Pharmaceutical Research Computing (PRC) is looking to employ a pre-doctoral fellow from June 1, 20251 through the completion of their final dissertation defense with an assurance of 20 hours/week.

The work schedule is flexible, with an ideal commitment of five hours/day and four days/week. PRC is a dynamic research group that provides responsive analytic and data management expertise to support health services research across the UMB campus and beyond.

Essential Functions:

The PRC Pre-Doctoral Fellow will assist with the following:

  1. Coordination of research projects by way of task and variable lists
  2. Data collection, data cleaning & quality assurance
  3. Programming needs through the use of SAS or R
  4. Maintenance of database documentation/Administrative support
  5. Research project protocols/DUAs/IRBs
  6. Other duties as assigned

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

The PRC pre-doctoral fellow will demonstrate the following job-specific abilities and a working knowledge of the following software applications:

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Description
Job-Specific Abilities
  1. Strong organizational and analytical skills
  2. Critical thinking: ability to identify a problem, create inferences on why the problem exists and how it can be solved, collect data/literature to support the proposed solution, organize and sort data/ideas, identify ways to improve upon the proposed solution
Software Applications
  1. SAS and/or R
  2. Microsoft Suite: Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher, Powerpoint, and/or Power BI

Additional Opportunities:

  • Career Opportunities: Work day-to-day in a team-based environment which includes expert programmers, a research pharmacist, statisticians, a geospatial analyst and database engineers.
  • Opportunity to co-author publications stemming from PRC projects.
  • PRC Sponsored: 24 months of access2 to one of the PHSR Community Database datasets (Chronic Conditions Warehouse, IQVIA Health Plan Claims data, Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey) for the purpose of his/her dissertation.
  • PRC Sponsored: 12 months of 100GB PRC server space available following fellowship.
  • PRC Sponsored: 250GB PRC server space available during fellowship dates.

Application and Employment Timeline:

  • Application Open: February 10, 2025
  • Application Deadline: March 21, 2025
  • Announcement of Award: April 21, 2025
  • Employment Start Date1: June 1, 2025

Potential Competency Exposure:

Competency Details
Overarching
  • Business & Management
  • Communication & Influence
  • Career Development
  • Observational Methods
  • Statistics and Modeling Methods
Health Economics3
  • Health Economics and Outcomes Research Methods
  • Health System & Payer Expertise
  • Economic Methods
Pharmacoepidemiology4
  • Post-Marketing Surveillance
  • Exposure Data
  • Epidemiologic Methods
  • Clinical Pharmacology
Policy
  • Policy Relevant Units of Analysis and Measures
  • Policy Database Resources
  • Health Disparities
  • Evaluation Tools/Methods

Additional Information:

  • All doctoral students enrolled full-time at a UMB School are welcome to apply. The School of Pharmacy's Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research (PHSR) doctoral trainees are strongly encouraged to apply.
  • Trainees already committed under a current GRA position should obtain written approval from their current faculty GRA supervisor prior to applying for this opportunity.
  • The PRC pre-doctoral fellow is committing to employment for the full fellowship term and may not apply for external funding to replace or otherwise overlap with the 20-hour commitment during the PRC fellowship term. PRC commits to funding the pre-doctoral fellow for the full fellowship term. The PRC pre-doctoral fellow has all the full rights accorded to full-time doctoral students employed at UMB and in accordance with the policies of the UMB Graduate School.
  • The PRC pre-doctoral fellow will be mentored by his/her academic/dissertation advisor on record during the term of the PRC assistantship. PRC does not commit to providing academic mentoring that would replace the mentoring provided by the student’s academic/dissertation adviser on record. The PRC pre-doctoral fellow will work with his/her academic/dissertation adviser on record in order to ensure that he/she is making reasonable progress on his/her dissertation.
  • The PRC pre-doctoral fellowship will cover stipend and fringe benefits as per current University guidelines.

Download a printer-friendly version of the PRC pre-doctoral fellowship description here.

Apply for the PRC Pre-doctoral Fellowship

Please click or tap the "Apply Now" button below to complete and submit your application for the PRC Pre-doctoral Fellowship. Applications for this fellowship will be accepted beginning Feb. 10.

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1 PRC may accommodate a start date later in 2025 if the candidate’s program warrants.

2 Access is to raw data files only; the fellow is responsible for completion of any additional data analysis.

3 ISPOR: HEOR Competencies Framework: https://www.ispor.org/strategic-initiatives/more/heor-competencies-framework

4 Pharmacoepidemiology: defining the field and its core content: pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2012; 21: 677–689, Published online 10 April 2012 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pds.3198.