Research Assistant (Health Policy & Management)

The Research Assistant oversees data collection, data organization, and/or data management or similar functions/tasks for research study(ies) in support of a PI or a research team.

The Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is seeking a Research Assistant to support the Johns Hopkins Drug Access and Affordability Initiative, which develops policy-relevant research and bipartisan policy recommendations to improve pharmaceutical affordability and access in the United States. The successful candidate will support research led by Prof. Jeromie Ballreich and collaborators on prescription drug affordability, pharmaceutical access, drug pricing policy, specialty drug spending, biologic and biosimilar competition, generic substitution, pharmacy benefit manager practices, formulary design, and employer-sponsored insurance. This work will contribute to JHDAAI’s broader mission of generating timely evidence, policy briefs, publications, and public-facing resources for policymakers, researchers, employers, and the public. The role will involve supporting literature reviews, policy analysis, data documentation, and quantitative analyses using drug-level and plan sponsor data, including information on gross and net spending, rebates, claims, utilization, formulary design, cost-sharing, and beneficiary out-of-pocket costs.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• Run routine and ad hoc reports.
• Use standard tools and computer programs to review data.
• Assist with data cleaning measures to ensure accuracy of data and preparation of tables.
• Lead basic activities such as data collection and data entry.
• May lead specific tasks and develop processes to ensure study activities occur effectively and efficiently.
• May conduct literature searches to support faculty in research efforts.
• May design and format papers/publications.
• May assist PIs in writing summaries of papers for release as policy briefs or other channels.
• Other duties as assigned.

In addition to the duties described above

• Support background research on specialty drugs, biologics, biosimilars, complex generics, PBM formularies, rebates, and prescription drug affordability. Assist with identifying and organizing candidate drug pairs, including branded/generic and biologic/biosimilar products.
• Support the development of data dictionaries, codebooks, and analytic files using plan sponsor and drug-level utilization and spending data.
• Clean, harmonize, and analyze prescription drug spending, rebate, utilization, formulary, and cost-sharing data.
• Conduct descriptive analyses comparing originator products with lower-cost generic or biosimilar alternatives.
• Continue work on community benefit reports by using artificial intelligence to analyze the CHNA data submitted by hospitals.

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

• Masters Degree in a related field
• Two years of experience in relevant quantitative research and analytics
• Experience with R, Stata or similar data analysis tools
• Familiarity with health policy, pharmaceutical markets, prescription drug spending, PBMs

Technical Skills & Expected Level of Proficiency

• Analytical Skills - Awareness
• Attention to Detail - Awareness
• Data Management and Analysis - Awareness
• Formatting and Layout Proficiency - Awareness
• Information Gathering - Awareness
• Oral and Written Communications - Awareness
• Organizational Skills - Awareness

*The core technical skills listed are most essential; additional technical skills may be required based on specific division or department needs.

Classified Title: Research Assistant 
Role/Level/Range: ACRO40/E/03/CD  
Starting Salary Range: $17.20 - $30.30 HRLY (Commensurate w/exp.) 
Employee group: Casual / On Call 
Schedule: Hours Vary: Up to 27 hours per week 
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt 
Location: Remote
Department name: Health Policy & Management -Lipitz 
Personnel area: School of Public Health