Organization Overview:

The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (League) was founded in 1972 as one of the country's first state Primary Care Associations (PCAs). Established under the same federal authorizing legislation as the health center program (Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act), PCAs are organized around a set of core functions and competencies that provide a framework for support and assistance to health centers and the communities they serve. The League is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization registered as a public charity with the Commonwealth's Secretary of State. It maintains a professional staff at its headquarters in Boston and its training center in Worcester. The League has several affiliated organizations to accomplish its mission to serve community health centers, including The Institute for Health Equity Research, Evaluation and Policy (IHE). The IHE convenes communities and supports the scientific infrastructure, implementation, program evaluation, and training needed to identify and sustain the most effective strategies for attaining equity in health and healthcare, as defined by those with lived experience of health inequities. The IHE will advance an emancipatory research approach to ensure that science benefits communities who bear the greatest human costs of long-standing health inequities.

Position Summary:

Stories and community voices are critical to advancing health equity research, evaluation, and policy. The IHE is recruiting a senior qualitative research scientist and qualitative data analyst to build and lead a team to support qualitative and mixed-methods inquiry relevant to the health equity mission of community health centers across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Essential Functions:

(The following is a list of essential functions, which may be subject to change at any time and without advance notice. Management may assign new duties, reassign existing duties, or eliminate a role. Responsibilities include but may not be limited to the following.)

• Providing expertise in end-to-end qualitative project design and management from:

  • Understanding existing literature, theoretical frameworks, and available data to inform a topic.
  • Collaborating to refine research questions.
  • Designing qualitative or mixed-methods data collection strategies and tools for data storage.
  • Collaborating in fieldwork to collect data with participants.
  • Leading data analysis and selecting tools to facilitate analysis (rapid analytic tools, NVIVO, other strategies).

• Contributing to IHE communication and dissemination efforts:

  • Collaborating to write and edit manuscripts, briefs, and other dissemination materials for diverse audiences (e.g., scientific manuscripts, web posts, webinars, PowerPoint slide decks, policy briefs, op-Ed/guest opinion pieces).
  • Collaborating to operationalize insights to facilitate research to practice and policy advocacy opportunities.

• Facilitating data collection for program evaluation.

Competencies/Skills:

The successful applicant will have the following skills and qualifications:

• An in-depth knowledge of ethnography, health equity, or related scientific fields and content areas.
• Be willing to learn and partner with content experts across disease models and behavioral health topics.
• Some familiarity with UX/innovation, implementation science, program evaluation, or ability to partner with collaborators with such expertise.
• Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills.
• Group collaboration.
• Self-motivated.

Education/Experience:

• 5-7 years' experience.
• Master's degree or equivalent experience.
• Doctorate a plus.

At the Mass League, we work every day to create an inclusive culture that embraces all forms of diversity to ensure all staff members feel a sense of belonging. In addition, we support and foster our community health center members in providing equitable care and treatment to all patients and staff. We encourage you to apply only if working at this kind of organization would be a good fit for you.