Without Compensation (WOC) Research Health Science Specialist

Full Job Description

Please note: There is no pay associated with this position. This position serves as a Without Compensation Research Health Science Specialist within the Office of Research and Development (ORD).

The VA Research Program strives to promote Veteran-centered care to improve patient experiences and outcomes across VA healthcare and community settings, and to advance value-driven care by providing Veterans the highest quality care at the lowest financial burden.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/24/2026.

Basic Requirements: Experience: You must possess general experience in any type of work that demonstrates (1) experience in technology implementation for older adults and those impacted by dementia, (2) experience in research experience with the dementia and/or dementia caregiver community, and (3) experience in qualitative research skills to include focus group moderation and data collection and experience analyzing qualitative data through the constant comparison approach.

Education: Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position.

This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week.

Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities.

Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Physical Requirements: The work is predominantly sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work.

However, there will be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of items of moderate weight such as large binders, banker style file boxes, meeting materials, papers, books or small parts.

Hand and eye coordination for delicate testing procedures may be the only special physical demand required to perform the work. Major Duties:

Duties may include but are not limited to: Providing operational support and coordination for the implementation of VA research and quality improvement projects as directed.

Handling project questions and problem independently in coordination with the PI. Managing timelines and deliverables for successful completion of the projects.

Writing research policies, guidelines and procedures, and other documents, facilitating the compliance with all regulatory and administrative project requirements.

May be responsible for medical abstraction. Work Schedule: Intermittent (Without Compensation)