Associate Director, Patient Engagement

• SUMMARY: 

The Associate Director, Patient Engagement establishes, oversees, and directs operational plans for Elligo Site 

Network clinical research enrollment. The Associate Director is responsible for creating customized strategies 

to ensure that goals for each site and study are met. This position must demonstrate the ability to lead a team of 

recruiters, coach and develop the team and ensure high engagement to successful enrollment of clinical trial 

patients, whether traditional, hybrid, or decentralized. This role is critical to the company to ensure operations 

meets our commitment to clients. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

•  Lead internal patient engagement team members to ensure recruitment and retention project milestones are met as contracted.
•  Lead cross-functional team Study Huddles, scheduling them in accordance with Study Tiers, preparing reports in advance, facilitating the calls, and tracking action items with reports back to the workgroup.
•  Represent patient recruitment, from patient identification through enrollment, in client facing meetings and communications for key projects and clients. 
•  Support pre-award proposal development for patient select and decentralized studies where the patient engagement team will be deployed for call center, patient retention and/or virtual screening team as part of overall Elligo scope of work. 
•  Develop overarching strategy and enrollment plans for Tier 1 and Tier 2 projects, schedule and lead Enrollment Planning meetings, prepare updates for Tier 1 and Tier 2 studies to project team leadership to be delivered on regular cadence. 
•  Oversee virtual screening team activity, support training for e-consenting to eventually be able to lead this training for new members to the team, track lessons learned, areas to improve, and time each task takes in reality etc. in order to better plan for future DCT proposals and improve delivery
•  Development of the strategy for the recruitment/retention campaign based on protocol, advertisements and collaborating physicians.
•  Oversee and delegate projects and tasks to appropriate engagement team members based on project deliverables and team member utilization/allocation.
•  Attend and participate in the internal “kick-off” meeting to review project delegations and expectations for any new projects.
•  Demonstrate knowledge of the Company’s clinical research studies as well as the diagnoses and medical terminology that is involved in each study. Responsible for understanding the protocols and exclusions and a comprehensive understanding of each trial being conducted.
•  Establish rapport and ensure courteous and efficient service is provided to callers, site locations and all customers including but not limited to the patients, subjects, potential subjects, doctors, pharmaceutical sponsors, and all levels within the company
•  Provide regular feedback to Management regarding the maintenance of effective levels of recruitment activities for each project.
•  Analyze patient recruitment trends for specific therapeutic areas and adjust recruitment campaigns to reflect those trends.
•  Maintain a high level of knowledge and understanding of inclusion/exclusion criteria for all enrolling protocols.
•  Collaborate with sites to assist in enrollment of participants for study specific clinical trials.
•  Monitor efficiency to maintain an appropriate utilization rate month after month.
•  Update internal reporting and project management tracking mechanism per departmental requirements.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

•  Supervise a team of patient recruitment, pre-screening, and engagement professionals, including managers, specialists, engagement associates, and PRN staff as needed.
•  Coaches and develops each team member; builds a positive culture to ensure high performance and engagement.
•  Conduct regular reviews according to employee timelines to set clear expectations, goals and performance plans if needed. 
•  Responsible for approval of PTO, sick time, and the escalation of requests between HR and the employee.  
• Ensures compliance with all company SOPs, departmental Guidance Documents and company policies.
•  Motivates employees to maintain high utilization rates.
•  Assists direct reports with management of indirect reports.
•  Monitor employee productivity and provide constructive feedback and coaching.
•  Assessing the work performance of their employees and identifying areas that need improvement
•  Set and communicate goals for performance and deadlines in ways that comply with the company’s plans and vision, in addition to departmental objectives.
•  Ensuring that business goals, deadlines, and performance standards are met according to set benchmarks and established company policy.
•  Recommend new employees to the TalentServices team based on an assessment of their performance.
•  Ensure adherence to legal and company policies and procedures and partner with TalentServices to undertake disciplinary actions if needed.

QUALIFICATIONS:

•  Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
•  Proven ability to identify and understand project needs and develop strategies to achieve site and study level goals with innovative tactics and solutions.
•  Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to effectively convey ideas and information clearly and concisely.
•  Aptitude to think creatively and strategically.
•  Proven ability to collaborate with functional groups and different levels of employees throughout an organization to achieve business results.
•  Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a high pressure and deadline driven environment, proactively managing competing priorities.
•  Proactive and timely follow-up skills: the ability to organize applicable department timelines and follow up with internal and external stakeholder needs as needed.
•  Self-motivated; able to work independently to complete tasks, respond to department requests, and collaborate with others to utilize their resources and knowledge to identify quality solutions.
•  Strong organizational skills and project management skills.
•  Proficient with Microsoft Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams) SharePoint, Adobe Creative Suite, and Salesforce; ability to understand, adapt, and leverage technology to drive strategic and operational success.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

•  Bachelor’s degree in communications, health sciences, business or related field.
•  Over 7 years of collective experience within patient recruitment and marketing for healthcare/clinical research.
•  Minimum 5 years of experience managing teams, managing projects, and directly or indirectly facilitating workgroups.
•  Minimum 5 years of clinical research experience, with at least 4 years of patient recruitment or patient engagement work
•  Over 4 years of financial management experience, including creating project level budgets. 
•  Experience with clinical trial management systems and EMRs preferred