Prevention Insights at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington invites applications for a Research Associate – Public Health Specialist. This position will begin on or around August 31, 2026. Applications received by August 14, 2026 will receive full consideration and will continue to be accepted until the position is filled. This is a one-year position that is subject to annual renewal. The work structure will be hybrid, including a combination of remote work, on-site work at Prevention Insights, and occasional in-state travel for meetings, trainings, or site visits.
About Us: Prevention Insights is a center in the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington that has been in operation for nearly 40 years. The center is located in Bloomington, Indiana and currently employs 26 full-time staff and faculty members. Prevention Insights is funded almost entirely through grants and contracts from federal, state, and other extramural organizations. The center provides a range of public health services that includes technical assistance, coaching, and consultation to non-profits and community-based partnerships implementing substance abuse prevention or related health and wellness initiatives at the community level. We also provide training in other evidence-based models and approaches (e.g., Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment [SBIRT], Motivational Interviewing [MI], mental health) and provide services that include in evaluation, survey design and administration, customized application and web development, grant writing, translational research, and regulatory compliance, among other topics. Prevention Insights works with single state agencies, technology transfer centers, prevention networks, hospitals, companies, and organizations across the country.
Responsibilities:
This role’s primary responsibility will be to provide technical assistance (including consultation and coaching) as well as skill-building education via synchronous and asynchronous trainings, webinars, and resource development to communities that have received state funding from the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction, which may include onsite visits as well as utilizing various technologies including email, telephone, zoom, websites, and other online modalities. The candidate will work as part of a technical assistance team but will ultimately be directly responsible for supporting multiple communities as the primary point of contact for technical assistance.
Typically, this technical assistance will take the following forms:
- Offering technical assistance in prevention process for all competencies across the 10 essential public health services and the Strategic Prevention Framework, including assessment and qualitative and quantitative data utilization, organizational and community-level capacity development, comprehensive strategic planning and program selection, use of evidence-based models with assurance of fidelity and population saturation, prevention infrastructure and coalition development, and evaluation framework application and utilization.
- Offering training, work sessions, meetings, consultations, phone calls and webinars to allow for resource sharing, coaching, fiscal compliance, report requirements, and capacity building.
- Providing feedback on data assessments, reviewing reports, and giving guidance for community planning and implementation.
- Creating webinars, resource documents, worksheets, and tailored tools to support the milestones and benchmarks associated with implementation of the Strategic Prevention Framework with fidelity.
- Occasionally offering one-on-one coaching, group instruction, facilitated planning, or resource sharing.
Because Prevention Insights is a grant- and contract-funded organization, employees often operate in multiple work areas at once. While technical assistance will be the primary work area, the candidate will likely be asked to participate in other projects on an ad hoc basis to contribute to center growth. This work may include, but is not limited to:
- Assisting with other technical assistance, evaluation, or training projects.
- Contributing to grant writing.
- Leading or contributing to smaller independent projects.
- Participation in taskforces to accomplish specific goals (e.g., working with an external advisory board).
People who thrive when provided with a large degree of independence and an expectation for high-quality work will likely enjoy this position.
