Research Assistants (50%FTE – 2 positions)

HIV/STI Intervention & Prevention Studies (HIPS) 
Program
Division of Epidemiology & Community Health

University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Two Research Assistants (at 50% FTE) are sought 
for a 5-year NIH-funded study of Men who use the 
Internet to seek Sex with other Men (MISM), 
beginning on or before December 1, 2006.  An 
ideal candidate will be able to serve for the 
full five years of the study.  Principal 
Investigator is B. R. Simon Rosser, PhD, MPH, 
LP.  This newly funded study is designed to 
advance methods for online behavioral 
surveillance; examines how alcohol use impacts 
HIV risk; and investigate how virtual 
environments and public policy impact a 
community's health, alcohol use, and HIV risk 
behavior. This study has two specific aims: (1) 
To study, at the community level, how public 
policy and e-infrastructure may be changing the 
centrality and popularity of gay bars; (2) To 
study, at the individual level, how public 
policy and gay e-infrastructure modifies alcohol 
use and alcohol-related HIV risk behavior among 
Men who use the Internet to seek Sex with Men 
(MISM).  This is a multidisciplinary complex 
study involving investigators in HIV prevention, 
alcohol, law, computer science, epidemiology, 
Internet research, homosexuality and public 
health. The study design is a prospective, case-
comparison, natural experiment study in 16 
cities of the USA with differing legislation on 
homosexuality and levels of gay e-
infrastructure. How these factors impact risk 
will be tracked at two levels, annually, over 4 
years: (1) the city level, by taking a city-wide 
census of gay bars/clubs, bar attendance, gay e-
infrastructure, and HIV/STI rates; (2) the 
individual level, by comparing MISM's (n=250 per 
city; 4000 per period) alcohol use and sexual 
risk behavior. 

The ideal candidate will be someone with passion 
to pursue a career in HIV prevention, e-Public 
Health, and with a special interest in MISM 
and/or the impact of law on the target 
population’s health. Each Research Assistant 
will hold a 50% paid University of Minnesota 
payroll appointment and devote 100% effort of 
that appointment to the project. These research 
assistants are anticipated to be graduate 
students in public health, and in year 1 will 
work primarily on developing lists of all gay 
organizations, clubs, and bars in all 16 cities 
and the pilot (from print media sources); 
working with the project coordinator to contact 
every bar, club, or other alcohol-serving venue 
in the study (estimated to be approximately 400 
across the study sites); conducting annual 
assessments with the bar managers and entering 
this information into a database; maintaining 
all records; they will gather the online bar 
listings, perform Google Earth searches of the 
city/MSA boundaries, develop ARCMap and 
conventional data bases, and confirm bar 
placement within the MSA. In addition, they will 
undertake online searches to establish and 
maintain data bases of law and policy in the 
cities/MSAs under study. These and other duties 
will be assigned by the principal investigator 
and conducted under the direct daily supervision 
of a project coordinator.  Given the scope of 
the study, we have divided the responsibilities 
between two research assistants.

Requirements:   
Good organizational skills and work habits with 
ability to work independently.
	A minimum of an undergraduate degree in 
a social science or public health related field. 
	Previous experience with social science 
research methodology and trials.
	Interest in and/or experience with 
undertaking HIV prevention research.
	Comfort with and sensitivity to the 
subject population and subject matter. 
	Excellent computer literacy:  IBM 
compatible and windows environment, WEB 
and SAS/STATA.
Knowledge of NIH research requirements, 
experience and/or training in running 
NIH related trials.

Preferences:
	Demonstrated knowledge of and interest 
in health concerns of the Men who use 
the Internet to seek Sex with other Men.
Knowledge of and familiarity with statistical 
data analysis.
Bilingual in English and Spanish
Interest in law, computer science, e-
communication, e-Public Health, alcohol, 
homosexuality, structural interventions, phone 
interviews, considered an advantage.

To apply, submit resume to Carol Raichert, phone 
612-6251836, or email: raichert@epi.umn.edu.

HIV/STI Intervention and Prevention Studies 
(HIPS) Program, Division of Epidemiology & 
Community Health, University of Minnesota School 
of Public Health, 1300 South 2nd Street, Suite 
300, MN 55454.  

This position is contingent upon enrollment and 
current registration as a graduate student at 
the University of Minnesota.