research technician

clinical research coordinator

postdoctoral fellow

research project manager

research assistant

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

•	Assisted in all aspects of patient clinical administrative duties for the Chief of Breast Oncology and Assistant Professor of Medicine
•	Under the direction of the clinical practice support management team, provided appointment scheduling ranging in complexity from one physician appointment to multiple care provider appointments in accordance with department scheduling guidelines for new and/or existing patients
•	Used Outlook for calendar management
•	Responsible for scheduling numerous complex research protocols, involving extensive interaction with those associated with in-house studies, grant-funded studies and industry-sponsored clinical trials
•	Prepared complex documents, processes disability forms, prescription plan refill processing or other patient care forms
•	Entered data into patient care related databases
•	Obtained clinical, operational and regulatory knowledge of the standard of care or clinical trial protocol for the patient population coordinated 
•	Obtained detailed clinical information by telephone or electronically
•	Provided general disease or program-specific information to callers/patients within the scope of knowledge and authority
•	Performed independent patient and outside provider, called triaging and assisted in directing patient flow
•	Served as a liaison between patient/family/provider
•	Resolved issues directly or ensures appropriate management of call by others
•	Recognized emergencies and appropriately responses using standard operating procedures and critical thinking skills
•	Provided general administrative support and coordination for all aspects of patient care for both new and/or established patients, including filing, document preparation, data entry, telephone support, etc. 
•	Prepared open and close provider schedules and handles daily schedule changes
•	Conducted slide submission as needed

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people! I worked at DFCI as an intern in college. Every employee took an interest in my education, checking in on me to make sure I felt like I was learning what I needed to learn, and also helping me when it was time to wrap up and submit a report to my school to receive credits. The PI, Lab Manager, and supporting lab staff took an active role in my education that I'll always be grateful for- I can still list people that I worked with at DFCI as references all these years after graduating! 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I worked in the oncology lab- learning to safely process human samples was stressful because of your health and safety, but also because those samples are precious. Even though this portion of the work was stressful at first, I felt fully supported by my team while I was training, and by the end of my internship I wasn't stressed by this at all.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very friendly, very supportive. The one thing that didn't work for me was communication via email. I was left off of a lot of emails, (probably didn't have clearance to be CC'ed on certain topics), but the result of that would be me missing meetings, seminars, showing up late/early to things because the start time hadn't been clearly communicated. Everyone was very patient with me, but I definitely missed learning opportunities because of this disorganized communication. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Transporting, processing, documenting, and organizing blood samples. Compiling data for review, modeling, and publication.

I was hired by DFCI with the job title Software Engineer. It was a rotten place to work. My office mate smelled like a dumpster. I'd spend half my day working in the stairwell to get away from the stench. 

I can't say much about the job because it just plain didn't exist. The group leader met with me a grand total of three times in two and a half  years. I was supposedly working on his NIH grant, but he didn't seem to know what the grant was about. I tried a zillion times to figure out what the heck they wanted me to do, but nobody ever let me in on that  mystery.

I ended up farmed out to a team in another building (which I didn't have access to) which didn't want me and treated me like a pest. They made up a bunch of assignments for me to do, but when I did, nobody ever looked at what I'd done or followed up with me. Every year, I'd get nervous about how ridiculously paltry my list of accomplishments looked on my performance report, but no need; the group leader didn't even read my performance report. He forgot to sign it once too. That's about how interested anybody was in my work.

It was one of those places where people hoard work because there isn't enough of it. (As in, "Get away from that work! That's MY work! Go find some work of your own to do!") Just a complete total waste of two and a half years.

As I was coming up on three years, I tried a zillion times to start a conversation about salary increase or promotion but the group leader didn't even know what the word "vested" meant. I had to explain it to him. 

Finally, they decided to make me a system administrator. Because, yeah, that's why I got a Ph.D. in computer science, so I could run bash scripts for them. So I quit. Good riddance. What a waste of time.

Don't work for DFCI. That's my advice. Find a place with a mission.

A typical day at work: Currently work as a Patient Access Specialist in the Referral Management Department; part of a larger department called Access Management. The daily tasks include the following: Contacting insurance companies and/or primary care offices in order to obtain referrals for patients, reviewing denial cases and determining whether they require immediate attention or if they are enough grounds for an appeal, providing excellent customer service on the main referral lines to patients and or colleagues in regards to referral inquiries, analyzing denial trends and researching efficient solutions on how to circumvent denial cases, and provide support to managerial staff or colleagues as needed. 
The most frustrating aspects about this position include the following: direct communication with out-of-network insurance companies and primary care offices that aren’t cooperative or accommodating in respect to maintaining continuity of care for patients seeking specialty services for their health conditions, in turn denying referrals to patients who are seeking emergent treatment and redirecting them to in-network providers while in the midst of treatment.  
The most enjoyable aspects of this position involve collaborating with a staff in a joint effort to boost productivity, determining solutions to solve problematic situations and improving current standards while providing exceptional customer service to patients, colleagues and other affiliations.

A typical day at work is a day that I will be able to do my work accomplishing my tasks, at the same time I will be enjoying myself.
What I have learned on my job is that work is what you make of it, it you make it hard it is on you, if I accomplish and complete my daily responsibilities it allows for me to be certain that I am completing all of my work and meeting all of my responsibilities.

Managing a study as well as overseeing the collection of data. Work closely with peers and directors, to ensure that all aspects of the study are meeting the requirements of the grant and the protocols.

