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The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) is an organization of professionals committed to excellence in cardiovascular ultrasound and its application to patient care through education, advocacy, research, innovation, and service to our members and the public. ASE, the largest subspecialty society for cardiovascular imaging, is seeking a Guidelines Research Specialist for our location in Durham, NC. This position will report to the VP of Science and Clinical Guidelines. The association provides medical knowledge needed to advance cutting-edge discoveries in the cardiovascular field. ASE’s guidelines and standards are the gold standard for the field, expanding rapidly beyond its over 70 peer-reviewed editions to meet the knowledge demands of physicians, scholars, students, and members of the public.

Position Summary: The Guidelines Research Specialist is responsible for the development, updating and monitoring of guidelines-related activities tied to ASE’s strategic and operational goals. This position will assure that ASE’s guidelines continue to meet the highest standards and evolve as the field’s knowledge changes and expands. Responsibilities include working with the Guidelines and Standards Chairs and VP of Science and Clinical Guidelines to actively research, edit and assess guidelines changes for the Society.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Guidelines-Related Activities (90% of the time):

• Perform ongoing review of ASE guideline topics. Research medical publications databases to identify high quality medical research literature pertaining to each topic; results will be used to develop updated content for ASE guidelines.
• Periodically surveil cardiology and cardiac imaging literature to help identify new topics for guideline development.
• Perform biomedical database and Web searching, including but not limited to EMBASE, OVID, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, MedlinePlus, MeSH, PubMed, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science and other pertinent sources such as National Institutes of Health, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
• Search strategy construction, assessment, refinement, and maintenance to streamline ASE guidelines updates.
• Maintain standards for citation of sourced content following Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography (JASE) format.
• Assist staff and Guidelines & Standards (G&S) members on the effective use of knowledge-based information resources and bibliographic management software.
• Communicate with G&S staff to define topics and the scope of searches.
• Review and coordinate recommendations across various ASE guidelines for overlaps, conflicts and the need to resolve changes and make updates which affect other ASE guidelines.
• Monitor guidelines developed by other societies such as ACC/AHA, ACP, ESC, for comparison and consistency with ASE guidelines.
• Meet annually (or sooner if there are new developments) with each guideline chair and co-chair, and with the G&S committee chairs to decide on updates.
• Assist with editing phases and references of guidelines documents.
• Document search strategies and results.
• Produce reports on trigger points and scope of guideline updates.
• Lend expertise toward development of automated search protocols, literature surveillance and tools.
• Build and maintain relationships with publisher to identify right to use material and licensing impact.
• Serve as a resource for the Education Committee to update and coordinate educational products related to each guideline as it is revised.
• Recommend relevance and subscription benefits of the databases utilized and needed to maintain.
• Maintain records of renewals for subscriptions and copyright fees associated with literature access; maintain a shared repository of purchased articles if applicable.

Other Functions (10% of the time):

Administrative:

• Organizational Communication & Professional Development: Support the organizational structure of ASE by attending staff meetings, working on task forces, seeking and attending professional development opportunities, working in a team atmosphere and cooperating with other staff members, completing minutes, meeting summaries, paperwork and timesheets in a timely manner.
• Industry Trends – Keep current of all the latest membership techniques and employ them as deemed appropriate.
• Customer Service & Quality – Demonstrate high quality standards for ASE activities and customer service

• Travel: Travel to ASE meetings and other exhibit venues may be required for this position.

Required Qualifications

• Specialized knowledge of health sciences librarianship and principles of evidence-based practice, open-access publishing, NIH Public Access Policy, and social networking.
• Familiarity with major medical bibliographic databases, emerging information technologies, and data-management resources and tools.
• Demonstrated experience with advanced literature searching techniques and systematic reviews.
• Demonstrated education and experience in evidence-based medicine practices.
• Application of fundamental literature search concepts such as Boolean Logic, Controlled Vocabulary, Field Searching, Truncation, Proximity Searching, Limits, and Pearl Growing.

Specific Skills/Knowledge:

• Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills, professional appearance, and demeanor.
• Competence in Windows Office software, database programs, and online portals.
• Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment and effectively meet deadlines.
• Facility with strategic decision-making
• Ability to communicate with a high degree of effectiveness, both orally and in writing
• Superior attention to detail
• Ease with collaboration and teamwork
• Understanding of scientific research methods and have the ability to critically examine and filter research literature from many related disciplines

Minimum Job Requirements:

• Education: American Library Association (ALA)-accredited master’s degree in library science (MLS) or master’s degree in library and information studies (MLIS) with a concentration in the health sciences.
• Experience: Minimum three to five years of professional library experience working in a medical library, or corporate information center setting with a biomedical focus, or experience working with a professional medical association in a guidelines or clinical research position.

Physical Requirements: 

Job requires frequent sitting, and repetitive hand and wrist movements. Must be able to work a variety of hours in order to accommodate volunteer activities. Business travel requires the ability to endure the rigors of air travel and being on one’s feet for long hours.

Work Environment:

This position may have the option to work remotely, however the successful candidate will need to be available to come into the ASE office for meetings as needed.

If hired, we require that all employees be COVID 19 vaccinated. ASE will engage in an interactive process with employees requesting medical or religious accommodations.

While it is intended to be an accurate reflection of the job duties and requirements, ASE management reserves the right to modify, add, or remove duties and to assign other duties as necessary. This job description does not constitute a contract and should not be construed as a contract.

ASE is an equal opportunity employer and offers equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information, and other protected class characteristics.

Visit our website for more information on ASE (https://www.asecho.org/) and the ASE Foundation (https://www.asefoundation.org).