Reden & Anders Fellows Program

The School of Public Health is pleased to 
announce a new School-wide program for one or 
more graduate research assistants for the 
academic year 2005-2006.  The position consists 
of a 50% time position for spring semester, 2006, 
with an option of 100% employment during the 
summer.  The standard rates of graduate student 
salary, plus health and tuition benefits, will be 
available.  This appointment will be renewed on a 
semester-by-semester basis, depending on 
satisfactory performance, with the possibility of 
extending from year to year, depending on need by 
Reden & Anders and performance by student. 

SPH graduate students enrolled full time are 
encouraged to apply for this graduate research 
assistantship.  As you read the job description, 
educational objectives, and qualifications, do 
not assume that this position is limited to a 
single Division or discipline.  Reden & Anders is 
strongly encouraging of a diversity of academic 
backgrounds and disciplinary perspectives.  Since 
this is the first year of the program, we will 
begin with one to two positions, and based on 
that experience, this number may grow to more in 
the years to come. 

•Further inquiries can be directed to Judith 
Garrard, SPH Associate Dean for Research, School 
of Public Health (jgarrard@umn.edu) who will be 
the administrator for this program.

Description of Position
This position is with the Reden & Anders Health 
Technology Pipeline staff, and the supervisor 
will be a Reden & Anders senior consultant.  
Reden & Anders, Ltd, is a company owned by 
Ingenix, located in Eden Prairie, MN.  (See 
www.reden-anders.com for further information.)  
The Health Technology Pipeline staff offers 
consulting services, analyses  and tools to its 
clients to assist them in understanding the 
impact of “disruptive events” in health care 
practice on their organizations.  A “disruptive 
event” is loosely defined as a new device, drug, 
therapy, standard of care or other development 
that will change the context in which health care 
services are delivered, the utilization of 
services, expected quality outcomes, and health 
care spending. 

The  SPH Reden & Anders Fellow will be expected 
to : 
Become a “subject matter expert” in the emerging 
trends in an assigned area of medical care.  
Examples of some of areas addressed by the Health 
Technology Pipeline include: Diabetes Therapies, 
COPD/Asthma,  Oncology, Invasive Cardiology, 
etc.  Specifically, the Fellow will :
•	Have or acquire a basic (non-expert) 
understanding of the pathologic basis of the 
disease (eg, COPD/Asthma) or conditions treated 
in a specific context (eg, Invasive Cardiology). 
•	Have or acquire an understanding of the 
current issues involved in the treatment or 
management of the disease or practice specialty 
•	Stay abreast of emerging therapies, 
technologies and drugs relevant to the Fellow’s 
assigned area, and become a subject matter expert 
on these new developments by monitoring their 
progress through clinical trials in academic 
journals.
•	Have or acquire knowledge of sources of 
information, registries and datasets regarding 
the epidemiology of the disease.
•	Prepare brief executive summaries (2-4 
pages) of the issues/progress of specific 
developments for use by a non-expert, non-
clinical audience. 

Develop a quantitative model of expected quality 
outcomes or health care economics for a topic in 
their assigned subject area.  

Participate in the development, evaluation and 
peer review of other quantitative models used by 
the Health Technology Pipeline Staff. See 
Pipeline Brochure, attached.

Support other activities by the Health Technology 
Pipeline staff through the development of 
incidence/prevalence rates or other important 
rates and values that may be used in quantitative 
modeling. 

Resources to be Provided
•	Reden & Anders will provide training in 
the skills needed, and this may be supplemented 
by additional training in systematic reviews of 
the literature and use of additional software.
•	The Fellow will be provided with a laptop 
and subscriptions to relevant academic journals 
to monitor developments in the assigned field and 
electronic access to the Reden & Anders Office. 
•	While Fellows will be expected to meet on 
a regular basis at the Eden Prairie, MN, offices 
with their supervisor, much of the work related 
to this position can be accomplished at the 
University or elsewhere.  

Candidates selected for the position of SPH Reden 
& Anders Fellow will need to successfully pass a 
background security check (at the expense of 
Reden & Anders, Ltd) since they will have access 
to private, sensitive health care data in the 
course of this appointment.

