Patient Navigator / Project Support Specialist

Organizational Unit:

The USF Health College of Nursing is one of 14 colleges at the University of South Florida and one of four that make up USF Health. As a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, USF is designated by the Carnegie Foundation as both a Research 1 and a Community-Engaged institution—reflecting its commitment to excellence in education, research, and service.

Nationally recognized as a leader in nursing education and research, the College of Nursing serves more than 2,000 undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students each year. For the fourth consecutive year, our Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program has been ranked No. 1 among Florida’s public universities by U.S. News & World Report—rising to No. 23 in the nation in 2025. 

As an integral part of USF Health, the College of Nursing is guided by a mission grounded in excellence, innovation, and respect. We are dedicated to educating future nurses, advancing nursing science, and applying evidence-based practice to improve health outcomes and community well-being.

Position Summary:

The Patient Navigator / Project Support Specialist will play a pivotal role in the implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the NAVIGATE-BC initiative (Navigation to Address Vulnerabilities and Improve Guidance for Adverse Events and Treatment Engagement in Breast Cancer). This dual-function position combines patient centered navigation with program evaluation and data analytics to enhance adherence, reduce delays in care, and address social determinants of health (SDoH) affecting individuals receiving oral CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy for hormone receptor–positive (HR+), HER2– breast cancer. This role requires a highly organized, compassionate, and dataliterate individual who is preferably bilingual (English/Spanish) and can bridge patient engagement with real-time data tracking to inform clinical and quality improvement decisions across partner institutions including USF, Tampa General Hospital, and Orlando Health.

1. Patient Navigation and Support:

• Deliver individualized, culturally competent navigation services for patients prescribed oral CDK4/6 inhibitors, ensuring continuity of care and adherence.
• Conduct standardized survey assessments to identify barriers such as transportation, housing, financial hardship, food insecurity, and psychosocial stressors.
• Coordinate referrals to hospital- and community-based resources, ensuring linkage to appropriate support services.
• Facilitate bidirectional communication between patients, nurse practitioners, oncologists, pharmacists, and the broader care team to manage symptoms and address adverse events (AEs) in a timely manner.
• Educate patients on medication self-management, AE reporting, and follow-up processes to enhance engagement and self-efficacy.
• Document all navigation encounters, patient contacts, and referrals in the designated electronic tracking system (e.g., REDCap or Qualtrics) to ensure standardized and retrievable data.

2. Program Evaluation and Data Management:

• Develop and maintain secure project databases to capture navigation activity, AE response times, and medication adherence outcomes across sites.
• Review interactive dashboards to visualize real-time metrics for adherence, AE management, and resource utilization.
• Perform data validation, coding, and descriptive analyses to support progress reports and QI review meetings.
• Generate quarterly analytic summaries and contribute to Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to identify areas for improvement and inform iterative program adjustments.
• Ensure all data management activities comply with HIPAA, IRB, and institutional data-sharing protocols.
• Support dissemination efforts, including preparing tables, graphs, and summaries for abstracts, manuscripts, and stakeholder presentations.

Minimum Qualifications:

This position requires a high school diploma or equivalent and six years of experience in office or administrative support or in research support. College education may be substituted for the required experience on a year for year basis.
 

Degree Equivalency Clause: Four years of direct experience for a bachelor’s degree.

• Senate Bill 1310- The Florida Senate (https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1310) is conditional upon meeting all employment eligibility requirements in the U.S.
• SB 1310: Substitution of Work Experience for Postsecondary Education Requirements
• A public employer may include a postsecondary degree as a baseline requirement only as an alternative to the number of years of direct experience required, not to exceed:
• (a) Two years of direct experience for an associate degree;
• (b) Four years of direct experience for a bachelor’s degree;
• (c) Six years of direct experience for a master’s degree;
• (d) Seven years of direct experience for a professional degree; or
• (e) Nine years of direct experience for a doctoral degree
• Related work experience may not substitute for any required licensure, certification, or registration required for the position of employment as established by the public employer and indicated in the advertised description of the position of employment.
• Minimum Qualifications that require a high school diploma are exempt from SB 1310.

Preferred Qualifications: 

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Nursing, Public Health, Health Informatics, or a related health discipline. (in process or near completion ok)

• Bilingual (English/Spanish) strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience with oncology or chronic disease navigation, data collection, and program evaluation.
• Experience in REDCap or Qualtrics, Excel, and familiarity with statistical software (SPSS, R, or SAS).
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills with the ability to work across multidisciplinary teams.