Director, Clinical & Translational Science

CCHCS Cook Children's Health Care System; Avenue (MD); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cook Children’s Health Care System is seeking a Director, Clinical & Translational Science to lead a nationally recognized program that accelerates translation of discoveries into better diagnostics, therapies, and outcomes.

The leader will expand the research portfolio, engage investigators, secure external funding, and build scalable services across study design, grant preparation, and collaboration with informatics and data platforms while ensuring regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Master's degree required in appropriate field; 7+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Proven leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Experience with clinical research study design, data management, statistical analysis, and grant writing.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive clinical and translational science strategy.
• Grow investigator-initiated and externally funded research portfolios.
• Provide scientific leadership and foster a team-science culture.
• Partner with Research Informatics for data platforms and analytics.
• Develop external partnerships and consortia to enhance national visibility.

Skills

Leadership

Clinical research

Grant writing

Strategic planning

Education

Master's degree in a relevant field

Job description

Location: Medical Center Office Building (901 7th Ave) Department: Clinical and Translational Science Shift: First Shift (United States of America) Standard Weekly Hours: 40

Summary: Cook Children’s is building a nationally recognized pediatric clinical and translational science enterprise that accelerates the transformation of scientific discoveries into improved diagnostics, therapeutics, care delivery models, and patient outcomes.

The Director, Clinical & Translational Science serves as the strategic, scientific, and operational leader for this enterprise, responsible for expanding the institutional research portfolio, increasing investigator engagement, growing external funding, and developing translational science capabilities across Cook Children’s. The Director owns investigator‑initiated research strategy, research portfolio growth, investigator support services, translational science programs, workforce development, consortium development, and academic partnerships. This leader partners closely with Research Informatics and Information Services to align clinical and translational science priorities with the technology, data, analytics, and infrastructure capabilities that support research operations, while Research Informatics and Information Services retain responsibility for the underlying technical platforms, systems, architecture, and data engineering functions.

Key responsibilities:

Develop and execute a comprehensive clinical and translational science strategy aligned with Cook Children’s research, clinical, and organizational priorities. Lead institutional efforts to grow the portfolio of investigator‑initiated and externally funded research, including center‑level and multi‑site programmatic awards. Build scalable, investigator‑facing services that support study design, protocol development, project management, grant preparation, and scientific collaboration. Provide scientific leadership and foster a strong team‑science culture among clinicians, scientists, data scientists, research professionals, and external collaborators. Partner with Research Informatics to enable effective use of research data platforms, analytics capabilities, and digital tools in support of clinical and translational science, while respecting their ownership of technical platforms and data engineering. Develop strategic external partnerships and consortia with universities, pediatric hospitals, industry, and funding agencies to enhance Cook Children’s national visibility and research impact. Strengthen the clinical and translational research workforce through education, mentoring, and professional development programs for investigators and research staff. Ensure research activities follow applicable regulatory, ethical, and institutional requirements, in close collaboration with IRB, Compliance, Privacy, Legal, and Information Security. Provide leadership and management for the Clinical & Translational Science department, including budgeting, staffing, performance management, and continuous improvement.

Education & Experience:

Master's degree required in appropriate field (e.g., Research, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Statistics, Chemistry, etc.) 7+ years of relevant professional experience is required Proven leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills is required Demonstrated experience with clinical research study design and development, data management, statistical analysis, and medical and grant writing required Position requires an individual with: Demonstrated expertise in identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts Demonstrated expertise in effectively managing data, statistical analysis and interpretation, medical and grant writing, and study design Computer proficiency in word and data processing Knowledge of medical terminology Knowledge of principles of research and federal regulations; Excellent writing and editing skills Detail oriented and strong organizational skills Ability to understand complex statistical and protocol design Excellent leadership and written, oral, and electronic communication skills Licensure, Registration, and/or Certification: Maintains licensure and certification as appropriate to profession

About Us:

Cook Children’s is an equal opportunity employer. As such, Cook Children’s offers equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected class in accordance with applicable federal laws. These opportunities include terms, conditions and privileges of employment, including but not limited to hiring, job placement, training, compensation, discipline, advancement and termination. Promise, a strong word with deep meaning that everyone understands—especially kids. This is the foundation of our organization and what drives us to blaze new trails in medical care, research, advanced technology, as well as programs and initiatives that benefit children who may not otherwise have access to quality health care. Every day our employees come to work with the intention of keeping our Promise. It's the guiding principle that helps our patients and their families get better and stay healthy. As a member of our Cook Children's team, you can be an important part of making that happen.