Job Summary

Geisinger seeks an outstanding behavioral scientist to serve as a Staff Scientist for its Behavioral Insights Team (BIT). The BIT was created in 2018 to apply behavioral science methods to the design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of “nudges” and other lightweight behavioral interventions intended to improve outcomes and experiences for patients, clinicians, employees, and other stakeholders of the Geisinger Health System and beyond. In addition to internal colleagues, the BIT collaborates closely with external leading behavioral scientists and research partners, including those at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard, and MIT via the NBER Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health by executing 1 or 2 NIH-funded field experiments per year at Geisinger. BIT field experiments often involve tens of thousands of patients and successful interventions are expected to become standard practice at Geisinger. Project areas include encouraging vaccination, increasing health and wellness, improving clinician decision-making, and helping patients make better choices about their health.

Job Duties

The Staff Scientist will support the BIT in developing, executing, and analyzing data (preferably in R) and reporting for the team’s projects, including taking the lead on BIT projects as appropriate and first- or coauthoring scientific publications. BIT projects have been published or are forthcoming in high-impact journals, including PNAS, Nature Human Behaviour, JAMA Network Open, and The Journal of Pediatrics. The Staff Scientist will also be responsible for sharing findings at scientific conferences and with lay audiences (e.g., non-scientist teams at Geisinger), and for engaging in open-science best practices (e.g., preregistering projects, preparing and sharing de-identified data and code). The Staff Scientist will report to Gail Rosenbaum, PhD, the BIT Program Director, with oversight and mentorship by Professors Michelle Meyer, PhD, JD, and Christopher Chabris, PhD, the founding Faculty Co-Directors of the BIT. The Staff Scientist will also support program evaluations that the BIT conducts as part of the greater Geisinger Program Evaluation (GPE) team (led by Amir Goren, PhD, GPE Director), whose purpose is to conduct rigorous evaluations of high-cost and potentially high-impact interventions intended to improve patient health, or efficiency at Geisinger. Additional responsibilities as follows:

• Develops and leads research projects within the defined scope of the supervising faculty member’s research program.
• Responsible for gathering preliminary data for grant applications, completion of objectives of funded external grants, and preparation of completed work for publication.
• Contributes to writing grant applications and manuscripts.
• May submit authored grants with permission of the supervisor.
• Performs literature searches to gather information pertaining to research projects or procedures in order to develop new protocols, projects or grants applications for assigned work group.
• Responsible for determining experimental design, collecting data, performing calculations, and analyzing results.
• Responsible for reviewing research or data controls and determining that the research results are valid.
• Maintains and completes appropriate records of the purpose, methods, results, and conclusions from each research project.
• May oversee the work of support personnel in the work group at the discretion of the supervising faculty member.
• Participates in research meetings and formal seminars to present, explain, and discuss research conducted by the work group.
• May deliver presentations to extramural audiences at national meetings and academic institutions.

Work is typically performed in an office environment. Accountable for satisfying all job specific obligations and complying with all organization policies and procedures. The specific statements in this profile are not intended to be all-inclusive. They represent typical elements considered necessary to successfully perform the job.

Position Details

The ideal Staff Scientist candidate will have experience both in conducting original behavioral science research and in implementing research results within organizations. A Ph.D. in psychology, economics, decision sciences, marketing, management, or another relevant scholarly discipline is strongly preferred, and track records of publishing original empirical research, collaborating with others, and applying for research funding are required. The Staff Scientist may be based in Danville, Pennsylvania at the main campus and headquarters of Geisinger (preferred) or may work remotely from another U.S. location with occasional travel to Danville. To apply: Please send a cover letter, C.V. or resume, and two representative scholarly publications in a single email to behavioralinsightsteam@geisinger.edu . Please also include names, titles, and contact information for three references (we will contact you before reaching out to your references). Questions about the position may also be sent to the same address. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assisting the Program Director in day-to-day operations and development of the BIT
• Liaising, initiating, and coordinating execution of projects with internal and external stakeholders; this includes Geisinger groups such as clinical departments, the IRB, and the compliance, quality, and legal functions, “nudge units” at other institutions, and leading researchers at collaborating institutions
• Conducting literature searches and reviewing the literature to inform the team’s projects
• Contributing to or leading manuscript drafting and submission for existing unpublished BIT studies, and for new studies led by the staff scientist (first-author opportunities available)
• Helping to write grants to support the team’s work, as well as helping identify and initiate funded programs and projects
• Participating in the design of nudges for implementation at Geisinger
• Participating in data management, analysis, and visualization to assess the effects of implemented nudges, including their effects on patient outcomes, other outcomes, and their economic value
• Engaging in open science best practices (e.g., preregistration, preparing and sharing de-identified data and code)
• Assisting other groups at Geisinger with designing and implementing nudges
• Assisting other groups at Geisinger with evaluating programs
• Creating presentations to disseminate BIT findings both internally and externally with diverse audiences

Required qualifications:

• Experience using statistical software (preferably R, others acceptable)
• Strong critical thinking skills
• Curiosity and problem-solving skills to proactively identify solutions to pragmatic challenges in a complex healthcare system environment
• Ability to work in an independent manner and complete increasingly complex assignments
• Strong teamwork skills and the ability to work effectively in a group environment
• Exceptional organizational, planning, and analytical skills
• Competence in written, oral, and electronic communication skills (interpersonal/communication and technological effectiveness competencies)

Desired qualifications:

• Experience researching and/or implementing nudges
• Experience with open science best practices
• Training in behavioral economics
• Experience with econometrics
• Experience in interdisciplinary research and working in collaborative teams
• Experience in the healthcare industry
• Experience with programming and databases (e.g., Python, SQL)
• Experience with successful applications for external funding
• Education and/or experience:
• A Ph.D. in psychology, economics, decision sciences, marketing, management, or any other relevant
• discipline is highly desired, but exceptional candidates with other credentials will be considered
• Graduate training in behavioral science research methods, including experimentation and multivariate data analysis
• Minimum 3 years’ post-graduate experience managing behavioral or other research projects and supervising or otherwise collaborating actively in a team setting
• Experience applying for research funding or other grant support
• Scholarly publications

Education

Doctoral Degree- (Required), Doctoral Degree-Behavioral Science (Preferred)

Experience

Minimum of 3 years-Related work experience (Required)

Skills

Research Analysis; Research Methodologies; Research And Development Function; Reference Content; Research Documents

About Geisinger

Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes ten hospital campuses, a 550,000-member health plan, two research centers and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. With nearly 24,000 employees and more than 1,700 employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually. Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Our Vision & Values

Everything we do is about making better health easier for our patients, our members, our students, our Geisinger family and our communities.

KINDNESS: We strive to treat everyone as we would hope to be treated ourselves.

EXCELLENCE: We treasure colleagues who humbly strive for excellence.

LEARNING: We share our knowledge with the best and brightest to better prepare the caregivers for tomorrow.

INNOVATION: We constantly seek new and better ways to care for our patients, our members, our community, and the nation.

SAFETY: We provide a safe environment for our patients and members and the Geisinger family.

Our Benefits

We offer healthcare benefits for full time and part time positions from day one, including vision, dental and prescription coverage.