Minimum Required Qualifications / Skills:
Enrolled full time as an SPH student 
Strong writing skills – especially experience 
writing abstracts
Strong literature review skills 
Proficient in EXCEL and WORD
Basic competency in Microsoft ACCESS
Basic understanding of health care modeling
Excellent work habits – must be able to work 
independently (as the Fellow is likely to work 
out-of-the-office most days).
Completion of all SPH-required training in IRB 
and HIPPA procedures.

Skills that are desired but not essential:
Post-graduate degree or training (MA, MS)  that 
required survey and review of literature in a 
specific subject
Past experience in health care modeling or Markov 
modeling
Proficiency in SAS
Past employment or training in a Health Care 
profession
Educational Objectives 

At the beginning and end of each semester and the 
summer period, and periodically during each 
period, Reden & Anders Fellows will meet with the 
SPH Associate Dean for Research to discuss 
progress, accomplishment of educational 
objectives, and evaluation of their experience.  
The educational objectives will include the 
following:
•	Develop an understanding of one or more 
specific areas of medical care through the 
training provided by Reden & Anders staff, 
reviews of the literature, and preparation of 
written materials.  Learn about the steps needed 
to conduct a systematic review of the literature.
•	Conduct a systematic review of the 
current research literature on topics in an 
assigned area of medical care. 
•	 Summarize findings from the literature 
review to identify 'disruptive events' in health 
care practice in an assigned area of medical care.
•	Prepare a brief, written summary of 
findings from the review of the literature for an 
educated by non-health professional audience.  
The Fellow's writing skills will be especially 
important in accomplishing this educational 
objective.
•	Identify sources of information about new 
developments in an assigned area of medical care 
that extend beyond the literature in peer 
reviewed journals, e.g., sources such as 
proceedings from scientific meetings, FDA reports 
of Phase II and Phase III trials in drugs and 
medical technology, and government reports.
•	Learn about the role of Markov modeling 
in preparing information for distribution to an 
educated lay audience.
•	Participate with professionals in the 
health care industry in discussions about the 
development, evaluation, and peer review of 
quantitative models about new and 
possibly 'disruptive' events.

Reden & Anders Fellows will be strongly 
encouraged to publish their findings resulting 
from their work with the Reden & Anders Health 
Technology Pipeline staff.  Opportunities to 
obtain datasets for use in further research will 
be made available, and students are also 
ncouraged to explore the possibilities of use 
these datasets to develop their own research for 
Master's and PhD dissertations.  
	
Application Process
1.Applicants must meet the minimum requirements 
as stated above.  Applicants will not be 
considered if they are not enrolled full time in 
the School of Public Health. 
2.Submit a 1.5 page letter in which you apply for 
the position and state why you believe you are 
qualified for this position. This letter will 
also be evaluated as evidence of your writing 
skills.
3. Attached to the letter, please include a 
separate Resume that describes the following:
Your name
Address and telephone number(s)
E-mail address
SPH Division in which you are enrolled
Academic program in which you are enrolled, e.g., 
PhD program in epidemiology or MS program in 
environmental health, etc.
Educational background, beginning with your post 
high school education; include educational 
institution, years attended, and graduation dates
Employment (part time and full time) over the 
past ten years
List of publications and presentations.

The Resume will not be counted as part of the 1.5 
page limit.

Timeline
Nov 28 - Dec 7-- Announcement posted.
December 7-- Applications due by 9:00 am on 
Wednesday, December 7.  Applications must be 
submitted by e-mail to:  jgarrard@umn.edu.  
Insert in Subject line of the e-mail: Reden & 
Anders Fellows Program
Dec 7- 15 -- Review of applications and 
interviews with selected applicants. All 
applications will be screened by the SPH 
Associate Dean for Research.  Interviews will be 
scheduled by Reden & Anders. Please do not call 
SPH about the interviews.  We will notify all who 
submit an application. Those who meet the 
qualifications will be forwarded to Reden & 
Anders, and final selection of Fellows will be by 
Reden & Anders.
December 19-- Following interviews, Reden & 
Anders will initiate background security check of 
selected applicant(s); after successful 
completion of security check, final appointment
(s) will be made by SPH.