Co-workers are an essential part of the work day, it is important to be able to get along with everyone on the team or in the department in order to successfully do our job. A department is compose of everyone not just one person therefore it is very important to work together and get along with everyone.

The hardest part about the job is when we have to deal with peoples personalities, that is inevitable as we all have a different personality when there are more than just one person on a location, personalities become automatically part of that group, and the ability to work with the differences is difficult but not impossible.

The most enjoyable part of the job is when all get along and the projects come to fruition being able to see the final outcome is a rewarding feeling.

I have worked at several hospitals and infusion facilities. I feel DFCI is one of the most organized institutions from patient check-in to check-out. Each facility will have its positives and negatives however I feel in the totality of working at DFCI I am extremely happy with my career and the work I do every day. The managers, nurses, MA/PA/NP/MDs, and care coordinators work so well together. They are organized and manage patient schedules the best I've seen from my past work experience. It is impossible to be perfect and not miss certain things in healthcare with scheduling since there are so many moving parts, between rescheduling and cancelations. All in all, I am beyond happy to be an RN here. My issue working here and this is not only at DFCI but with the BOS medical system is the pay. BOS is one of the most expensive places to live. The pay is horrendous for what we do in comparison to CA & NY (cost of living comparison). There is a reason why the majority of staff travel 1 hr + to work here and it is because it is impossible to afford to live within a 20-mile radius. Pay your nurses what they deserve to be making and catch up to the current cost of living in these areas. There is no reason a nurse working a normal week should have a second nursing job with a family. Patients are getting sicker and nurses' jobs are becoming more demanding yet the pay remains the same. 

I only experienced DFCI while working under one PI who was a good scientist but inadequate manager. The work environment was hierarchical, like many labs. I observed research technicians were often hired to do brunt labor of research and asked to produce data beyond what (in my opinion) should be asked of them. It was quite a lot of pressure for so little pay. Perhaps this is the way scientific researchers have always been trained? But does it have to be this way??

I did enjoy a lot of my time there and learned a LOT about molecular biology technique. Many technicians including me becomes co-authors on one or multiple publications. 

At times my confidence was depleted due to the use of negative reinforcement by my PI, against me and my colleagues. I was afraid and/or extremely anxious to speak in private with my PI on several occasions. Soon after I spoke to HR about his behavior, I quit due to burn-out. This job led me to leave the field of molecular biology. 

I give 3 stars because the benefits are great at Dana-Farber and the hospital itself is a worthy employer. All of the longwood medical area hospitals are wonderful. I just warn enthusiastic post-grad scientists to choose their labs carefully. 

A typical day at Dana Farber is coordinating patients to their examination appointments followed by their chemotherapy treatments. A typical day would be with providing direct care to 120-200 patients daily. I take vital signs on every patient, phlebotomy, EKGS, assisting in blood transfusions, lymphocytes, etc. In reality, not every patient is well, some patients are hard to accommodate by means of making them as comfortable as possible, sometimes that's hard to accomplish. The hardest part of the job, is the attachment and empathy you gain with each single patient, and then seeing them deteriorate. I've learned in this profession, it doesn't mean that I am weak that losing patients get to me, it just reminds me that this is where I belong. The most enjoyable part of the job is meeting patients expectations and needs; for example, grabbing them their favorite sandwich during chemo, providing them with warm blankets, etc. anything that will improve their stay just a bit more. The past 4.5 years at Dana Farber has molded me into a strong individual that is able to provide the utmost compassionate care to each individual that I come into contact with. I feel this will help me grow more as a new graduate Registered Nurse.

I worked as a biostatistician for 8 years, and really learned a lot of statistics. The workload is diverse and you can deal with any type of project ranging from genomics to small mouse experiments to large-scale clinical trials. Statisticians routinely consult on anything from the design of research through publication of manuscripts.
The drawback of this job, and what eventually made me leave, was the enormous workload. Meetings with department management to adjust project allocations led nowhere, and 50+ hours per week became expected. Advancement opportunity was very limited and I was only eligible for cost-of-living raises for the rest of my career. As one of my managers commented: "No one has to work here, and anyone who doesn't like it can just leave."
I thought that the science at DF was amazing, as were some of the clinical investigators that I worked with. The major drawbacks for me were the indifference of my superiors, lack of advancement potential, and enormous work load.

If you're looking for a job that provides holiday bonuses or fiscal year end bonuses... This is not the job for you. There are no bonuses. Oh wait... There are bonuses, but NOT FOR ALL DEPARTMENTS within the Institute which isn't fair. Colleagues leave faster than they can complete the onboarding process after getting a glimpse into the daily workflow here. My team hasn't been fully staffed in yrs! Low accountability. People always pass the buck on one another. Problems are brought to management only for the cycle to repeat itself with no resolution. The only real winners are Director's, Dr's and patients. The rest of us are treated like chopped liver and expected to work like drones. Yet we're a "Not For Profit" place of business. If that were different I'm sure there'd be more accountability and my review would be a lot more positive as the environment would be a lot better for ALL staff members, not just the big wigs and our patients. This could be an awesome place to work, but a lot needs to be done before that becomes a reality. If you're looking for nothing more than a weekly paycheck, this is the place for you.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Research technician 11 salaries reported	$51,105 per year
Clinical research coordinator 7 salaries reported	$53,857 per year
Postdoctoral fellow 11 salaries reported	$66,182 per year
Research project manager 5 salaries reported	$74,000 per year
Research assistant 3 salaries reported	$18.33 per hour

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