Lab Assistant II - Psychiatry - 141899

University of California San Diego; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 38,000 - 41,000; Part time

Job summary

UC San Diego Health Sciences invites applications for Lab Assistant II in the Psychiatry department on the East Campus. This limited part-time role supports mindfulness and psychedelic research within ONEMIND, handling recruitment, assessments, data entry, and retention across studies.

The position requires reliability, attention to detail, and willingness to travel to clinics for participant recruitment, with a 40% appointment and a flexible daytime schedule.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED with 2 years of laboratory experience or 2 years of college with science courses and 1 year lab experience.
• Understanding of psychology, substance use disorders, and DSM-V criteria for psychiatric disorders.
• Experience in psychiatric research environments.
• Experience with clinical rating scales and psychophysiological tests or willingness to learn.
• Proficient with PCs, databases, word processing, spreadsheets, and statistics.

Responsibilities

• Recruit participants and assist with assessments and data collection.
• Assist with administration and scoring of clinical rating scales and psychophysiological tests.
• Prepare and process data charts for entry into the research database.
• Assist with participant retention across longitudinal studies and general lab tasks.

Skills

Psychology knowledge

Confidentiality

Interpersonal skills

Detail-oriented

Data entry

Travel readiness

PC proficiency

Education

High school diploma or GED with 2 years science/lab experience

Tools

Relational databases

Spreadsheet software

Statistical analysis programs

Job description

Payroll Title: LAB AST 2

Department: PSYCHIATRY

Hiring Pay Scale: $27.54 - $29.42 / Hour

Worksite: East Campus (La Jolla)

Appointment Type: Limited Appointment

Appointment Percent: 40%

Union: TX Contract

Total Openings: 1

Work Schedule: Days, Variable, Monday-Friday

#141899 Lab Assistant II - Psychiatry

Filing Deadline: Fri 10/30/2026

UC San Diego values and welcomes people from all backgrounds. If you are interested in being part of our team, possess the needed licensure and certifications, and feel that you have most of the qualifications and/or transferable skills for a job opening, we strongly encourage you to apply.

This position is a part-time limited position with the possibility of extension/career conversion.

Reassignment Applicants: Eligible Reassignment clients should contact their Disability Counselor for assistance.

DESCRIPTION

The UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry ranks among the nation's leading academic psychiatry departments, recognized for its exceptional research enterprise, innovative clinical programs, and outstanding educational training. Our faculty and staff are driving meaningful advances in mental health science, delivering transformative patient care, and shaping the next generation of clinicians and researchers. We offer a collegial, high-achieving work environment where talented professionals are empowered to grow, collaborate, and contribute to work that matters.

Under supervision, the Lab Assistant will assist with a number of duties for research studies focusing on mindfulness and psychedelics as a treatment for addiction and chronic pain within UCSD ONEMIND in the Department of Psychiatry. Major responsibilities will include recruiting, assisting with preparing and deploying substance use assessments, assisting with the administration and scoring of clinical rating scales, psychophysiological assessments, physical measurements, preparation and processing of data charts for computerized entry, and entry of data into clinical research database system; and retention efforts for multiple longitudinal studies, working as part of a research team to retain study participants. Perform other general research tasks, such as: library and computer research, and general administrative and office tasks.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Graduation from high school or a General Education Diploma and two years of laboratory experience or two years of college including courses in the natural, physical or social sciences and one year of laboratory experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience; and knowledge and abilities essential to the successful performance of the duties assigned to the position.

• Demonstrated understanding of psychology, substance use disorders, and DSM-V criteria for psychiatric disorders.

• Experience working in psychiatric research environments.

• Experience in working with and scoring of clinical rating scales and psychophysiological tests, or willingness to learn.

• Proficiency using PC's including relational databases, word processing, spreadsheet, and statistical analysis programs.

• Must be able to maintain confidentiality.

• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.

• Ability to sustain careful attention to detail for long periods of time.

• Demonstrated skill in organizing, analyzing, managing time, setting priorities and meeting deadlines for multiple tasks.

• Willingness to travel to addiction treatment clinics to recruit, consent, and assess participants.

• Proven ability to enter data into relational databases in an accurate and precise manner.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Ability to design and maintain logs; develop reports and tables.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• Employment is subject to a criminal background check and pre-employment physical.

• Must be willing to work with both a psychiatric population and an addiction treatment research population.

• Must have ready access to reliable transportation and be willing to travel off-site to conduct assessments.

• Must be willing to work occasional overtime, weekends or flexible schedule.

• Must be able to work various hours and locations based on business needs.

Pay Transparency Act

Annual Full Pay Range: $57,504 - $69,175 (will be prorated if the appointment percentage is less than 100%)

Hourly Equivalent: $27.54 - $33.13

Factors in determining the appropriate compensation for a role include experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The Hiring Pay Scale referenced in the job posting is the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position. The Annual Full Pay Range may be broader than what the University anticipates to pay for this position, based on internal equity, budget, and collective bargaining agreements (when applicable).

If employed by the University of California, you will be required to comply with our Policy on Vaccination Programs, which may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

If applicable, life-support certifications (BLS, NRP, ACLS, etc.) must include hands-on practice and in-person skills assessment; online-only certification is not acceptable.

UC San Diego Health Sciences is comprised of our School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, and our Student Health and Well-Being Department. We have long been at the forefront of translational — or "bench-to-bedside" — research, transforming patient care through discovery and innovation leading to new drugs and technologies. Translational research is carried out every day in the hundreds of clinical trials of promising new therapies offered through UC San Diego Health, and in the drive of our researchers and clinician-scientists who are committed to having a significant impact on patient care. We invite you to join our team!

Applications/Resumes are accepted for current job openings only. For full consideration on any job, applications must be received prior to the initial closing date. If a job has an extended deadline, applications/resumes will be considered during the extension period; however, a job may be filled before the extended date is reached.

To foster the best possible working and learning environment, UC San Diego strives to cultivate a rich and diverse environment, inclusive and supportive of all students, faculty, staff and visitors. For more information, please visit UC San Diego Principles of Community.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

For the University of California’s Anti-Discrimination Policy, please visit https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/1001004/Anti-Discrimination

UC San Diego is a smoke and tobacco free environment. Please visit smokefree.ucsd.edu for more information.

UC San Diego Health maintains a marijuana and drug free environment. Employees may be subject to drug screening.

Misconduct Disclosure Requirement: As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts an offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of substantiated misconduct with a previous employer.

a. "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies governing employee conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, or discrimination, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC’s policies addressing some forms of misconduct:

• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy
• Abusive Conduct in the Workplace