Research Volunteer Opportunities

Clinical research volunteer roles are best suited to applicants interested in patient and family-facing research, learning about how research gets translated into treatment, and working on the clinical side of medicine. 

As a clinical research volunteer, you may: 

• Assist in the recruitment and enrollment of participants for minimal risk studies 
• Administer study procedures-questionnaires 
• Collect, record, clean and analyze data from clinical trials and research studies 
• Perform data abstraction for systematic reviews 
• Perform literature reviews 
• Assist with manuscript writing, editing and/or formatting 
• Schedule participant visits and conduct follow-up calls  
• Participate in participant focus groups 
• Support the research team with administrative tasks as needed 

Dry-lab volunteers work directly with health and disease data, review literature, and use data to come to scientific conclusions. 

As a dry-lab research volunteer, you may: 

• Assist with data collection, processing, and analysis using computational tools and software 

• Conduct literature reviews and summarize findings relevant to ongoing research projects 

• Perform data entry, cleansing, and verification in databases and data management systems 

• Collaborate with researcher team members to implement computational models and simulations 

• Assist with manuscript writing, editing and/or formatting 

• Assist with survey and questionnaire design 

• Support the research team with additional tasks as needed 

Quality improvement volunteers support projects that take place aimed at improving knowledge gaps and outcomes for patients and researchers. 

As a quality improvement volunteer, you may: 

• Assist in the development and implementation of quality improvement projects 

• Support data collection, entry and analysis activities 

• Participate in audits and reviews of research protocols, processes and documentation 
• Help maintain accurate and organized records of project activities and findings 

Research operations or administrative volunteers support the management and administration that makes research happen. Each lab requires documentation for everything they do, from grant proposals, legal contracts, and finance and progress reports, to ethics board compliance.  

As a research operations volunteer, you may: 

• Maintain and update project documentation, including protocols, consent forms and reports 

• Assist with the preparation and submission of grant applications and progress reports 

• Assist with preparation of communications regarding training, protocol and other opportunities in the Research Institute, including drafting newsletters, notices, emails and updating websites 

• Plan events and workshops for operations staff and scientists 

• Update and maintain databases 

• Assist with the coordination and scheduling of research activities and meetings 

• Perform other research related tasks as needed to support research operations 

Wet-lab research volunteers help explore basic scientific questions and how diseases work outside of the clinical space by working with cells and tissues, preparing solutions, and more.  

As a wet-lab Volunteer, you may: 

• Assist with the preparation of laboratory equipment and materials 

• Conduct testing and analyses using physical samples, animal models, or tissue and cell cultures under the supervision of senior researchers 

• Assisting with research activities such as in vitro cell culture, gene expression analysis, and in vivo experiments 

• Perform routine laboratory tasks such as pipetting, sample preparation, and solution making 

• Maintain accurate and organized records of experimental procedures and results 

• Support the research team with additional tasks as needed