Organization: Epidemic Answers

Date: Starting Q1 2021

Medical Director Position Available in Innovative Pediatric Study

The Documenting Hope Project is seeking a Medical Director to join our collaborative Research Team to assist in the implementation of our IRB-approved research study, FLIGHT™: Facilitated Longitudinal Intensive Investigation of Genuine Health Transformation. This is, to our knowledge, the first prospective study of the reversal of children’s chronic health conditions using a whole-child care model. A candidate eligible for the Medical Director position is a practicing integrative physician with deep clinical experience working with children with a wide variety of chronic inflammatory, neurobehavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders who is also strongly interested in research and environmental health. The Medical Director will be a member of the FLIGHT™ Study Clinical Strategy Team, the research and planning arm of the FLIGHT™ Study.  As a member of the FLIGHT™ Clinical Strategy Team, the Medical Director will work in collaboration with members of the child’s clinical team, including the child’s site-based Core Licensed Medical Provider (CLMP), who will serve as the clinician of record.  However, the Medical Director will not provide direct medical care to the study participants.    

The Medical Director will be responsible for keeping current on multiple dynamic streams of information and alerting team members to concerns that may arise. Activities will also include regular and structured discourse with colleagues and the research team about each child’s progress and care including review and analysis of comprehensive life and medical history and information, and interpretation of laboratory and other clinical assessments. The Medical Director’s most important role is to oversee the care, safety, and well-being of all child participants (initially with 3 participants whose start dates are staggered over several months). The position does not require being physically on site with the children and families but can be performed virtually. It will require approximately 16 hours per week, occasionally less, and with predicted increased activity at baseline, midpoint and end point. This position offers a unique clinical and research learning opportunity.

About the Documenting Hope Project

The mission of the Documenting Hope Project to illuminate root causes and inspire hope for preventing and reversing childhood health and developmental conditions through careful observation, robust documentation and collaborative science.

We have two IRB-Approved Research Studies, the CHIRP™ Study (a survey study) and the FLIGHT™ Study (the prospective intervention study), which builds on data provided from CHIRP™. These studies are described below.

Our Research Team

Martha Herbert, PhD, MD — Scientific Director and Principal Investigator

Randy Reiserer, PhD — Senior Scientist

Josie Nelson — Program Director

Beth Lambert — Executive Director

Janine Burnham Ruth — Operations Manager

The CHIRP™ Study (Child Health Inventory for Resilience and Prevention)

The CHIRP™ Study utilizes a comprehensive, online, HIPAA-compliant parent survey (over 900 questions) to gather information about children’s health, their exposome, and other details about their experiences living in the modern world.

Objective

The objective of CHIRP™ is to apply novel methods to systematically study a vast spectrum of children’s health and developmental influences. Our intention is to present our results from the analysis of a minimum of 1000 surveys to the public and professionals in multiple forums in an effort to inspire a meaningful public dialogue about how to optimize children’s health, growth and development in today’s world.

The CHIRP™ Study is currently underway and has over 1300 participants enrolled.

The FLIGHT™ Study (Facilitated Longitudinal Intensive Investigation of Genuine Health Transformation)

The FLIGHT™ Study is the first prospective, longitudinal study to rigorously document a whole-child model of care observed to reverse a variety of chronic childhood conditions.

Objective

FLIGHT aims to conduct, publish and publicize the results from a facilitated, structured and comprehensive community-based approach to reversing chronic health conditions in children. By the end of 2024, we expect to demonstrate proof-of-principle of genuine health transformation by documenting specific successes of our systematized model through statistically significant reduction in symptoms, increases in well-being, and normalization of biomarkers with results from at least 5 child study participants.

The FLIGHT™ Study will begin enrolling participants in 2021.

