Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Project Manager

Department

BSD PED - Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition - Administration

About the Department

​​The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago is a dynamic and stimulating place to work. We strive for the highest level of complex care for children from diagnosis and treatment; provide outstanding education and training for students, postgraduate scholars, and physicians; and nurture the research of Department scholars who seek to elucidate the causes of pediatric disease and identify promising new therapies.

In addition to our provision of clinical care at UChicago Medicine (UCM) Comer Children’s Hospital and at our regional sites, we are currently expanding our clinical care across Northern Illinois and Northwestern Indiana. In collaboration with our partners in the Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance (CCHA; Advocate Children’s Hospital, and NorthShore University Health System). CCHA has responsibility for the care of almost 1 million children.

The Department has expanded its presence to numerous satellite sites of care across the region with the goal of providing care ‘close to home’ whenever feasible (https://pediatrics.uchicago.edu/).  Our mission is to improve the health of every child entrusted to us, in an inclusive environment that is committed to family-centered care, clinical excellence, impactful scholarship, effective disease prevention, and advocacy for the appropriate care of every child.

We are especially committed to the children on the South Side of Chicago and to altering the inequities in healthcare.

Job Summary

​​The Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition section consists of a team of highly skilled experts that are ready to tackle the most complex digestive diseases in children. We offer specialized care for patients with difficult-to-treat conditions, such as celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal failure, complex liver disorders, eosinophilic esophagitis, and acid peptic disease.

In addition to managing complex care, our team also treats common gut conditions, such as abdominal pain, vomiting and constipation. Through leading-edge basic, translational and clinical research, our team is exploring new treatment options for children suffering from all types of gastrointestinal diseases. We are also investigating ways to personalize medicine for each patient, providing therapies that are more effective with fewer side effects.

Additionally, with our clinical trials, we offer our patients the latest treatments before they are widely available. As leaders in the field of pediatric gastroenterology, we provide comprehensive digestive diseases care and advanced treatment options.

As the Pediatric IBD program continues to grow in volume and complexity, a dedicated Program Manager is essential to support the operational infrastructure required to deliver comprehensive, coordinated, and high-quality care. The Program Manager will serve as a central point of coordination for the Pediatric IBD Center, facilitating communication and collaboration among gastroenterologists, advanced practice providers, nurses, dietitians, psychologists, social workers, surgeons, and other members of the multidisciplinary team.

The Program Manager will help coordinate patient access, multidisciplinary care, appointments, procedures, care transitions, education, and follow-up, while helping patients and families navigate the healthcare system and addressing barriers that may delay or disrupt care.

The Program Manager will also support the ongoing development and growth of the Pediatric IBD program by tracking patient volumes, quality metrics, outcomes, and other key performance measures; coordinating quality improvement initiatives; and helping ensure consistent implementation of evidence-based IBD care.

In addition, this position will provide critical support for the program's research and clinical trial activities, including patient identification, recruitment, enrollment, coordination, data collection, and longitudinal follow-up. By centralizing these responsibilities, the Program Manager will allow clinical providers to focus more fully on direct patient care while improving care coordination, access, patient and family experience, quality outcomes, research opportunities, and overall program efficiency.

This position will provide the operational foundation needed to sustain and expand a comprehensive Pediatric IBD Center and meet the increasing clinical, quality, research, and administrative demands of a growing program.​

Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain the investigator’s calendar, including clinical, research, and administrative commitments.
• Coordinate domestic and international travel, including logistics, itineraries, and expense reconciliation.
• Process and track expense reports and reimbursements in compliance with institutional policies.
• Screen, prioritize, and route correspondence and communications.
• Prepare meeting agendas, take minutes, and track action items.
• Liaise with departmental administrators, hospital leadership, external partners, and stakeholders.
• Coordinate day-to-day operations across pediatric intestinal ultrasound, pediatric IBD, and pre-conception/pregnancy programs.
• Support educational series, webinars, conferences, and community events, including logistics, speaker coordination, registration, and follow-up.
• Develop and maintain program calendars, trackers, and documentation systems.
• Assist with conceptualizing and preparing educational materials, presentations, newsletters, and program communications.
• Coordinate with internal teams, referring clinicians, patient advocacy groups, and external collaborators.
• Track program metrics and deliverables and prepare summaries and reports for leadership and funders.
• Support patient and family-facing initiatives, including resource development and event coordination.
• Support grant development, including writing, editing, formatting, and compiling application packages for NIH, CIHR, foundations, and industry.
• Assist with research budget development and management, expenditure tracking, and financial reporting.
• Coordinate grant submissions through institutional systems and ensure timely, compliant submission.
• Prepare progress reports, renewals, and post-award documentation.
• Monitor grant deadlines, regulatory requirements, and milestones; identify and escalate risks.
• Support onboarding, orientation, and coordination of research staff, students, and trainees.
• Maintain research team calendars, meeting schedules, and project tracking tools.
• Coordinate research regulatory compliance, including REB/IRB submissions, protocol amendments, and renewals.
• Coordinate data management practices and maintain organized research filing systems
• Liaise with research offices, ethics boards, pharmacy, clinical teams, and other departments.
• Support recruitment and hiring processes for research personnel in coordination with HR.
• Uses moderate/solid understanding and experience to administer the delivery of services to program participants and/or beneficiaries.
• Sets and communicates program priorities and performance standards and assesses operations using these criteria. Plans and conducts quality assurance reviews and recommends changes as appropriate.
• Analyzes program budgets and recommends or makes budgetary recommendations.
• Has moderate/high levels of interactions with faculty, researchers and staff for committee work or information.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
• Work Experience: Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.
• Certifications: ---

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience: ​​Graduate degree in health administration, public health, or related field.​
• Experience: ​​3–5 years of experience in research administration, program coordination, or a related role in an academic or healthcare setting.
• Experience in pediatrics, gastroenterology, or chronic disease research. ​
• Experience with grant submission platforms (e.g., NIH Commons, CIHR ResearchNet, Grants.gov). ​
• Experience planning and executing educational events, conferences, or webinars.
• Preferred Competencies
• ​​Familiarity with research ethics/REB processes and regulatory submissions. ​
• Knowledge of clinical research operations and study coordination. ​
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate complex clinical, research, and administrative activities across multiple programs, including scheduling, workflow management, event logistics, and day-to-day operational support. ​
• Strong knowledge of grant development, submission, post-award coordination, budget tracking, regulatory documentation, and compliance requirements within an academic or healthcare research environment. ​
• Ability to manage complex calendars, travel arrangements, correspondence, meeting coordination, expense processing, and follow-up activities with a high degree of accuracy, discretion, and professionalism.
• ​Proven ability to work effectively with faculty, clinicians, hospital and departmental leaders, research offices, external collaborators, advocacy groups, and patient/family-facing partners.
• ​Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to prepare reports, presentations, newsletters, educational materials, meeting minutes, and other program- and research-related communications.
• Ability to develop and maintain tracking systems, monitor timelines and deliverables, support regulatory and ethical compliance, assess program operations, and recommend process improvements to enhance quality and efficiency.​
• Working Conditions
• ​​This position will be a hybrid position.
• ​The role requires managing multiple priorities, deadlines, and interruptions while supporting clinical, research, and program activities.
• Application Documents
• Resume (required)
• Cover Letter (required)
• The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.
• When applying, the document(s) MUST  be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.
• Job Family
• Administration & Management
• Role Impact
• Individual Contributor
• Scheduled Weekly Hours
• 40
• Drug Test Required
• Yes
• Health Screen Required
• Yes
• Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
• No
• Pay Rate Type