from an HEC recognized university/institution
• minimum two years of experience in a research setting
• ability to understand basics of research
• good command of written and spoken English and Urdu
• good interpersonal and team building skills
• ability to document project activities.