Specific Responsibilities of the Documenting Hope Medical Director

  • Participate collegially on an established, close-knit, independent team that designed the Documenting Hope Studies.
  • Develop a working and detailed knowledge of the FLIGHT™ Study aims, methods, and procedures, including multiple custom forms/tools designed to facilitate the implementation of the study and a familiarity with the content of the CHIRP™ Study.
  • Support recruitment, enrollment, analytics and dissemination effort for the CHIRP Study
  • Participate in the recruitment, enrollment and selection process for the FLIGHT Study
  • Work collaboratively with the FLIGHT Study Clinical Strategy Team and the Core Licensed Medical Provider (CLMP), a local clinician who will serve as the child participant’s physician of record, to implement the procedures of the FLIGHT Study. The Medical Director is not responsible for medical decision making specific to the child participants, as this is the sole responsibility of the CLMP
  • Commit to a daily review of information streams concerning child participants which involves staying current on all relevant medical and health information concerning participants. This will require utilization of multiple software platforms and custom processes/procedures.
  • Serve as a medical liaison between clinicians, medical advisors and other experts participating in the FLIGHT Study clinical process. This includes participating in transdisciplinary dialogue, collaboration and discourse among colleagues; the Medical Director will be supported in this role by the FLIGHT Programs Director.
  • Verify that the rights and well-being of participants are protected
  • Serve as a liaison to, and confer with, directors of laboratories and other clinical entities on a case-by-case basis where medical expertise is required
  • Conduct in-depth case reviews (including the review and analysis of laboratory assessments, functional assessments, CHIRP™ report, adjunct clinician notes, etc.) for FLIGHT™ Study participants as requested by the Clinical Strategy Team at designated intervals, (at least 4 hours per participant depending on complexity) and provide detailed written reports on each case review.
  • Participate in a formal collaborative case review (online and/or via video conference) with FLIGHT™ Clinical Strategy Team and the collaborative transdisciplinary practitioner group at regularly scheduled Case Reviews six or seven times during the 18 months’ participation of each child, and additionally if/when as needed
  • In between formal case reviews, the Medical Director will have responsibility for ongoing tracking, monitoring and review of clinical progress and challenges.
  • Maintaining communication with the Clinical Strategy team and relevant clinicians, and participating in formulating interim modifications to the current Intervention Plan for review and approval by the CLMP
  • Agree to be interviewed on camera for archival purposes and/or for other media purposes
  • Work collaboratively with Principal Investigator and FLIGHT™ Study Team on data analysis and scientific/medical publications
  • Become familiar with FLIGHT™ data collection systems and procedures, analytics and communication systems (e.g., LivingMatrix, MS SharePoint, MS Teams, HeadsUpHealth, Access, others)
  • Participate in ongoing analysis of data as it becomes available, as requested
  • Participate in the dissemination of findings through peer-reviewed publications, presentations at scientific and collegial conferences, and other venues

Time Commitment

Part-time; Approximately 16 hours weekly

Education, Experience, Skills and Knowledge Base

  • Must be a fully licensed and insured physician
  • Must have active human subject research training certification (or be willing to take a course)
  • Must have active HIPAA certification (or be willing to re-certify)
  • Trained in integrative medicine, functional medicine, biological medicine with an orientation towards systems biology, natural wellness, holistic health
  • Extensive knowledge of nutrition and environmental health
  • Familiarity with and interest in a wide variety of health disciplines and therapeutic modalities
  • Excellent communications skills
  • Excellent collaboration and leadership skills
  • Excellent organizational skills and willingness to engage in clear, thorough and detailed documentation procedures
  • Comfortable and experienced with public speaking

This position is offered by Epidemic Answers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This position offers the unique opportunity to work with top level scientific and executive leaders with decades of experience working in bioinformatics, operations, and clinical research. Commendable contributions to this organization’s publication objectives may result in co-authorship of original scholarly research.

To learn more about the project please see: www.documentinghope.com

Please send resumes and cover letters to Beth Lambert, Executive Director, Epidemic Answers: beth@documentinghope.com.