The Senior Health Education Communications Specialist (SHECS) reports to the clinical manager, Patient Education and collaborates with content experts across Dana-Farber to develop, review, and publish educational resources for patients and their caregivers across the cancer trajectory. The SHECS creates and/or edits patient education content that explains complex cancer treatment concepts using plain language principles. The SHECS utilizes independent judgment to train, monitor, provide feedback, model for, and coach the Health Education Communication Specialist(s) HECS. The SHES also leads and participates in projects related to patient and caregiver education.??

This position is full-time and requires 2/3 days on-site depending on business needs.?? ??Employees must reside in MA, NH or RI.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute brings together world renowned clinicians, innovative researchers and dedicated professionals, allies in the common mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS and related diseases. Combining extremely talented people with the best technologies in a genuinely positive environment, we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all ages; we conduct research that advances treatment; we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers; we reach out to underserved members of our community; and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

1. Write and create patient educational materials

• Conducts independent literature reviews to fact-check information.
• Applies principles of health education, plain language, and learning theory in the editing process, assuring content complies with the departmental style guide and DFCI policies related to the topic.
• Collaborates with content expert(s) to create and/or edit educational materials for patients and their caregivers.
• Collaborates with program coordinator and other departments, external vendors, and illustrators to produce critical elements of the materials.
• Delegates and ensures review assignments are shared equally amongst the HESs.

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2. Project Leadership and Support

• Partners with the Clinical Manager, Patient Education to manage incoming project requests and guide internal project workflow within the Patient Education Program.
• Leads and/or participates in projects across departments as directed by the Clinical Manager, Patient Education. Creates or modifies patient education content, including scriptwriting, editing, and developing storyboards.
• Facilitates all phases of project management, including initiation and planning; developing schedules and timelines; tracking key milestones and deadlines; and implementation. An example is facilitating the development of a new workbook with a disease center.
• Serves as a resource for health education across disciplines within DFCI. Delivers educational offerings via presentation and other media based addressing topics relevant to patient and caregiver education.
• Designs methods to gather metrics to evaluate project effectiveness and analyzes results. May participate in scholarly activity related to projects, such as developing papers or presentations.
• Disseminates results to internal and external audiences via professional conferences. Identifies publication opportunities and develops publications related to projects and initiatives.

3. Oversees Maintenance of Program Database(s)

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• Oversees the maintenance of database(s) to ensure content experts and pharmacists are identified appropriately and remain up to date.
• Uses judgment in collaboration with the content expert(s)/pharmacists to amend revision dates as indicated.
• Maintains Patient Education Program guidelines, templates, Standard Operating Procedures, and style guide.
• Contributes to process improvement efforts of Program.

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4. Publication and Delivery of Educational Resources

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• Responsible for publication of assigned educational resources directly onto DFCI public-facing website. Collaborates with IT Specialist to develop and maintain working knowledge of web platform- Aquia and Epic interface and identifies any issues or potential enhancements to the platform based on editorial workflow.
• Communicates with program coordinator any updates or changes to printing, and other digital services with external vendors.

5. Training and Development

• Develops and maintains the training curriculum (including tasks and timeframes) for the HECSs.
• Trains HECSs in all aspects of day-to-day responsibilities, including conducting reviews and coordinating and collaborating with content expert(s).
• Serves as mentor to HECSs. Provides both positive and developmental feedback to HES(s) in real-time; escalates issues which require action or intervention.
• Maintains departmental style guide and HES workflows.

Experience:

• 3 years of experience editing and writing health educational materials for lay audiences required.
• Experience using content management web platforms such as Drupal or Sitecore required.
• Experience working in a hospital/ambulatory atmosphere and experience collaborating with clinicians preferred, specifically within cancer therapeutics.
• Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) or Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) preferred.

Education: ??

• Bachelor???s degree in communications, health education, nursing or related field required; Master???s degree in health communication, nursing, or health education preferred.

At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong.?? As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are equally committed to diversifying our faculty and staff.?? Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and diverse professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other groups as protected by law.