Project Description
Julie Darnell, PhD, MHSA, Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, is seeking to hire a Research/Scientific Aide to work on a grant funded by the GE Foundation to conduct a national survey of free and charitable clinics. Free and charitable clinics are nonprofit organizations that provide a range of healthcare services to mostly uninsured persons at little or no cost. They are financially supported largely by private donors and rely on volunteers to deliver care. The Research/Scientific Aide will assist in developing a census of free/charitable clinics operating in the United States. The RA also will carry out administrative duties related to the administration of a national survey planned for 2015.
Responsibilities include:
- Collecting information about free/charitable clinics from various sources, including web sites, national/state free clinic associations, and other stakeholders serving the uninsured and underserved;
- Contacting free/charitable clinics around the county (by phone and email) to collect and/or verify contact information for an upcoming mail survey;
- Confirming free clinics’ contact information through various modes of communication, including phone, email, and mail;
- Entering information into a standardized form;
- Generating a contact list of clinics in Excel;
- Preparing mailing labels;
- Using Word mail merge function to generate cover letters; and
- Assembling mail correspondence.
What You’ll Learn
This project will introduce you to an important—yet vastly understudied—member of the healthcare safety net that serves some of our nation’s most vulnerable and underserved residents. You will learn to distinguish between different kinds of safety net providers (FQHCs, FQHC “look alikes,” free/charitable clinics, health departments, family planning agencies, etc.). You also will learn about what free/charitable clinics do, and how they do it.
Commitment:
Hours:
- 10 hours/week in summer 2014
- 5-10 hours/week from September 2014 – June 2015
The RA is asked to commit to the position for the full duration of the project, May 2014-June 2015.
Application: If interested, please send resume with cover letter to:
Julie Darnell, PhD, MHSA
Assistant Professor
Division of Health Policy & Administration
School of Public Health
University of Illinois at Chicago
1603 W. Taylor Street, Room 758
Chicago, IL 60612
312-996-2712
jdarnell@uic.edu
