Research Scientist & Tobacco Treatment Program Manager

The Research Scientist and Tobacco Treatment Program Manager is a hybrid scientific and operational role that advances the Cancer Service Line’s cancer survivorship research portfolio while leading the day-to-day delivery and development of the Tobacco Treatment Service (TTS). The position develops and implements rigorous survivorship research protocols, conducts epidemiologic and outcomes analyses, contributes to grants and publications, and translates findings into practical improvements in supportive oncology care.

As manager of TTS, the position ensures accessible, evidence-informed tobacco treatment for patients and survivors; facilitates at least one group smoking-cessation session each week; coordinates referrals, documentation, follow-up, and program evaluation; collaborates with institutional tobacco researchers and clinical partners; represents the program in community cessation activities; and develops a research agenda aligned with the vision and strategic priorities of Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center. The role exercises independent judgment for routine-to-moderately complex research and program matters and refers high-risk clinical, regulatory, personnel, or financial issues to senior leadership.

Duties include but are not limited to: 

Cancer Survivorship Research — 

• →Protocol development and implementation: Develop research questions, aims, conceptual frameworks, study designs, measures, analytic plans, power calculations, recruitment approaches, data-management plans, and operational workflows for cancer survivorship studies. Coordinate projects from concept and protocol development through IRB review, implementation, analysis, dissemination, and closeout.
• →Epidemiologic and outcomes research: Lead or support analyses using electronic health records, cancer registries, administrative data, surveys, national surveillance datasets, and other complex sources. Apply appropriate methods, which may include survival analysis, multilevel modeling, causal inference, systematic review, meta-analysis, predictive modeling, and mixed or quantitative program-evaluation approaches.
• →Research operations and compliance: Maintain accurate protocols, regulatory files, data dictionaries, standard operating procedures, timelines, decision logs, and quality controls. Monitor milestones, research volume, workload, and deliverables; identify barriers early; and coordinate corrective action with investigators and institutional partners.

• →Grant and scholarly development: Contribute scientific methods, preliminary analyses, literature synthesis, budgets or resource assumptions, and project plans to grant proposals. Prepare and co-author abstracts, manuscripts, presentations, technical reports, and sponsor deliverables; support compliant post-award implementation and project closeout.
• →Team science: Collaborate with faculty investigators, clinicians, biostatisticians, trainees, community-engagement teams, research administrators, and external partners. Provide methodological consultation and mentor students or junior team members in study design, data analysis, reproducible workflows, and interpretation.

Tobacco Treatment Program — 

• →Program leadership and daily operations: Manage the operational delivery and continuous improvement of TTS across the Cancer Service Line. Establish annual goals, workflows, referral pathways, service standards, outreach plans, performance measures, and reporting processes consistent with Cancer Service Line and Massey priorities.
• →Direct tobacco-treatment services: Plan and facilitate at least one structured group smoking-cessation session each week for patients, survivors, caregivers, or other approved participants. Provide evidence-informed education, behavioral counseling, relapse-prevention support, and connections to appropriate clinical and community resources within professional scope and institutional policy.
• →Care coordination and access: Partner with oncology, primary care, supportive services, pharmacy, nursing, social work, navigation, and digital-health teams to strengthen identification, referral, enrollment, follow-up, and continuity. Ensure timely documentation and escalation of medication, mental-health, safety, or other clinical issues to licensed treating professionals.
• →Institutional research collaboration: Build active collaborations with Massey and VCU tobacco researchers to integrate clinical service delivery with implementation science, population health, health-equity, and survivorship research. Support pilot studies, pragmatic evaluations, clinical research recruitment, and translation of evidence into practice.
• →Community engagement: Participate in community education, screening, outreach, and smoking-cessation activities, including partnerships serving populations with high tobacco burden or barriers to care. Adapt engagement strategies to community priorities and support bidirectional communication with community partners.
• →Research agenda and evaluation: Develop and maintain a multi-year TTS research and evaluation agenda aligned with Massey’s vision. Define priority questions, populations, outcomes, data sources, funding opportunities, dissemination plans, and partnership needs. Track reach, engagement, service delivery, treatment completion, patient-reported outcomes, quit-related outcomes, disparities, and implementation measures using approved definitions and methods.
• →Quality and sustainability: Use performance data, participant feedback, current evidence, and stakeholder input to improve service quality and access. Develop standard procedures, training materials, work aids, dashboards, and business cases that support responsible growth, funding, and sustainability.

Administration and Leadership — 

• →Planning and reporting: Develop annual work plans, schedules, communication plans, metrics, and resource projections. Prepare concise reports and presentations for Cancer Service Line and Massey leadership, investigators, funders, and community partners.