ASPIRE Internship: Digital Medicine Society Research Associate Intern, remote
ASPIRE Internship Opportunity:
Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)
Research Associate Intern
(Remote)
January-March 2023
About us
Founded in 2019, the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) is a 501c3 non-profit, and the first professional organization for digital medicine. Our mission is to advance the safe, effective, equitable, and ethical use of digital medicine to optimize human health. We do this by convening multi-sector, multi-disciplinary collaborations with leading organizations. We offer a fast-paced, fully remote workplace, and the chance to lead high-impact projects with industry-renowned experts across the world.
To drive the development of high-value digital measures in areas of high unmet need, DiMe is seeking Research Associate Interns to support their work in the following two project areas:
1) Project: Defining a Core Set of Digital Measures for Physical Activity
About the role
Despite the proliferation of investment and activity in the development of digital clinical measures, we have yet to see a new medical product approved based on data from a digital endpoint or remote patient monitoring routinely adopted as part of patient care. Currently, innovation driving the development of the most common digital clinical measures is at best unfocused and at worst redundant and unethical. For instance, the DiMe library of digital clinical measures reports over 86 unique digital measures of physical activity. If every organization interested in digital clinical measurement continues to independently select and develop these measures, it will take decades to realize the promise of digital clinical measures to improve lives.
To drive the development of high-value digital measures in areas of high unmet need, DiMe is seeking 2 Research Associates to support a collaborative research effort to define a core set of digital clinical measures for physical activity, which meet the needs of patients, caregivers, and clinical care. As a Research Associate, you will support a multi-disciplinary team of experts to develop action oriented, open-access deliverables and resources. You will also be able to draw upon DiMe’s experience from the completion of a similar project for Nocturnal Scratch as a digital endpoint and a concurrent project to define an optimized set of core digital clinical measures regarding Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementia.
2) Project: DATAcc Analytic Validation
About the role
Digital medicine describes a field concerned with the use of technologies as tools for measurement, and intervention in the service of human health. Digital medicine products are driven by high-quality hardware and software that support the practice of medicine broadly, including treatment, recovery, disease prevention, and health promotion for individuals and across populations. Knowledge for the development and validation of these technologies are shared across engineering, technology, data science, regulatory, and clinical communities. Each of these entities have terminology, approaches, and evidentiary standards unique to their communities. In order to accelerate clinical utility and the advancement of digital medicine, harmonized approaches are needed to evaluate the quality of digital medical products and their applicability for advancing healthcare and health equity.
To drive the development of high-value digital measures in areas of high unmet need, DiMe is seeking a Research Associate to support a collaborative research effort to define analytic validation measures currently used for digital health measurement products. As a Research Associate, you will support a multi-disciplinary team of experts to develop action oriented, open-access deliverables and resources.
Responsibilities
The research associates will support the physical activity team with research needs, collaborating closely with the project lead. Such responsibilities include, but may not be limited to:
- Conducting a systematic review to identify concepts of interest for physical activity across multiple therapeutic areas.
- Scoping and refining search strategy.
- Supporting review protocol development and registration with a recognized body.
- Conducting searches and creating an abstract list.
- Screening titles and abstracts.
- Full review of articles, selection, and data extraction.
- Participating in meetings with the project lead and project team to update progress of systematic review and brainstorm any challenges encountered.
- Developing outputs that synthesize findings, such as slide decks, report summaries, and research publications.
In the Research Associate role, you will demonstrate:
- Subject matter expertise: Understanding of scientific material and methods for conducting systematic reviews.
- Project management skills: Organizational and time-management skills to deliver work according to the project timeline.
- Content creation: Independently working on research tasks and developing output to support knowledge translation of findings into actionable insights.
- Strategic planning: Giving input to strategic direction of research activities related to the physical activity project.
- Communication skills: Work collaboratively with the project lead and research associate, flagging any blockers or ways to improve methods.
- Leadership: Complete activities independently and take ownership of work.
The successful candidates for this role will be expected to work 10 hours per week, for a minimum of 3 months, with an opportunity to extend based on quality of work and availability.
About you
We think the ideal candidate profile looks something like this. However, if this doesn’t look like you, but you think you are perfect for this role, apply and tell us why.
- Passion for delivering high quality with a sense of urgency
- Experience conducting systematic reviews and synthesizing scientific publications
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, organizational skills, and are detail oriented
- Works best in a collaborative environment, are open to new perspectives and ideas, and are willing to learn
- Passion for digital medicine and demonstrated knowledge of the field.
- A PhD candidate or postdoctoral student in a health-related field
DiMe is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for our team and community members.
INTERNSHIP DETAILS
- Internship start date appx January 3, 2023. Internship will run for 3 months, with the opportunity to extend pending review.
- Internship will be conducted remotely.
- Internship is paid, part-time (no more than 10 hours per week).
- Read more about Digital Medicine here: Nature_2016_Defining-Digital-Medicine
Applications due noon, Monday, December 5, 2022 Extended to noon, Monday, December 12, 2022
To apply:
- Fill out the following ASPIRE Internship Application found here: (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DiMe_Fa2022)
- Submit a resume and cover letter to Ashley Brady at ashley.brady@vanderbilt.edu (Please submit documents as pdfs with your last name_DiME_Fa2022 in the file name and with subject line: ASPIRE Internship: DiME_Fa2022). In your cover letter please indicate which of the 2 projects most interests you and why.
- Set up a zoom meeting with Ashley Brady via https://calendly.com/ashley-brady prior to the application deadline.
Your information will then be passed along to the organization who will contact you directly to schedule an interview.
For further questions, please contact Ashley Brady (ashley.brady@vanderbilt.edu).
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Please review ASPIRE Internship FAQs: Found here
For further questions, please contact Ashley Brady (ashley.brady@vanderbilt.edu).
Eligibility requirements
- Applicants must be a current Vanderbilt University PhD student or a current postdoctoral fellow.
- All PhD students must have completed all coursework for their degree prior to the start of the internship.
- Biomedical PhD students must also have passed their qualifying exams before the application deadline.
- Students and postdocs may not participate in more than one internship at a time. More than one application may be submitted at a single time, but only one position can be accepted.
- If you are not in a department supported by the BRET office, we will also require that you complete a form guaranteeing PI approval to participate in this program. Please contact Ashley Brady at ashley.brady@vanderbilt.edu for more information.
- If you are an international student or postdoctoral fellow, your visa status may affect your work eligibility. Please contact Ashley Brady (ashley.brady@vanderbilt.edu) to discuss this further.
- Must be authorized to work in the US