Position Summary

This is not a bedside role. It’s not a coordinator role. And it’s not a navigator role.

UT Health San Antonio is building the infrastructure that makes hospital-based clinical research safe, sustainable, and systematically excellent and we’re looking for an experienced nurse with the clinical credibility, systems thinking, and patient safety instincts to support it. If you want to shape how research is done at the hospital level, setting standards, building workflows, and influencing practice institution-wide, this is the next chapter in your career

Responsibilities

What you will do

This position is key to translating protocol requirements into safe, reliable clinical workflows, serves as the go-to consultant for nursing staff, study teams, physicians, and hospital leaders and drives the systems-level work that makes research a sustainable part of how this hospital operates.
You will support trial onboarding and feasibility, set research-specific safety and documentation standards, coordinate care across hospital systems for research participants, and lead the interdisciplinary collaboration that keeps complex studies running without compromising patient care or protocol fidelity.

Nursing Practice & Patient Safety

Apply expert clinical judgment to evaluate research-related care, anticipate patient safety risks, and generate feasible recommendations before harm or deviation occurs.
Lead protocol-to-practice review by evaluating participant safety, nursing touchpoints, documentation needs, escalation pathways, and staffing implications for each trial.
Ensure reliable care coordination for research participants whose care spans admissions, discharges, infusions, imaging, pharmacy, procedures, specimen collection, and follow-up planning.
Identify recurring safety vulnerabilities and lead or support system-level improvement initiatives to reduce preventable risk and protocol deviations.
Serve as the hospital-wide clinical research practice expert and consultant, providing guidance to nursing staff, study teams, and medical staff on research-related clinical practice.

Research Operations & Program Infrastructure

Participate in early feasibility and trial readiness review by evaluating protocol complexity, alignment with hospital capabilities, and operational requirements.
Develop standard work, role clarity tools, communication pathways, and escalation algorithms that enable reliable, hospital-wide research execution.
Coordinate study execution across nursing leadership, unit-based teams, ancillary services, investigators, quality/patient safety, informatics, regulatory, and research administration.
Provide strategic input on research program development, space planning, technology infrastructure, documentation tools, workflow barriers, and fiscal considerations.
Participate in institutional, local, and national interdisciplinary committees; contribute to ongoing research, quality, and safety initiatives.
Champion a hospital environment that integrates clinical research as a sustainable, high-quality component of patient care and program development.

Education & Workforce Development

Develop and deliver patient and family education specific to research participation, informed decision-making, and care integration.
Design and deliver education programs for nursing practice competencies, research workflow readiness, orientation, in-service training, and staff development across the hospital.
Mentor and precept nurses; model safe, ethical, protocol-aware practice and build a culture of harm prevention and continuous learning.
Provide expert coaching, peer review, and consultation to improve nursing and interdisciplinary research performance across study teams and care units.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master’s Degree in Nursing or equivalent field (Preferred)

Experience

Five (5) or more years of clinical nursing experience required.
Three (3) years or more of research experience required.
Background in clinical research, oncology, inpatient or procedural research workflows, clinical trials, hospital-based research operations, or new hospital/service line build is highly valued.

Licenses & Certifications

Current Texas Board of Nursing RN license or Compact State equivalent required
American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) required
Research Certification (Certified Clinical Research Nurse, Board Certified (CRNBC), Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP) or Oncology Certified Nurse (Preferred)

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Expert nursing practice with strong clinical judgment in complex, multi-problem patient situations.
Strong working knowledge of clinical research operations, GCP regulations, adverse event awareness, investigational product workflows, and research documentation.
Experience supporting new program builds, operational transformation, or integrated systems development.
Demonstrated ability to translate protocol requirements into safe, practical, role-specific workflows and standard work.
Anticipatory patient safety skills to proactively identifying and mitigating risk before harm or deviation occurs.
Collaborative influence across disciplines without direct line authority; relationship-based leadership at the hospital-wide level.
Strong organizational, analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills; able to manage multiple concurrent studies and stakeholders.
Proficiency with EHRs, clinical trial management systems, Microsoft Office and collaboration software.

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UT San Antonio) is a nationally recognized, top-tier public research university that unites the power of higher education, biomedical discovery and healthcare within one visionary institution. As the third-largest research university in Texas and a Carnegie R1-designated institution, UT San Antonio is a model of access and excellence — advancing knowledge, social mobility and public health across South Texas and beyond. UT San Antonio serves approximately 42,000 students in 320 academic programs spanning science, engineering, medicine, health, liberal arts, AI, cybersecurity, business, education and more. With 17,000 faculty and staff, UT San Antonio has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers for Company Culture.

Benefits Overview

UT Health San Antonio offers an excellent benefits package for its employees. Employees who work at least 20 hours a week, with an appointment of at least 4.5 months, are eligible for benefits.

Medical - UT SELECT Medical insurance is offered free for employees and administered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. Family members can be added to the plan through payroll deduction. Employees and their dependents can also receive discounted copays and coinsurance when using UT Health Physicians, a network of 800 premier physicians including more than 100 specialists. Employees receive $50,000 of group term life insurance and $50,000 of basic accidental death and dismemberment insurance for free, with options to purchase additional employee and dependent coverage for both at group rates.

Dental - Three dental insurance plan options are available for employees and their families through Delta Dental Insurance Company, two PPOs and one dental HMO plan. Both PPO plans allow employees to choose any licensed dentist.

Vision - Fully insured Vision Care benefits are offered by Superior Vision Services. Two vision plan options that offer either standard or enhanced vision benefits.

Disability - Employees can enroll in the Disability Insurance which provides income if a non-work related illness or injury prevents you from working.

FSAs - Employees can enroll in flexible spending accounts (FSAs) to set aside money from earnings before taxes for qualifying dependent day care expenses or out-of-pocket health care expenses.

Retirement - Employees are eligible for either the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) or the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP). TRS is a defined benefit retirement plan which UT Health matches employee contributions. ORP is for eligible faculty staff employees. Voluntary retirement programs are also available to invest before- or after-tax dollars with the choice of five quality retirement plan providers.

Time Off - A generous leave program offers multiple paid leave options:

Front-loaded Paid Time Off: 128 to 208 hours (16 to 26 days) of Paid Time Off based on years of service, given at the start of each fiscal year. PTO may be prorated in year one based on date of hire.
Extended Illness Bank: 8 hours (1 day) accrued per month which can be used for illness or injury after one day of Paid Time Off is taken.
Paid Family Leave: Up to 240 hours (6 weeks) to care for a spouse, child, or parent after 6 months of consecutive employment.
Holidays: 12 set paid holidays each year.

Discounts - Employees enjoy a range of discounts on services, tickets, and gym membership.

EEO Statement

UT Health San Antonio is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. It is our policy to promote and ensure equal employment opportunity for all individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status.

Learn more about this Employer on their Career Site

Nursing Lead, Hospital Research Integration

Responsibilities

Qualifications