Visiting Graduate Student (Academic Credit) - Simpkins Lab - Department of Neurology - Per Diem (On-site)

Cedars-Sinai • Los Angeles, CA

4d • Onsite

About The Position

This educational, collaborative visiting scholar appointment in the Department of Neurology is designed for a graduate student in a relevant communication, writing, or health-related field, or a medical student interested in medical and scientific communication. Under the mentorship of Dr. Alexis Simpkins, the scholar will support research writing and patient communication projects related to stroke and cerebrovascular disease. The role provides experience synthesizing clinical and scientific evidence, communicating with research and clinical audiences, and translating complex health information into clear, patient-centered language. Work will be reviewed by appropriate clinical, scientific, and institutional stakeholders before submission or use, and must follow institutional privacy, compliance, copyright, and research or quality-improvement review requirements.

Across the one-year curriculum, the scholar will receive orientation and training in privacy, compliance, research review, stroke care, publication ethics, scientific writing, health literacy, and content governance. The scholar will then participate in literature reviews, evidence synthesis, manuscript and case-report development, preparation of abstracts and presentations, reference management, figure and table preparation, journal-format and readability review, and revision for submission. Patient-facing work may include educational handouts, after-visit materials, care-navigation resources, FAQs, and website or portal content covering stroke prevention, diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and follow-up. The scholar will incorporate feedback from clinicians and patient-facing teams and develop skills in medical and scientific writing, publication processes, stakeholder engagement, presentation development, critical thinking, and evidence translation. Completed work and recommendations will be presented to the department.

Applicants must be able to commute to the Los Angeles location a few times per week and reside in the greater Los Angeles area or surrounding cities while conducting appointment activities. Visitors must receive funding from an eligible sponsoring institution. Systems access is listed as N/A.

Requirements

• Must be at least 18 years of age.
• Must have a high school diploma or GED.
• Must reside in the greater Los Angeles area or surrounding cities while conducting appointment activities.
• Must be able to commute to the Los Angeles location a few times per week.
• Visitors must receive funding from an eligible sponsoring institution, such as an employer, educator, or funder.

Nice To Haves

• Current enrollment in a master's program in Communication, Writing, Medical Writing, Health Communication, Public Health, Health Administration, or a related program, or current medical student status.
• Strong written communication skills and demonstrated interest in medical or scientific writing.
• Interest in research manuscripts, case reports, patient education, health literacy, or healthcare communication.
• Basic knowledge of literature review, evidence synthesis, or research methods.
• Experience with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe, reference-management software, or content-management systems.
• Experience with readability assessment, qualitative feedback, survey tools, or data visualization.

Responsibilities

• Conduct literature reviews and synthesize evidence; identify manuscript or case-report opportunities and develop project scopes and writing plans.
• Support original research manuscripts and case reports from outline development and drafting through reference management, revision, and journal-format compliance.
• Prepare abstracts, references, tables, figures, and presentations.
• Draft and refine patient communication tools, such as education handouts, after-visit materials, care-navigation resources, FAQs, and website or portal content.
• Apply plain-language, health-literacy, accessibility, readability, and usability principles to patient-facing materials.
• Incorporate feedback from the mentor, clinicians, patient-facing teams, and other appropriate stakeholders.
• Review journal guidelines, citations, copyright, readability, and usability; support approved submission or dissemination and pilot implementation.
• Present completed work, provide an evaluation summary, and recommend ongoing maintenance of materials.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: High school or GED