HEY! Lab | Gordon Team Research Fellow, BUSPH

The Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health has a long history and national reputation of applying social and behavioral sciences to enhance the health and wellbeing of communities and promote health equity. A Research Fellow position is available within the Healthy and Empowered Youth Lab (the HEY! Lab) on the team of Dr. Allegra Gordon, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The Research Fellow will assist the Principal Investigator (PI) and study coordinator with the operation of a multi-year study related to mental health among LGBTQ adolescents and young adults. This study seeks to improve our understanding of how mental health during late adolescence and early adulthood (ages 18-24 years) is influenced by four types of LGBTQ-targeted policies (e.g., religious exemptions, gender affirming healthcare bans, LGBTQ-supportive school curricula). The study is part of a larger collaboration between researchers at Boston University School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. The Research Fellow will help implement the qualitative arm of this project, which seeks to identify and explore the pathways by which LGBTQ-targeted policies can affect the mental health of LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ young people. The Research Fellow work on this project will include: (1) supporting recruitment and enrollment of study participants, (2) conducting in-depth interviews with young adults living across the United States, and (3) assisting with qualitative data management, coding, and analysis.

Research Fellow duties include: supporting participant recruitment processes; scheduling and conducting in-depth interviews; cleaning, entering, managing, and analyzing data (largely qualitative, some quantitative); assisting with development and maintenance of study protocols, forms, and instruments; assisting with correspondence and other materials needed for audits, and reporting to sponsor; maintaining a study-related website; and providing administrative support to the study, including participating in study team meetings and assisting the study coordinator with other administrative tasks as needed. The Research Fellow will work with students, faculty, and other Research Fellows. Depending on the Research Fellow’s background and skills, there may also be opportunities to be involved in quantitative data collection and analysis for the larger research study. The Research Fellow will assist the PI with literature reviews and have opportunities for authorship on academic publications and presentations.